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!