Johanna BasfordOBE (born 1983) is a Scottish illustrator. Her illustrations are hand-drawn, predominantly in black and white, with pencils and pens.[1][2] Her works can be found in products such as colouring books, wallpaper, beer labels and tattoos.[3] She has published colouring books for adults.[4]
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 studio in a converted farmhouse.[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 bookSecret Garden in 2013, she has sold more than 21 million books worldwide.[9][10][11] She was previously married to James Watt, the co-founder of BrewDog, and together they had two daughters.[12][9] In February 2021, she announced on social media that she had separated from her husband the previous year.[13]
In 2019 she broke the Guinness World Record for the Largest Drawing by an Individual, creating a floral drawing over 501 sq m (5,395 sq ft) in 12 hours at her former school, Ellon Academy in Aberdeenshire.[15]
In 2021, she hosted the University of Dundee's Annual Public Lecture in Entrepreneurship and received the university's Entrepreneurial Recognition Award.[16]
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.[17] Basford was commissioned by Edinburgh Festival Fringe to illustrate the cover of their 2010 program.[18] 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.[17]
In addition to her illustrations, Basford has designed glowing wallpapers, printed using special ultraviolet-sensitive inks.[18]
In May 2013, Basford opened her first solo exhibition at Dundee Contemporary Arts called Wonderlands.[19] In November 2017, she created a Scottish themed Google Doodle for the search engine's homepage on St Andrew's Day.[20]
Books
Johanna's Christmas (1 January 2013) – Virgin Book – Johanna's debut colouring book.
Secret Garden: 20 Postcards (21 January 2014) – Laurence King Publishing
Secret Garden: Three Mini Journals (19 August 2014) – Laurence King Publishing
Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest and Colouring Book (2015) – Laurence King Publishing — Sold out all 226,000 copies within weeks of its release on 17 February 2015. The publishers printed a second edition of 250,000.[2][25][26][27] It has also appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list.[24]
Secret Garden Artist's Edition: A Pull-Out and Frame Colouring Book /anglais (4 July 2015) – Penguin Random House
Enchanted Forest Postcards: 20 Postcards (28 July 2015) – Penguin Random House
Lost Ocean: An Inky Adventure and Colouring Book (27 October 2015) – Penguin Random House — Has sold over 1.3 million copies in the US alone.[28] Debuted at Number 1 on the US Non Fiction Bestsellers list in its first week of publication[29] and peaked at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.[24]
Johanna Basford's Secret Garden Journal (1 December 2015) – Laurence King Pubslihing
Magical Jungle: An Inky Expedition and Colouring Book (9 August 2016) – Penguin Random House
Magical Jungle (11 August 2016) – Virgin Books
Johanna's Christmas: A Festive Colouring Book (25 October 2016) – Penguin Random House
Johanna Basford's Enchanted Forest Journal (29 November 2016) – Laurence King Publishing
Lost Ocean: Artist's Edition (6 April 2017) – Virgin Books
Magical Jungle: 36 Postcards to Color and Send (30 May 2017) – Penguin Random House
Ivy and the Inky Butterfly: A Magical Tale to Color (10 October 2017) – Penguin Random House[30]
Ivy and the Inky Butterfly: A Magical Tale to Color (12 October 2017) – Virgin Books
World of Flowers: A Colouring Book and Floral Adventure (23 October 2018) – Penguin Random House
World of Flowers: A Colouring Book and Floral Adventure (25 October 2018) – Virgin Books
Johanna Basford 2020 Weekly Coloring Planner Calendar (13 August 2019) – Andrews McMeel Publishing
How to Draw Inky Wonderlands: Create and Colour Your Own Magical Adventure (15 October 2019) – Penguin Random House
Johanna Basford Land, Sea, and Sky: Three Colourable Notebooks (10 March 2020) – Clarkson Potter
Miniature Secret Garden: A Pocket-sized Adventure Coloring Book (22 September 2020) – Laurence King Publishing
Miniature Enchanted Forest (23 February 2021) – Laurence King Publishing
Worlds of Wonder: A Coloring Book for the Curious (30 March 2021) – Penguin Random House
Johanna Basford 2022 Weekly Coloring Planner Calendar (28 September 2021) – Penguin Random House
Johanna Basford 2022 Weekly Coloring Wall Calendar: Special Collection of Whimsical Illustrations From Her Best-Selling Books (28 September 2021) – Andrew McMeel Publishing
30 Days of Creativity: Draw, Color and Discover Your Creative Self (26 October 2021) – Penguin Random House
"Work inspiration with Johanna Basford". workspiration.org. Workspiration. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2016. A lot of my work is nature inspired and takes cues from the flora and fauna I grew up with in rural Scotland.
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