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Description
I am pleased to announce that Inkers Challenge is now the offical DeviantArt division of The Inkwell Awards!
The Inkwell Awards <www.inkwellawards.com> was set up by Bob Almond in 2008 as a charity organisation to help raise awareness and celebrate the contribution of inking and inkers in the comic book industry. Since then they have run the annual Inkwell Awards, the Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund and the Joe Sinnott Inking Challenge.
After approaching the Inkwell Awards to promote IC on their Facebook page, Bob Almond was very interested in the group becoming part of the Inkwell family. After a few brief but in-depth discussions it was agreed that IC will become an Inkwell Awards subsidiary and presence on DeviantArt.
This is an awesome opportunity that will be mutually beneficial to both parties helping IC grow as a community and learning place for inkers while contributing to the Inkwell Awards mission of celebrating inkers and the craft of inking. It will provide the group with greater access to inking material, blogs, tutorials and input from professionals in the industry beyond my present capabilities.
Here’s what Bob Almond had to say about the merger:
"For some time now DeviantArt has established itself as a significant social and promotional venue for artists from all callings. In an effort to further expand our public presence, setting up a 'base of operations' at DA seems like a no-brainer. Leading that charge to raise awareness is our new Inkwell Awards contributor J.L. Straw, a U.K.-based inker who will continue to run operations at the Inkers Challenge DA group. I have utmost confidence that she is the perfect person for the job as, unlike me, she knows the DA venue and it's policies, is connected to our various members with DA accounts, and shares our mission to promote the art form of inking through education and recognition. And with the Inkwells being the sole official 501(c)3 non-profit advocacy organization for the promotion of inking and ink artists, she has access to all of our many inking resources for her needs. I am ecstatic about this merger as the best of both worlds and I sincerely look forward to the start of a long-term and progressive relationship."
The journey will be a slow and steady process to fully realise the potential of the merger but I have big ambitions for this group to raise the profile of inking and helping inkers get access, advice and feedback for their work through the challenges.
As part of our merger we will be posting announcements, polls and hosting a gallery for the Joe Sinnott Inking Challenge showcasing the work of participants as well as future potential Inkwell challenges and competitions as appropriate to the aims of both IC and Inkwell.
I started this group as a fun and resourceful place for inkers of all levels to learn and grow their skill, whether they’re in it as hobbyists, professionals or just curious about the art of inking. This will continue to be the primary objective of the group through monthly challenges.
Inkwell Awards Assistant Director 
will be joining the group as co-founder as IC. I’ve known Michael since before Inkwell and although he keeps a low profile on DA he will be dropping in from time to time to say hi.
There’ll be a lot of exciting things that will be coming to the group and I hope you’ll join in on this journey.
Yours truly,
JLS
