Inker
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The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book, or graphic novel. After the penciler 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.
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, not smudging or spilling ink, and so on.
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 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.