Ink Pen

Ink Pen never runs out of insights into the seedy underbelly of cartoon character employment. Dunlap has a truly unique perspective and storytelling style about the odd world of cartooning.

From the very first frame, Ink Pen invites us to encounter the struggles of Hamhock, the talking pig who tries to make his big break into the biz. But it's a ruthless one that sees him only as a side of the other white meat. We quickly learn that rejection only makes us stronger . . . or slightly more stupid. Read and laugh as Hamhock and an array of plucky sidekicks are thrust into danger by careless superheroes and the villains they duel.

Phil Dunlap, a native of Brookline, Massachusetts, has lived in Los Angeles for the past three years working in advertising. He escapes the daily drudgery by writing and drawing his new comic strip, "Ink Pen." The strip is a humorous look at an employment agency for various superheroes, cuddly critters and cartoon cliches.

Before moving to Los Angeles, Dunlap lived in Brooklyn and temped at a number of ad agencies in New York. His time there helped him to flavor the characters and storylines of "Ink Pen." Dunlap developed a healthy sense of humor about the humiliation of temping and the flimflam portion of the advertising industry. Dunlap spent two years doing freelance storyboard work for such clients as Saturday Night Live, MTV, U2, Jay-Z, Transformers and Burger King. His cartoons have been published in alternative weeklies in San Francisco, Arizona and New York.

Dunlap attended Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts and studied at The School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts through a joint program. He has been interested in cartooning since drawing for his high school paper.