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] 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]

OBE

Johanna Basford
Born1983 (age 37–38)
Scotland
Spouse(s)James Watt
WebsiteOfficial website

Biography

Johanna Basford was born in 1983[5] in Scotland and grew up on her parent's 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 that 20 million books worldwide, making her a leader of the adult colouring book boom.[9][10][11] She is married to James Watt, the co-founder of Brewdog, the 'punk' craft beer company.[12]

She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to art and entrepreneurship.[13]

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.[14] Basford was commissioned by Edinburgh Festival Fringe to illustrate the cover of their 2010 program.[15] 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.[14]

In addition to her illustrations, Basford has designed glowing wallpapers, printed using special ultraviolet-sensitive inks.[15]

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.[16]

She is currently represented by literary agent Ed Victor.[17]

Books
  • 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[18](three million in China alone[19]). The book has been published in over 40 territories[20] and has appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list.[21]
  • 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][22][23][24] It has also appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list.[21]
  • 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.[25] Debuted at Number 1 on the US Non Fiction Bestsellers list in its first week of publication[17] and peaked at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.[21]
  • Magical Jungle: An Inky Expedition and Colouring Book (9 August 2016) - Penguin Random House
  • Johanna's Christmas: A Festive Colouring Book (25 October 2016) - Penguin Random House
  • Ivy and the Inky Butterfly (10 October 2017) - Penguin Random House[26]
  • World of Flowers: A Colouring Book and Floral Adventure (23 October 2018) - Penguin Random House

Awards received

References
  1. Rosanes, Kerby (8 May 2013). "Featured Artist: The Inky World of Johanna Basford". UCreative.com. UCreative Network. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  2. Hunter, Paul (6 April 2015). "Colouring books designed for adults topping bestseller lists". Toronto Star. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  3. "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. "All about me… - Johanna Basford". Johanna Basford. 24 October 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  10. "2 more coloring books by Johanna Basford Coming This Year". London: Associated Newspapers. AP. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  11. "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.
  12. "Start-up power: Meet the entrepreneurial couple given the royal seal of approval". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  13. "No. 61608". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2016. p. B10.
  14. "Illustrator Johanna Basford talks about being #TwitterPicture girl and more". ameliasmagazine. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  15. Steed, Frances; Stevenson, Josephine (2012). Sourcing ideas: investigating textures, colours, structures, surfaces and patterns. Lausanne: AVA Academia. ISBN 9782940411634.
  16. "DCA Annual Report" (PDF). www.dca.org.uk. DCA. 2014.
  17. "Ed Victor Ltd. | News". www.edvictor.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  18. "Illustrator Johanna Basford launches Lost Ocean as adult colouring book craze sweeps the world". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  19. Ho, Victoria (13 January 2016). "China's bestseller of 2015 was a coloring book for adults". Mashable. Singapore. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  20. Fraser, Douglas. "Ink evangelist Johanna Basford makes it big". BBC News. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  21. "Best Sellers - The New York Times". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  22. "Artist Goes Outside The Lines With Coloring Books For Grown-Ups". Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  23. Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest & Coloring Book Paperback. Laurence King Pub. 17 February 2015. ISBN 1780674880.
  24. Basford, Johanna (17 February 2015). Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest & Coloring Book. Laurence King Publishing; Act Clr Cs edition. ISBN 9781780674889.
  25. Alter, Alexandra (23 December 2015). "Looking Back at 2015 in Book Publishing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  26. Ivy and the Inky Butterfly by Johanna Basford | PenguinRandomHouse.com.

Further reading
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