The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book, or graphic novel. After the penciller gives a drawing (or copy of the drawing) to the inker, the inker uses black ink, usually India ink, to produce refined black outlines over the rough pencil lines. The ink may be applied with a pen or a brush, and many inkers use both. The inker is usually responsible for every black line on the page, except for letters, which are handled by a letterer. In comic strips, as well as Japanese manga, the penciler, inker, and letterer are often one person. For comics printed in color, there is usually a separate colorist. A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... A graphic novel (GN) is a long-form comic book, usually with lengthy and complex storylines, and often aimed at more mature audiences. ... In the collaborative method of producing a comic book used to create the majority of the comics published by major US publishers, the penciller (or penciler) is the artist who interprets the story created by the writer as comics pages drawn in pencil. ... Indian ink (or India ink in American English) is a simple black ink once widely used for writing and printing. ... In comic books, the letterer is the person who draws the letters in the word balloons, draws in sound effects and usually designs a books logo. ... For other uses, see Manga (disambiguation). ... A colorist is an artist who colors comic art reading it for production as a comic book. ...

Although proper inking is critical to giving comic artwork a professional look, it is often seen as more technical than pencilling and is less glamorous, as many inkers go unrecognized. This image has been parodied in the Kevin Smith movie Chasing Amy, where Banky Edwards is accused of merely "tracing" the images drawn by the penciler, Holden McNeil. While inking does involve tracing pencil lines in a literal sense, it also requires interpreting the pencils, giving proper weight to the lines, correcting mistakes, and making other creative choices. The look of a penciler's final art can vary enormously depending on the inker. Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American screenwriter, film director, and the creator of View Askew Productions. ... Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy about two comic book artists: Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck), a heterosexual male, and Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams), a lesbian. ... (from l to r) Hooper X (Dwight Ewell), Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) and Banky Edwards (Jason Lee) in Chasing Amy. ...

It is possible to "digitally ink" using computers, a practice that is becoming more common as inkers learn to use powerful drawing and editing tools, such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Corel Painter. In digital inking, mistakes will no longer ruin a page, and if it is done in a vector-based program, the image will look good in any resolution. However, the process is considered by many to be more time-consuming. Adobe Illustrator is a vector-based drawing program developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. ... Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editor (with some text and vector graphics capabilities) developed and published by Adobe Systems. ... Painter is the name of a bitmap graphics software package used to create natural-looking artistic images using a computer. ... Steam Locomotive 7646 as a vector, originally Windows Metafile (converted to GIF for display here). ...

A small list of notable inkers includes Vince Colletta, Joe Giella, George Klein, Tom Palmer, Joe Sinnott and Sapa Inca. Vince Colletta (born Oct. ... Joe Giella (born 27 June 1928, Manhattan, New York City) is an American comic book artist best known as a DC Comics inker during the Silver Age of comic books. ... George Klein (died 1969) was an American comic book artist and cartoonist whose career stretched to the 1940s Golden Age of comic books. ... Tom Palmer is the name of several notable individuals, including: Tom G. Palmer, senior fellow at the Cato Institute who holds a D.Phil. ... Joe Sinnott (born October 16, 1926, Saugerties, New York, United States) is an American comic book artist. ... Sapa Inca is the title of the ruler of the Inca Empire. ...