8. Colourists And Inkers Are Vital
DeviantartNone are more vital or more overlooked than the inker or the colourist. Reviewers and fans alike struggle to acknowledge the contribution of a penciller to a comic story at times, despite the fact that without them we'd be reading prose pieces instead of...well, comic books, the visual art. Emphasis on visual. But those pencillers also wouldn't be anywhere with just their scratchy, black-and-white scrawls on the page. Would Superman be as patriotic without his red, yellow and blue? Would Batman be as moody without the shadows of Gotham filled in? Would you even be able to tell the difference between various Spider-Men without some splashes of colour? You surely wouldn't. Inkers and colourists do more than just fill out the work that the penciller does, which is another widespread misconception people have about this particular part of the comics industry. Take the
infamous argument from Chasing Amy, where a fan at a comic convention accuses Jason Lee's character - an inker - of being nothing more than a "tracer". Amongst the fisticuffs Lee's character gets off a pretty good description of the work an inker does: "I add depth and shading to give the image more definition. Only then does the drawing truly take shape." Which is right! And he's right about your mother, too. Sorry. As for colourists, they do a heck of a lot more than just stay within the lines. Well, if they're good colourists, at least. The house style for DC Comics recently has become a little flat, favouring gradients and lens flares over really adding to the overall image, but in good cases the colourist further adds to each page's definition. Using certain palettes can evoke certain moods, feelings and highlight parts of the image that you couldn't with writing, pencilling, or inking alone. In fact inks and colours are just as important as the principal building blocks (ie the ones you hear about).