This jazz piano-playing dog cartoon character and logo was created for an independent musician looking to spice up his branding.

Initially I worked up a less-happy version of the jazz dog (see sketch below). Client wanted something more happy and fun to match his music style and personality (something he didn’t mention at the outset). He also wanted to drop the cigarette and ashtray, which makes sense considering the personality of the pooch.

Special thanks to my cartoonist buddy Pat Lewis who helped my name the dog (for the dog bowl gag). I wanted a name that was both a short dog-sounding name and a jazz musician sounding name. “Duke” hit the nail on the head.