One of the artistic staff that brings comics to print, along with
the
artist,
colorer, and
letterer. Though less well known than the artists whose works they interpret,
inkers are an intergral part of the comics process.
After intial pencil drawings are completed by the artist, the inker
goes to work translating the images created by the artist into
drawings using indian ink (hence the name "inker"). The challenge
before the inker is that while the artist can use shades of grey
to interpret perspective and shadows, the inker is limited to black
and white and therefore must translate these qualities in ways other
than shading, without straying too far from the original intent of
the artist.
Most comic book houses use multiple artists to create their comics,
with some doing the pencil sketches and others doing the inking.
The reasons are that some artists are unable to master the skills
required to be an inker as well as the fact that comics are generally
on a set time schedule (unless Rob Liefeld is involved) and by splitting the work load, publishers are
able to keep the comics coming on a regular basis.
Source: http://www.marklipka.com/inkerdo.htm