Cubes, spirals and cobwebs, which is an odd one considering I’m petrified of spiders, are persistent reoccurrences in my doodling. We all doodle. Our minds and our hands secretly collude while we’re on the phone listening to a friend’s troubles or while you are politely and extremely patiently waiting while your mother fills you in on what the neighbour is doing. How often do you get that sudden smirking when you realise, as you look down at the paper, that a celeb is now sporting a moustache and glasses?
We’re a strange bunch and a creative bunch too but it’s not just that, it’s that our minds need an outlet; we need to de-stress. Doodling, drawing and colouring helps to calm us which is why Johanna Basford was approached by publisher Laurence King to create adult colouring books. With colourers hiding behind their children no longer, the passion for grown-up colouring had been outed and the books are in high demand.
Johanna creates hand drawn intricate pictures of (predominantly) flora and fauna with hidden insects and birds in her chart-topping book Secret Garden which was released in 2013 and her newly published Enchanted Forest.
Richard Merritt’s Art Therapy and Milly Marotta’s Animal Kingdom are also in the top ten bestselling on Amazon.co.uk. Obviously these are not the only illustrators producing colouring books for adults, these are simply the most popular.
But it’s not purely the concept of adult colouring books which is interesting, it’s the gallery on Johanna’s website. She’s encouraging people to send in their colouring and provide extra details such as what type pens and pencils are used. The visitors to the site vote and the highest rated gets put onto her Facebook page.
This concept of creating a gallery out of a collaboration between your illustrations and someone else’s colouring interpretation is one which could be extended. Maybe we will see galleries grasping this new craze and hosting exhibitions or maybe there will be an influence on tattoos as some of the work is extremely beautiful and intricate. Maybe Johanna will end up with commissions not just for tattoos but for wallpaper, murals or personalised books. Maybe I should claim a percentage for my ideas? Although, with a client list including DKNY, Sony music and Tate Modern I don’t think she’ll need my help. These illustrators are opening up a new world of expanding possibilities and it’s good to see art in all its forms evolving.
To view Johanna’s website gallery visit www.johannabasford.com
For a look at Richard Merrit’s site www.richard-merritt.com
by Helen Shewry
Leave a Reply