$29.99 8-pack fine-liners off of Amazon have a surprising lifespan.

It all began in 2009. I scoured the shelves of my local library, flying through issues of Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, and The Far Side. Moving past the dry-humour era of syndicated comics, Jeff Smith’s Bone and my high school Marvel phase cemented an interest in how monsters, textures, cloth, heroes, and depth were brought to life in ink.