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British artist and inker Cam Smith among the nominees in this year’s Inkwell Awards

By John Freeman on April 30, 2023 • ( 1 )

British comic creator Cam Smith is again among the nominees in this year’s Inkwell Awards, with public voting open on on the Inkwells’ homepage, until 10th May 2023.

The US-based Inkwell Awards, celebrating their fifteenth anniversary this year, is the only official non-profit organisation whose mission is to promote and educate regarding the art form of comic-book inking, as well as annually recognise the best ink artists and their work.

Established in 2008, the Inkwells are overseen by a volunteer committee of industry professionals and assisted by various professional ambassadors and contributors. They sponsor the Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund for the Kubert School and host the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award.

Voting is open in five categories: Favourite Inker, Most Adaptable, Props (inkers deserving more attention), The S.P.A.M.I. (Small Press And Mainstream/ Independent for non-Marvel/DC work) and All-In-One for artists who ink their own pencils.

The awards cover all printed American comic books cover-dated 2022.

Cam Smith has been nominated for his recent work on Batman: One Bad Day-Penguin (for DC), and Avengers, Avengers Forever, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, and Planet Hulk: Worldbreaker, for Marvel.

Perhaps best known for his collaborations with artist Gary Frank, inking that would earn him an Eisner Award nomination, Cam started out at Marvel UK, on work that included illustrations for Doctor Who Magazine and inking some of its strips.

His work with Gary Frank on early issues of Marvel UK’s Motormouth earned him critical attention and he would go on to work with Gary on The Incredible Hulk at Marvel Comics in 1993. The pair would be reunited in 1997 at DC Comics for the start of the Supergirl series, which earned Cam an Eisner nomination for “Best Inker”. The artists also worked together for Image Comics imprint Wildstorm on Gen¹³ in late 1997.

Cam’s other work includes Action Comics, Detective Comics, Green Lantern, Superman, Wolverine, Claws of A Killer and X-Men.

Cam is competing this year with creators such as Jonathan Glapion and Walden Wong in the Favourite Inker category, and Scott Hanna and others in the Most-adaptable Award, for the Artist showing exceptional ink style versatility over other pencil artists.

Batman: One Bad Day- Penguin, inked by Cam Smith
Darkhold Omega, Inked by Walden Wong
Batman: Urban Legends, inked by Scott Hanna

“This year we continue with the new addition to our ballot,” said Bob Almond, founder, and director of The Inkwell Awards.“In answer to myriad requests, last year we were able to link sample images submitted by the nominated artists on the ballot. This will help both voters and artists to hopefully make the process easier and fairer. The Inkwell core committee team and our webmaster Steven Freivogel spent much time and effort in discussion and preparation to make this work and we’re confident it will help everyone.”

He added, “Our nomination procedure continues to include inkers who submitted their work in addition to those chosen by our internal nomination committee. Too many ink artists are passed over and go unnoticed by most awards events. Ours caters specifically to inkers so they can be recognized and appreciated for their best work. We encourage all who appreciate quality artwork to participate and share on social media; the more voters, the better.”

The internally-chosen lifetime achievement accolades, the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame award and the Stacey Aragon Special Recognition Award (SASRA), were announced on 9th March, separately from the ballot categories like we did last time. Without a host-show awards ceremony this year, there are currently no restrictions on how and when winners are announced.

• Head to the Inkwell Awards website to vote for your favourite inkers – voting closes 10th May 2023

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.