Johanna Basford

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] 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 OBE
Born	1983 (age 41–42)
Nationality	Scottish
Alma mater	Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design
Website	johannabasford.com

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 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 book Secret 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]

She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to art and entrepreneurship.^[14]

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: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Colouring Book (2013) – Laurence King Publishing — As of March 2015, more than 10 million copies of this book have been sold worldwide^[21](three million in China alone^[22]). The book has been published in over 40 territories^[23] and has appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list.^[24]
• 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
• Johanna Basford 2021 Weekly Coloring Planner Calendar (14 July 2020) – Andrews McMeel Publishing
• 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

Awards received

• 2007 – Elle Decoration Design Award^[18]
• 2009 – Channel 4 Talent Award^[18]
• 2021 – University of Dundee Entrepreneurial Recognition Award^[16]