Keeping an ink brush clean and useable has been a pain in my rear since forever. Finding the right brush is a lottery, so I do what it takes to keep it working for as long as possible. I use Koh-i-noor Universal ink, which is a dye and shellac-based ink (the shellac making it hard to clean but durable).

The following steps are what I've evolved to over the years, and not meant to be definitive. There's probably a better way to do this.

The cleaners -- dish washing detergent, Koh-i-noor Rapido-eeze cleaner mixed 50-50 with distilled water in a hand soap dispenser (has an aerator), The Masters Brush Cleaner and a bottle of distilled water.
The basic steps are; rinse in water (tap is fine), blot on paper towel, clean with soaps, rinse in distilled water and clean with Masters brush cleaner, and finally rinsing with distilled water.

After swishing the tip around in a cup of tap water, blot on a paper towel.
Do this several times. Just swishing in water and blotting removes must of the ink.
In my hand, I put a dab of dish washing detergent...
...then add a squirt of the koh-i-noor cleaner mix. The foam from the dispenser's aerator is important with the next step.
After gently stroking the brush tip in the soap on my hand, rub the tip near the ferrule between index finger and thumb. This scrubbing action helps draw ink from near the ferrule to the tip. I do this two to three times. Some brushes tolerate this better than others so be gentle.
After rinsing in tap water, I dry off the tip and then hydrate with distilled water. The reason for distilled is because most unconditioned tap water is hard, so avoid any calcium buildup and use distilled.
Moisten in The Masters cleaner to do the final clean and conditioning.
Finally rinse in the distilled water and hang dry upside down.

I got this book in school (must've been when I was ten in 6th grade). Ordered it through Scholastic Book Services, and of course, I just had to have a book that had cartoons of monsters. I wouldn't say it was an influence, but more of something that told me that maybe I could draw stuff that could be published in books too. Back then, there were a lot of this; artwork in books, magazines, newspapers, advertisements, comic books. All hand drawn by humans with nothing but board, ink, paint, brushes and pens. Without the aid of computers, the internet or AI.

Here I am inking for Ralph Snart Adventures #22 releasing Spring 2026.

Here I am inking and ruling panels for Ralph Snart Adventures #21 releasing Fall 2025. Looks best at 720p/48fps setting.

RSA #20 released this week. While I was preparing that for release, I managed to write, letter and pencil issue #21 entitled Snart Derangement Syndrome. I'll slowly ink that over the next few months for a release in either October or November.

Number 21 should also be the proper 40th anniversary of RSA, so I'll probably do something in that issue dedicated to this milestone. Something. I don't know what. I'm starting to fester some ideas for issue #22 and will let those percolate through my gray matter over my very busy Summer.

If you dorks have any questions, email them and maybe I'll answer them in the next letters column of RSA.