Stephan Pastis

Cartoonist Stephan Pastis achieved fame as a cartoonist as a result of giving up on cartooning and entering law school. While

bored during class, he began sketching "Rat," a character who would go on to appear in his hit comic "Pearls Before Swine."

Since 2002, the comic has appeared in the Washington Post, Chicago Sun-Times, and more than 500 other newspapers nationwide.

His growing list of fans includes "Dilbert" cartoonist Scott Adams. Rat has gone on to be joined by Pig, and the two offer

clever social commentary in their daily comic.

Never trained formally as an artist, Pastis went on to win the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award for Best Newspaper

Comic Strip in both 2003 and 2006. Since then, Pig and Rat have continued to grow in popularity.

Subscribe to ArcaMax's free "Pearls Before Swine" ezine now, and get Stephan Pastis's clever commentary seven days a week by

e-mail.