Johanna Basford

Johanna Basford (born 1983) is a Scottish illustrator. Her illustrations are hand-drawn, predominantly in black and white, with pencils and pens, She has published colouring books for adults.

Personal life

Basford was born in 1983 in Scotland and grew up on her parents' fish farm in Auchnagatt in Aberdeenshire. After attending Ellon Academy, she graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD) in Dundee in 2005 with a degree in textile design and a specialisation in screen printing.

Basford lives and works in Aberdeenshire, Scotland,

Since publishing her first adult colouring book Secret Garden in 2013, she has sold more than 21 million books worldwide.

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

In 2019 she broke the Guinness World Record for the Largest Drawing by an Individual, creating a floral drawing over in twelve hours at her former school, Ellon Academy.

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.

In addition to her illustrations, Basford has designed glowing wallpapers, printed using special ultraviolet-sensitive inks. In November 2017, she created a Scottish themed Google Doodle for the search engine's homepage on St Andrew's Day.

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 (three million in China alone ). The book has been published in over 40 territories and has appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list. 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. It has also appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list. Debuted at Number 1 on the US Non Fiction Bestsellers list in its first week of publication and peaked at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list. 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 2009 – Channel 4 Talent Award 2021 – University of Dundee Entrepreneurial Recognition Award