But little did he know his most recent sketch would be seen by hundreds of thousands of people around the country, and could win one of his teachers a trip to the Antarctic next month.
The 14-year-old Bayfield High School pupil has been selected as one of 20 finalists in the Google Doodle competition.
The internet search engine celebrates different people, events or special dates with colourful adaptations of the Google name.
While the doodles are usually designed by a team of doodlers at Google, the company once again invited year 1-10 school pupils to sharpen their pencils and use their imagination and artistic talent. This time, the brief was to create a Google doodle depicting their vision of exploration.
Jakob said his doodle was inspired by Sir Edmund Hillary's ascent of Mt Everest.
His pencil sketch showed the Google logo within a mountain with climbers on it.
A judging panel selected it as one of the final 20 entries, based on artistic merit, creativity, how well the designer's concept of the theme was expressed, and how well the artist explained their idea of exploration.
''I've been drawing birdlife and animals since I was in primary school.
''Getting an image that's in your head on to paper and seeing your imagination on paper is great.
''It lets me document my thoughts better than a camera.
''A camera takes pictures of what's there - warts and all. But with drawing, you can fix those imperfections.''
Jakob's doodle will be available on the Google website this week. New Zealanders can vote for their favourite doodle in each age group.
Voting closes on October 27.
The winning doodle will be shown on the Google home page for a day for millions of New Zealanders to enjoy.
There is $10,000 worth of prizes for the winner's school, and a teacher from the school will travel to the Antarctic for 2-4 weeks with the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, which leaves on November 27.
