We have a WINNER!

Just a quick post to say a BIG thank you to all those who took part in the HoBoJoBo Twitter competition. Whether you followed, retweeted, favourite-d on Twitter or shared on Facebook, your participation really made my year! 

I announced the winner, Jake who chose a new illustrated version of his Twitter avatar.  In the photo I worked from, there aren't lasers shooting behind him, but I thought "mmm, space-y!". Enjoy, Jake :D

Competition Time!

That's right!  I'm giving away a bespoke illustration in the first (hopefully of many) HoBoJoBo competition!  The prize will be an A3 drawing of the winner's choice, either a portrait of you (the winner), a mad collection of your favourite things, your childhood house...whatever you choose!

I initially launched this on Thursday 11th October, with the terms being that the winner would be the 500th follower on my Twitter page but, after some consideration and discussion I have realised that it's much fairer that the prize will be drawn (no pun intended) from the list of the first 500 followers once that number is reached.  This way, the prize could end up going to one of you long-term followers or equally to someone brand new to HoBoJoBo!  So, you have a 1 in 500 chance of winning!

I currently have 454 followers, can you help me reach the magic number 500?

My pen is at the ready, waiting for the draw!

Good luck!

New Work, Portraits & The Olympics: it's shaping to be a great August!

It's all go at HBJB headquarters: drawing, research and new projects ahoy!

Firstly, I've started a range of portraits of my idols - you've seen the first already with Patti Smith in the last blog post - and there's more in the pipeline so expect more coming soon. If you'd like a portrait (it doesn't have to be an icon) get in touch.

Also, I really got into the Olympics, such a great way to work with such focus, ambition and success going on in the background, I was hoping it would bleed through into my own work!  

During that fortnight, I worked on a couple of related illustrations, one of which was inspired during the closing ceremony, which - let's face it - was a mixed bag, but seeing Darcey Bussell and the Royal Ballet perform was pretty spectacular!  I've been a ballet fan since I was even tinier than I am today and loved the dubstep breakdown!

Darcey Bussell and the Royal Ballet performing at the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony by HoBoJoBo.

And finally, I'm now working on my first product range, very excited but that's for another day - such a tease! 

Until next time...!

Social Media: The Freelancer's Double-Edged Sword

You know the ones, those days when you can't seem to get away from those sites.  The ones that have a constant stream of new content (however irrelevant) and you stay transfixed, waiting for the (1) icon to pop up on the multiple tabs you have open to monitor them all.  "Ooooh, is it a miracle job offer?!" No, it's not. Just switch it off and get on with some actual work!  Excuse the tone, that was directed at myself more than anyone else.


Social media has grown exponentially since it's arrival in the mid-2000s and with that, it has become a fantastic tool for promoting your small business or projects.  I myself wouldn't have found the contacts and confidence plus industry insight that I have now without certain sites and yes, plenty more people have seen my work around the world.  However, as great as this is, there's no point to it if you don't still spend the majority of your time doing the thing it is you're promoting.  As a freelancer, there are already so many demands on your time and distractions, don't fool yourself into thinking that staring at a rolling feed is part of your day job.


Tools like Rescue Time are great for measuring exactly how long you spend on your social media accounts as well as more productive sites and apps.  It even asks what you've been up to if you've been away from the computer for a while!  But the real skill here is to discipline yourself and to learn that no progress will come without the graft on your own work.


If you're worried about your presence faltering and losing Klout, set up some automated feeds, and definitely connect your accounts in a way that best reflects your strategy (you don't necessarily want your LinkedIn and Facebook accounts featuring the same content) and give yourself limited periods in the day to focus on promotion (not just social media) so your message is still loud and clear.


Final thought: the worst thing you can do is leave the tabs running on your browser, as soon as a notification pops up you're doomed!

Hi Diddly Dee, The Freelance Life For Me!

I did it. I went freelance professionally!  Fed up with the lack of time and focus having a full-time job left me for illustration and design projects I went and quit my job in the name of love (of drawing).


Exciting as this is, I must also stress how... stressful it is.  I, luckily, found part-time work at a bar in my first week so at least the bills will be paid, but living in Brighton provides more than its fair share of expensive distractions; it's a daily challenge to not spend my days in coffee shops and buying art supplies.  The summer helps by adding more equal opportunity distractions such as the beach (yay!).  But I'm not complaining, I just have to learn some self-discipline!


I've tasked myself with increasing and improving my portfolio first with a new website in the pipeline too.  The biggest challenge right now is to get out of the mindset that working involves being sat a computer all day and freeing up the A-roads from my imagination to my drawing hand.  I've started with some portraits but my sketchbook is filling up nicely with all sorts, from typography to characters to patterns.  


I'm loving having the time to work on ideas and have also decided to offer social media consultation as part of my skill set, having come from a varied marketing background and established myself as a social media expert in my previous full-time role, it seems a natural step and it's something I really enjoy.


I'll leave you with one of my recent sketches which I plan to develop further so here's an exclusive guys!

Patti Smith, the 'Godmother of Punk'

Waste of Space Gets Going

You may have noticed from postings on my Facebook and Twitter pages over the last few months that I have been involved in organising a wonderful project that starts with the Brighton Fringe Festival but opens a whole world of future collaborations.  


Waste of Space is the culmination of five collectives including ours, C'LECTIVE.  The project uses empty shops and spaces to create pop up galleries and arts events, drawing attention to the potential of the spaces outside of retail and finding a purposes for them in our community, especially in this time of high street decline.


Our first venue, 99 Church Road, Hove, opened with the start of the Fringe festival and has seen high turnout across all the weekends so far.  It's an amazing project and it feels great to be exhibiting with the whole team.


Come down and say hi before we close on 27th May, there's other venues to visit too so follow the trail and experience something a little different this festival.

My work at 99 Church Road

What's Your Type Competition

I entered a competition at the end of last year run by @ohmommauk.  The subject struck me, it was to design your favourite letter.  I'd been meaning to work on some typography so, le perfect excuse, non?  So I went about my process and came up with this:

I was pretty pleased with it but something was eating away in the back of my mind.  Anyway, months later here I am, going back and realising that there's something HUGE missing from it - it doesn't glow!  Alas, I've been playing...

Now, tell me, is there ANYTHING that can't be made better with neon??