Jean Jullien smashes Kickstarter target for new dog-themed card game

In less than 24 hours illustrator Jean Jullien has exceeded the Kickstarter target for card game Dodgy Dogs, which he has created in collaboration with Yolky Games. At the time of writing, the campaign had surpassed its £10,000 target by more than £7,000, with several hours to go until the campaign’s official launch.

“I’m pretty surprised people supported it so much so quickly, I’m really touched!” Jean told It’s Nice That. “I treated it like a series of mini-posters so that each image would work as a standalone piece of graphics. I’m really happy with the result.”

The Dodgy Dogs game is themed around badly behaved dogs. Its aim is to get rid of all the dodgy dogs – those guilty of barking, digging, chewing and escaping – out of your hand as quickly as possible. “Our favourite type of dogs are the dodgy ones,” writes the Yolky Games team on the Kickstarter page. “Those who chew your shoes, jump on furniture, roll in the mud… We believe that mischievous dogs have a bit more personality so they’re the stars of the game. They are our beloved Dodgy Dogs.”

Jean attributes his Kickstarter success to the knowledge of friends at Sidekick Creatives and Studio Pinata, plus “it’s a nice friendly project that ticks a lot of boxes of what people like: games, illustration, dogs, etc”. Nicolas Jullien, Jean’s brother, has also created a hilarious set of animations to coincide with the launch.

Jean, who created a poster for our current issue of Printed Pages, is a long-time dog-lover, with the hairy beasts often cropping up in his work. In March 2017 he published the book Under Dogs with Hato Press, live-drawing mutts and pooches at its launch.

Hilariously, dog-owners hoping to bring their pets to the Dodgy Dogs launch at Downstairs at Mother were asked to sign a disclaimer ensuring that they had Public Liability Insurance, up-to-date flea prevention and “a friendly disposition”. Attendees also had to commit to keeping their furry pals off soft furnishings and were advised that they would be asked to leave immediately if they got too rowdy. Getting rid of the dodgy dogs from their hand, you might say.