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BROCKWAY – Steven Bearfield felt like he could help an under-appreciated part of the comic book world, and that world honored him recently during the annual Inkwell Awards.
Bearfield grew up in Brockway, and he was given his first comic book at 7 years old. That began a love of comics that went with him as he left Brockway to go to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, returning to the area to go to Penn State DuBois, and then working in local industry.
The first book that started his journey was a copy of Marvel’s “Star Wars” movie adaptation.
“I had no idea then that that issue would turn into a 45-year passion,” he said. “My collection now numbers over 30,000 books.”
Bearfield soon gravitated to Marvel’s “Uncanny X-Men” books because the title resonated with his life as a bullied pre-teen and teen.
“I bought that first book because it had the character Firestar on the cover,” he said. “That character was featured in the Saturday morning cartoon show ‘Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends’ in the ’80s. In those pages, I found a team of characters who were outcasts from society and were persecuted for simply being different. That theme allowed me to find a place in the world where I fit.”
Eventually, Bearfield found other “outcasts” at comic-cons. He started making friends at those conventions, ranging from average convention attendees to comic creators themselves. His friends often call him the “Comic Book Guru” due to his knowledge of the industry. That led him to helping support the Inkwell Awards.
The Inkwell Awards is a nonprofit designed to inform the general public about “the often misunderstood craft known as inking” and to recognize outstanding work in that field. According to inker and founder Bob Almond, inking was created to speed up comic book production by having pencillers quickly turn out rough page art and inkers darkening the art for the printing process.
“It was an assembly line that allowed a popular artist like Jack Kirby to do as many books as possible for the publisher,” Almond added. “But it didn’t take long for some artists to become better at that process, and the inkers became finishers and embellishers.”
The comic industry’s Oscar equivalent, the Eisner Award, eliminated honoring inkers because, according to Almond, the Eisners worried giving ink awards would be confusing to the general public. Almond created the Inkwells to honor inkers, and the home of the Inkwells is now Hershey Comic-Con. It was at the inaugural Hershey event that Bearfield got his recognition.
Bearfield received the Silver Award for his work on the Inkwell’s nominating committee. For the past five years, Bearfield reads comics, notices the work that inkers do in those comics, and nominates the inkers for the Inkwells.
“I found something in the art that I loved,” Bearfield said. “I’ve learned a lot about ink artists and how art is made. I studied books of art, read articles, watched online tutorials, and even inked a downloadable piece of art from one of my favorite artists to see how it’s done.”
The nominating committee is usually anonymous, but the laypeople who do the work are exactly what Almond said the Inkwells need to make sure the awards go to the right people. However, finding someone with Bearfield’s commitment is difficult, and getting them to receive their awards is even more difficult since the nonprofit does not have money in its budget to fly internal award recipients to the show.
“We have recognized members of the nominating committee in the past, but due to distances, we have never had one come receive the award,” Almond said. “Steven Bearfield is the first. Nominating is not something people want to do. They say it’s too much work, but we have people who come back and do it year after year, like Steven. It’s a big help, and we’re struggling every year to find members. People not in the industry are how we can make sure our ballots reflect a wide variety of artists. People like Steven are a real asset to us, and we look forward to working with him for many years.”
Bearfield said that volunteering for the nominating committee is a small way to give back to an industry that has given him so much. The recognition in front of members of that industry is one of the biggest honors of his life.
“Admittedly, I find it all surreal because I’m just a nerd from a small town who likes comic books,” Bearfield said.
More about the Inkwells and the art of inking can be found at www.inkwellawards.com.
”}]] BROCKWAY – Steven Bearfield felt like he could help an under-appreciated part of the comic book world, and that world honored him recently during the annual Inkwell Awards. Read More