AustLit

Jeff Hook graduated from a Graphic Art course at the Hobart Technical College while working as a cadet press artist on the Hobart Mercury. He moved to Melbourne and worked brieflly at the Sun News Pictorial in 1964, before becoming a cartoonist for the Herald Sun. Since his retirement in 1993, he has presented talks about cartooning, and contributed regular cartoons to the Sunday Herald Sun and a number of other publications.

Hook has won several awards for his cartoons, including the award for humorous illustration in the Australian Black and White Artists Club's Bulletin Awards (1981). He won two awards from the International Cartoon Festival at Knokke-Heist, Belgium: Best Political Cartoon (1987), and Best Press Cartoon (1991). In 1998, he was honoured with the Australian Black and White Artists Club's Silver Stanley Award for lifetime achievement.

Hook has written and illustrated children's books, and has illustrated the work of numerous other authors, including two children's books written by his son, Brendan: Harry the Honkerzoid (1997) and Planet of the Honkerzoids (1998). Many of Hook's illustrations contain a well-hidden rendition of a hook.