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About Ink Stained Creative

Your Oregon City Web Design and Branding Specialists

Before we talk about us, let’s talk about you. After all, it’s your story we want to tell, not ours.

You’ve gladly dedicated countless hours to your work, because what you’re doing, whether it’s running a great record store, fighting for justice or brewing the perfect beer, is making the world a better place. But you don’t have the expertise, time, money, or staff to grow your business by telling the world what you’re doing and why it matters.

That’s where we come in. Ink Stained Creative listens to and understands each of our clients’ stories, then our team tells that story, expertly and in any media, to the audience you want to reach. We offer the services of a full creative, marketing and advertising team for a better price due to our low overhead, small core team size and access to a variety of talented contractors. Based in Oregon City, web design, branding, advertising and marketing are among our services. Learn more about what we offer.

About our pricing – we set our rates in the realm of a high-level freelancer, while offering the quality, capabilities and level of service of a small to mid-sized agency.

Black and white colored pencils arranged in a circle with the tips in color

Our Team

Dave Garlock – Owner / Writer / Web Developer

Dave got his start in the writing world trying to publish novels while working in the food-service industry. Cliché, he knows, though one did make it into the world. Since then, he’s done just about every kind of writing there is, from non-profit to journalism to social media to web to advertising. He also started making websites somewhere along the way, and that’s now most of what he does.

His passions, in addition to writing, include foraging for mushrooms, watching soccer, backpacking into wilderness and listening to vinyl. He lives on a farm outside of Oregon City with his wonderful wife Melissa, their two amazing daughters Ky and Ada, and their cat Violet.

Dave Garlock photo drinking coffee. Dave owns Ink Stained Creative, develops websites, and provides copywriting
Elin McLcain photo pouring coffee. Elin is our lead designer

Elin McLain –  Lead Designer

Elin really had no choice but to be a designer. As a kid, he decorated his notebooks with Letraset rub-on letters, drew the alphabet and designed a logo for an imaginary pajama brand. In the 12 years prior to co-founding Ink Stained, he worked for small agencies with clients focusing on art and environmental concerns, as well as leading in-house design teams.

Aside from pushing pixels, he is enjoying life most when cooking, screen printing, longboarding with his dog Buko, running a trail or rummaging through a thrift store. He grew up in Florence, on the Oregon coast, and lives with his wife Anie and two wonderful daughters in Southeast Portland. 

Talented Contractors – A Bit of Everything

Brilliant programmers , SEO experts, creative illustrators, aerial drone videographers: we know the right people to get any job done, and done right. Someday we hope to hire them all.

Logo of Spitzer Technology ConsultingFor our IT solutions and office support needs, we’re partnered with Spitzer Technology Consulting.

A series of coffee cups in a cafe, representing our team of talented subcontractors who provide SEO, video and much more