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Introduction
This tutorial assumes you already have a pencil sketch drawn and have it scanned into the computer. The purpose of this tutorial is to show you how to "ink" the drawing using an image manipulation program. While Paintshop Pro or The Gimp should work just fine, this tutorial will use terminology related to Photoshop (specifically CS, or version 8) because that's what I'm most familiar with. Also please note that this is the way I, personally, ink images. Depending on your setup you may do things very differently. Less RAM means smaller image size. Watcom tablet (I only have a mouse) means you might use fade based on pressure (which looks awesome, by the way). No Photoshop means you'll have to figure out how to do the steps in Gimp (which is free and powerful) or Paintshop Pro. Please flavor the tutorial to your taste. Don't be afraid to experiment or try new things -- having your own style is a very good thing. Find out what works for you. Credits The sketch I'm using for this tutorial belongs to Gelidien. I did not draw it, he did. Original Sketch (Click for a larger version) 
Sketch Mask Layer The way I ink images in Photoshop is by tracing over the sketch lines with a brush tool. For the sake of ease, we're going to turn the sketch a different color. This will help us see what we have and haven't inked much more easily.  
To temporarily change the color of the sketch, do the following: 1) Create a new layer. There are a few ways to do this. Just pick the one you're most comfortable with. I prefer option 3, myself. Option 1: Note: If the Layers window (see image for Option 1 above) is not visible, you will need it. Click "Windows" -> "Layers" in the menu or press the F7 key to toggle the Layers window. 2) Select an appropriate color. I prefer a random light shade of blue, but anything to distinguish against the black you will be inking with will work.  
3) Make sure the new layer is selected in the layer menu. You can tell a layer is selected because it has a little paintbrush icon next to it and is highlighted. 
4) Fill the new layer with the selected color. Click "Edit" -> "Fill" in the menu, or just press Shift-F5. 
Use the default fill settings. They should be: Foreground Color, Normal Blending Mode, Opacity 100%, unchecked Preserve Transparency. Click "OK" or press Enter. 
5) Change the layer's mask to "Screen". This setting is in the upper left corner of the "Layers" window. (Hit F7 twice to toggle the window off and on if you can't find it)  
The sketch should now look something like this (Click for a larger version): 
Resize the Image I recommend inking pictures at around twice a reasonable viewing size. A reasonable viewing size is 700-900 pixels wide. Depending on how you scanned it this may involve decreasing the size of the image. The larger a picture is, the more precision you can be with the brush tool (see image below where brush size "4" was used on two different sized images). However, make the image too large and you run out of memory and things move too slowly. I find it works best if the largest dimension is around 1500-2000 pixels.  
1) To resize an image, select "Image" -> "Image Size". 
2) Make sure "Constrain Proportions" is checked. Type in the appropriate proportions (I simply doubled the width for this one) and click "OK" or hit Enter. 
Creating More Layers We're going to do our inking on its own layer. Also, it's good to preview how the inking job is coming along sometimes, so we're going to make a layer filled with white and disable it. 1) Use the above instructions and create a new layer for inking. 
2) Again use the instructions above and create another new layer for whiting out. 
3) Fill the white layer with white. This can be done by selecting the white foreground color (foreground color selection shown above), or pressing "D" then "X". D will revert the colors to Black/White, and X will reverse them, making white the foreground color. Alternately, there is a "White" option in the fill menu. 
4) Reorder the layers in the Layers window so the white-filled layer is below the ink layer. This can be done by dragging and dropping them. 
5) Turn the white layer invisible by clicking on the eye to the left of it. You can click the eye slot again when you want to see how your inking is looking without the sketch behind it. 
Your Layers window should now look something like this: 
Brush Tool Selection The actual inking will be done with the brush tool  set to 100% hardness.
1) To select the brush tool, click on the icon in the toolbar or press the "B" shortcut key. If the pencil tool is selected instead, click and hold on it, or press "B" a second time.  
2) Set the brush to 100% hardness so the ink lines we create will be crisper. This is done by selecting the brush and clicking on the Brush option in the Options toolbar (which if not seen can be toggled in the "Windows" -> "Options" menu), or by right clicking on the image and using the menu that pops up. Drag the Hardness slider all the way to the right (100%).  
3) If your brush tool looks like this when you're drawing  then I recommend changing the cursor preference from "Standard" to "Brush Size". This is done clicking "Edit" -> "Preferences" -> "Display & Cursors", then selecting "Brush Size" and clicking "OK". Your cursor should then look like this: 
 
Inking My method of inking has been evolving. What I'm posting here is my current method, which may change next week. I recommend experimenting after you learn this method so you can find the method that works best for yourself. Currently I use a slightly thick brush for borders and frontal overlaps, and a thinner brush for the rest of the details. 1) Set the brush size. I use a brush size of four. You can set the brush size by using the [ and ] hotkeys, or using the menu like in step 2 above. 
2) Use the size four brush on the defining lines. This helps the character and shape stand out. Most importantly, the outside border should be inked with a thicker line, especially if you have a background. The image below shows in red the lines I consider to be "defining". After doing some inking, you can toggle the White layer by clicking on the little eye slot next to it to see how it's coming along.   
3) After inking out the main defining lines, decrease the size of the brush and trace over the other lines. 
4) Repeat the process on down through the picture. (Click for a larger version) 
Finishing Up After you've finished inking, you'll need to save your picture, and also make it ready for viewing by normal people. Normal people don't want to look at an image that's 1400x2000 pixels. Also, the browser will automatically resize these images and make them look blocky, which you don't want. 1) Disable the sketch and blue layers and enable the white by clicking on the little eye pieces. 
2) Hopefully you've been saving the image at regular intervals throughout your inking process. Go ahead and save it again. After saving, select "Save As" to save a new copy. Name it something like "release" or "final". This will be your resized copy. 3) After saving, resize the image, like explained above, so that the width is around 700-900 pixels. I like to keep my final images about 700 pixels wide, maximum. 
4) Save your "final" copy in the resized state. You will still have your original sized copy if you followed the "Save As" step above. After you've saved it, if you're really using Photoshop, make use of the neat "Save for Web" feature to save the image in an optimized format that takes up as little space as possible. Here is a comparison of inked versus sketch. 
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