About The Dog

About me

I’m an illustrator who grew up looking at Rottnest Island from his bedroom window, but didn’t go there until I was 27. Island life obviously stirred something in my waters because I came in search of a bigger one to play on and landed in Tasmania.

I have been doodling in the margins since primary school and right through every workplace meeting I’ve ever attended – these days I just let myself have bigger margins. A few years ago I decided that I wanted to share more of my ideas with the world and Same Dog Design was born. The name comes from an old saying Same dog, different leg action, which colloquially refers to the idea of getting to the same end result by a different means. The saying struck a chord with me because I’m not a traditionally trained graphic designer or Illustrator; I’m just a bloke who loves transferring images from his slightly addled brain into real-life pictures. The good news for me is that people aren’t too fussed how I got to where I am and some of you actually seem to quite like the stuff that emerges from my sketchbook.

Same Dog has brought me into contact with a heap of Tasmanian people that I might never have met otherwise. If you’re in a Hobart cafe, keep an eye out for me – I work from my very specky studio (affectionately known as The Kennel), but I can often be spotted camped in one of Hobart’s finer coffee palaces with a sketchbook and a flat white or three nearby. If you see someone that fits that description make sure you come over and say g’day.

It’s no secret that I’m trying to make money from selling my work (hey look, there’s a link to a shop up there in the corner!). So I’d love for you to buy something if you can, but if you can’t I’m just as happy if you leave a comment about a design that you like. Think of it as a nice virtual tummy rub or a scratch behind my ear.

About Jake

Jake? Who is Jake? Jake is my little yellow three-legged doggy logo – or is that six legs depending on how you look at him? I wasn’t quite sure what breed he was when he was born but over the years he’s shown himself to be a feisty little Jack Russell cross (very cross some days). If you grew up in Australia or Britain, you might have some inkling of why my doggy mate is called Jake and why he has three legs. It’s an homage to a very talented artist and entertainer who had a trademark song that just happens to have that name and that amount of legs in it.

The yo-yo is a nod to all things 70′s and 80′s, just because I like that stuff and like the idea that there’s something from my childhood in there. It’s like the ones we used to use in the Coca Cola Yo-Yo Championships at Coles New World when we were kids (I hope at least some of you remember the joke about where you go if the world blows up). Jake’s yo-yo doesn’t have a soft drink company logo on the side because he’s seen what that stuff does to coins and doesn’t think it’s very good for the tummies of young kiddies. The funny thing is that lots of people ask me how a dog can have three legs, but nobody has ever wondered how the hell he winds that yo-yo back up when it stops spinning at the bottom of a trick…