Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment, Inkwell Awards, Joe Prado, joe Sinnott, Walden Wong

2016 Inkwell Award Winners Announced

Published Fri, 24 Jun 2016 16:30:54 -0500

Back in the 1990's I took a shot at being a publisher. It didn't go well, but in that time I got to learn all of the different aspects of producing a comic book. I also learned some of the techniques and process in inking. It is an amazing artform that is truly underappreciated and the fact a lot of smaller publishers work around the step is not a good thing for the quality of books.

The Inkwell Awards do a lot to not only celebrate the talented inkers in the industry but to also bring attention to the artform as a whole. Their sixth annual award ceremony took place on June 17th and these are the winners:

FAVORITE INKER: Joe Prado (Batman '66 The Lost Episode; Cyborg).

MOST-ADAPTABLE INKER: Walden Wong (Earth 2: World's End; Justice League Dark; Wolverines; A-Force).

PROPS (inker deserving of more attention): Wade Von Grawbadger (All-New Captain America; Spider-Man; Justice League of America; Legends of the Dark Knight; Astro City).

S.P.A.M.I. (Small Press and Mainstream Independent): Stefano Gaudiano (The Walking Dead, Manifest Destiny).

ALL-IN-ONE (pencilling and inking together): Jason Fabok (Justice League).

THE SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD: Vince Colletta.

THE JOE SINNOTT HALL OF FAME: Frank Giacoia and Josef Rubenstein.

Joe Sinnott, the first recipient and the name sake for the Hall of Fame award made the following statement:

I was quite pleased to hear that the Inkwell Awards has selected two very deserving inkers into the Hall of Fame class of 2016: Frank Giacoia and Jose Rubinstein.

Frank was a fabulous inker and a good friend of mine, who left us much too soon. It was always a pleasure meeting up with Frank at shows and spending time with him. Frank's smooth, thick line graced the pages of virtually every Marvel title. I really enjoyed Frank's inking over Jack Kirby on Captain America. Like myself, we pretty much inked the Marvel Universe.

Joe is an outstanding inker and portrait artist as well.
I absolutely am honored by the great job he did in capturing my likeness for the cover of the 2nd Annual Joe Sinnott Inking Challenge. I once pencilled a piece that Joe inked for The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Index collection. At that time Joe was doing all these Marvel Universe books and he told me that he had actually worked on more Marvel characters than I had. Joe also did some great background inks on the Superman Vs. Spider-Man Treasury Edition that I inked over John Buscema.

It is wonderful that Frank and Joe are the recipients of the 2016 Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award. These two superb artists make the already great list of Hall of Famers even more elite.

Thank you to the Inkwell's committee for electing them, and thanks to everyone for their continued support of the Inkwell Awards.

Joe Sinnott

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