Above are the first 12 pages. I hadn't finished 13 or 14, but I did finish page 15. Not sure whether to post it now or try and finish 13 and 14 and post them as the next batch of three.

Incidentally, having some time away from these, I can now see all the stuff I want to correct!

Nice job, Scott!

I wish I had more time- I'd love to start all over with the new lettered versions...

Well, no way I can come close to Scott's skill, but here is another page I had fun with, and the Spider-Man cameo made my week!

If I may make a few suggestions?

1. Focus on varying your line weights a little more. I'm guilty of this, too. Not sure what size you're working on, but I printed the pages onto 11 x 17 boards, to work at the size professional inkers do.

Here's what I found- I thought I did all this nice line work that varied to represent where the light sources are and to create a sense of 3D space by separating characters with their line weights. Problem is, when I optimized my pages down to post them here, a lot of that line variation was gone. Eric Ladd pointed this out in my work at the beginning of this thread, and he was right. I need to almost 'overdo' it, in order to get the effect I want once the pages are shrunken back down.

2. I'd be careful with making the textures too 'sketchy', like you did right under Spider-man in panel one. It look like you weren't sure what you wanted to do with that area. Again, I've noticed the same thing in my own inks. Sometimes, my hatching gets a little sketchy or rough looking if I don't take my time with it and I try to speed through it.

Just my two cents. If I'm out of line here, I apologize.

Mike, are you inking onto black and white copies? Send me an email if you want blue lines in 11"x17". Then go to your local copy shop and do a color print right onto your own bristol boards. Strathmore makes 11 x 17 inch pads of their 300 series in Smooth and Vellum finish. I've tried both and I think I'm settled on Smooth.

It is difficult to see what parts are your inks and what parts are underlying pencil because it is all black. I can't tell if your line broke the panel or if it is just JB's pencils, but it makes the left side of Amanda's head look strange because only some of her hair breaks the panel. I think the intention was that the image was contained by the panel.

I would parrot Scott's comments about line weights. It is the toughest lesson to learn for us amateur inkers. I recommend you go to Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com) and start an account. It costs nothing, but you will be able to search past auctions and download high resolution scans of comic art and then print them on 11 x 17 inch paper at the copy shop. Then you can have at least a better understanding of line weights on actual art from JB, Buscema, Romita and just about any artist you want to look up. At the very least you can get quality scans of artwork to look at online for technique. Ultimately, keep at it. =)

I'm in the same boat as Mike. I've been inking onto JB's pencils, not ideal.

Can I take you up on that offer Eric?

First, Thanks very much for all the advice and pointers. All will be taken to heart.

As to some of the points raised:

1. I'm using PITTS, Pigmas and other pens with a variety of tips in attempts to vary my line weights, working 11x17, and scanning them at 100 dpi just for posting purposes, so perhaps some is getting lost in the translation as Scott mentioned

2. Yeah, the textures, I think my mind was still thinking pencil and not ink in some places where I should have cross-hatched or used simply lines. Plus, I was just playing around to see how some of it looked too.

3. Eric, would you believe I work in a copy center with access to all kinds of boards and paper, but usually just print to whatever is in the printer at the end of the day. Same goes for doing the black and white. I should go into Photoshop and blue line them, but again, most often, I'll see a page I particularly like and print a quick copy at the end of the day to mess around with that evening at home.

For me it really is just a fun exercise and learning experience that I like to share to get tips as you all have kindly provided. At 53 years of age, with carpal tunnel in my drawing hand, I have no aspirations of ever being professional level. I will keep at it however because it is fun, it's mental therapy in a sense and because I'm in awe of the the things JB does on a page and I learn a little bit every time I sit down with one.

That being said I am really looking forward now to putting Scott's advice into practice, yes I'd love some blue lines Eric if you already have them done and it is no extra trouble for you and I'm definitely going to check out the Heritage site. The thought of maybe finding some Buscema Conan pencils has me salivating!

Look for more pages from me soon, but not too soon, my hand is tired and crampy.

Mike, I understand. Just stretching the art muscles and blue lines are available if you email me. I wold suggest you look up the work of Frank Cho and Art Adams. I know both ink with technical pens and achieve wonderful results. Cho has some YouTube videos that might be informative as you can see him inking with the pens. One a side note, check out Frank's ball point pen art to see some extreme use of a basic office pen.