Johanna Basford

Last updated

OBE
Johanna Basford
Born1983 (age 41–42)
NationalityScottish
Alma mater Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design
Website johannabasford.com

Johanna Basford OBE (born 1983) is a Scottish illustrator. Her illustrations are hand-drawn, predominantly in black and white, with pencils and pens. [1] [2] Basford's works can be found in products such as colouring books, wallpaper, beer labels and even tattoos. [3] She is known to be a pioneer of the adult colouring book trend. [4]

Contents

Biography

Johanna Basford was born in 1983 [5] in Scotland and grew up on her parents' fish farm [6] in Auchnagatt in Aberdeenshire. [7] She graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD) in Dundee in 2005 with a degree in textile Design and a specialization in screen printing. [1] Basford lives and works in Aberdeenshire, Scotland [3] where she owns a small studio in a converted farmhouse with large windows that overlook the surrounding fields. [1] She believes computer generated graphics can feel "cold and soulless", which is why she uses traditional media. [8] Since publishing her first adult colouring book Secret Garden in 2013, she has sold more than 21 million [9] books worldwide, making her a leader of the adult colouring book boom. [10] [11] [12] She was previously married to James Watt, the co-founder of BrewDog, the 'punk' craft beer company and together they had 2 daughters. [13] [9] In February 2021, she announced on social media that she had separated from her husband the previous year. [14]

She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to art and entrepreneurship. [15]

In 2019 she broke the Guinness World Record for the Largest Drawing by an Individual, creating a huge floral drawing over 501 sq m (5,395 sq ft) in 12 hours at her former school, Ellon Academy in Aberdeenshire. [16]

In February 2021 it was announced that she would be hosting the University of Dundee's Annual Public Lecture in Entrepreneurship and that she had been awarded the university's Entrepreneurial Recognition Award. [17]

Works

Basford's commercial clients include Sony, Nike, Tate Modern and Starbucks. Queensberry-Hunt, a ceramics manufacturer, commissioned her to create hand drawn designs for their tableware collection in 2008. In 2010, she created graphics for the iPhone app The New Goodbye. [18] Basford was commissioned by Edinburgh Festival Fringe to illustrate the cover of their 2010 program. [19] She worked with an Edinburgh-based design agency, Whitespace, to create a series of illustrations for the program and the final artwork for the #FringeCover #Twitterpicture crowdsourced illustration campaign. [18]

In addition to her illustrations, Basford has designed glowing wallpapers, printed using special ultraviolet-sensitive inks. [19]

In May 2013, Basford opened her first solo exhibition at Dundee Contemporary Arts called Wonderlands: it was one of DCA's most successful exhibitions, with a total audience of 8,488. [20]

In November 2017, she created a Scottish themed Google Doodle for the search engine's homepage on St Andrew's Day. [21]

She is currently represented by literary agent Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown. [22]

Books

Awards received

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Rosanes, Kerby (8 May 2013). "Featured Artist: The Inky World of Johanna Basford". UCreative.com. UCreative Network. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  2. 1 2 Hunter, Paul (6 April 2015). "Colouring books designed for adults topping bestseller lists". Toronto Star. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Johanna Basford". Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  4. ↑ "The ink evangelist: Illustrator Johanna Basford on pioneering the adult colouring book trend". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  5. ↑ "Rough Cut Nation (Exhibition Notes)". National Galleries Scotland. National Galleries Scotland. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  6. ↑ Lidz, Franz. "The Artist Who Made Coloring Books Cool for Adults Returns With a New Masterpiece". Smithsonian. Smithsonian. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  7. ↑ Devine, Cate (30 June 2006). "Follow The Paper Trail". www.heraldscotland.com. Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  8. ↑ Lyons, Kim. "Johanna Basford's Coloring Books For Adults Are Gorgeous, And How Did We Forget How Much Fun Coloring Is?". www.bustle.com. Bustle.com. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  9. 1 2 Gallacher, Stevie. "Best-selling artist Johanna Basford on inspiring millions of DIY doodlers and going head to head in charts with beer tycoon husband". The Sunday Post. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  10. ↑ "All about me… – Johanna Basford". Johanna Basford. 24 October 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  11. ↑ "2 more coloring books by Johanna Basford Coming This Year". London: Associated Newspapers. AP. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  12. ↑ "2 More Coloring Books by Johanna Basford Coming This Year". The New York Times. Associated Press. 2 February 2016. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  13. ↑ "Start-up power: Meet the entrepreneurial couple given the royal seal of approval". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  14. ↑ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  15. ↑ "No. 61608". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2016. p. B10.
  16. ↑ "Artist breaks world record for largest solo drawing". BBC News. 6 January 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  17. 1 2 McLaren, Rob. "Former Dundee student Johanna Basford to inspire after selling 20 million books". The Courier. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  18. 1 2 "Illustrator Johanna Basford talks about being #TwitterPicture girl and more". ameliasmagazine. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Steed, Frances; Stevenson, Josephine (2012). Sourcing ideas: investigating textures, colours, structures, surfaces and patterns. Lausanne: AVA Academia. ISBN   9782940411634.
  20. ↑ "DCA Annual Report" (PDF). www.dca.org.uk. DCA. 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  21. ↑ "The Scottish artist behind St Andrew's Google Doodle". BBC News. 30 November 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  22. ↑ "Curtis Brown". www.curtisbrown.co.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  23. ↑ "Illustrator Johanna Basford launches Lost Ocean as adult colouring book craze sweeps the world". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  24. ↑ Ho, Victoria (13 January 2016). "China's bestseller of 2015 was a coloring book for adults". Mashable. Singapore. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  25. ↑ Fraser, Douglas. "Ink evangelist Johanna Basford makes it big". BBC News. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  26. 1 2 3 "Best Sellers – The New York Times". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  27. ↑ "Artist Goes Outside The Lines With Coloring Books For Grown-Ups" . Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  28. ↑ Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest & Coloring Book Paperback. Laurence King Pub. 17 February 2015. ISBN   1780674880.
  29. ↑ Basford, Johanna (17 February 2015). Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest & Coloring Book. Laurence King Publishing; Act Clr Cs edition. ISBN   9781780674889.
  30. ↑ Alter, Alexandra (23 December 2015). "Looking Back at 2015 in Book Publishing". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  31. ↑ "Ed Victor Ltd. | News". www.edvictor.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  32. ↑ Ivy and the Inky Butterfly by Johanna Basford | PenguinRandomHouse.com.

Further reading

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