The online web series Pencilmation stars a plucky, often unlucky, ever persistent character named Hank who is I.D.’ed as the “COOLEST and MOST POPULAR cartoon character ever made.” Occasionally little Hank gets the best of the other main character, the all-powerful Pencil which rules his world. Hijinks invariably ensue.
But last month, in a series of unprecedented firsts for an animated figure, Hank wrenched control away from his creator, Ross Bollinger. Then this apparently dastardly cartoon character took over Bollinger’s blog, Facebook page, and Twitter account. Now Hank has drawn his own girlfriend. The character has become an animator.
Who is this Bollinger and how did he lose control to a scheming pencil outline named Hank?
The evidence is sketchy. Bollinger claims to be on tour with his band, Len Lye but the tubes clearly indicate that he actually performs with his mom. (Their collaborative tune “You and I” is pretty amusing).
There are allegations that Bollinger is a recent animation school grad, although it appears that he may instead be a technologically advanced species of woodland creature.
Those who are concerned that these leads are merely a smokescreen put in place by none other than the deceptively innocent looking Hank may wish to watch all of Bollinger’s videos. Perhaps the hapless animator placed clues in each one, warning us that we too may fall victim to our own creations if we aren’t wery wery careful.
