Pink Raygun talks briefly with inker Sandra Hope about her career, technique, and the comics industry:
PRG: Your line work is very fine and delicate.
SH: This is where the distinction between pencils and inking come in. The penciller may have the energy to give you the dynamic drawing with all the basic, correct drawing structures, but the inkers will focus on the little details and making things feel like they should feel, whether it’s grass or concrete or nice, flowing hair.
The finer, intricate little details take patience to do, whereas the penciler may not have the patience or the interest to do that. So, I think the inking is the more technical aspect and the penciling is the more creative aspect.
PRG: If I think of male inkers, I think of Frank Miller’s angry slashes of ink all over the place or Scott Williams, who may do a lot of noodling and stuff, but doesn’t seem to use that delicate hand. Do you think that those finer, more delicate lines are characteristic of a female or feminine hand?
SH: People ask that and say that all the time, but I don’t see it. I actually work with another inker who is even more intricate than me. Most of us will ink by intuition, but sometimes it is fun to just go in there and throw down those heavier, messier lines. That’s another inking style entirely, so maybe the difference is a style thing. There are a lot of guys that do amazing detail that I don’t have the patience to do.
(The above image is Hope’s inks over Jim Lee’s pencils for the cover of Infinite Crisis #6.)
August 6th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Very interesting interview. I was especially perplexed by these bits:
“I think sometimes it’s really difficult because you would think it’s the men that would discourage you, but a lot times you get a lot of women who aren’t very supportive, whether it’s a guy’s wife or girlfriend or even support staff. ”
and
“And it’s not just wives and girlfriends, but it can be administration and support staff, too. There have been times when women would treat me differently than they treated the guys or would lose my work. There have also been times when I wouldn’t get my messages or notices that a meeting time changed.”
That’s just insane to me. But not surprising, unfortunately.
Other than that, I really enjoyed her comments on inking. It’s always nice to understand what inkers do a little better.
August 6th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
While I appreciate Hope’s technique, I am just NOT a fan of the overly detailed linework. The characters as drawn by Jim Lee and most of the Image guys (Silvestri, Turner, Larsen, Liefeld, McFarlane, Portacio), including those that “grew up” in the various Image studios, appear as though they survived an attack from housecats. In my opinion, an inker should embellish and neaten an artists pencils, preserving the structure and overall look,instead of, for lack of a better term, tracing over the lines with ink. I’ve always wondered what a softer ink line would do for Jim Lee’s work. Gary Martin, of Nexus and Moth fame, would be an absolute brilliant match to Lee. He’d soften Lee’s scratchy, angular style, and bring some of that lovely dry-brush technique he’s so darn good at. Jerry Ordway would also be a good match for Lee. Most people forget that inkers are often times equally if not more talented artists than those whose work they ink.
August 7th, 2007 at 9:05 am
Great piece – sadly, inkers are still not given their due relative to pencillers. For all of George Perez’s brilliance, COIE would not have been as magnificent if not for the inks of Jerry Ordway through most of the series. (And George has done his share of inking – he still proudly cites his inking of Curt Swan as one of the greatest moments.)