This post is an intro to a new series that I would like to start on my blog called ‘Colour with Me’ where I will basically be sharing some of my other artistic hobbies, ie. colouring, drawing, art journaling etc. In today’s post I’m going to start off the series by sharing with you ‘My Colouring Book Collection‘. These aren’t your average colouring books, these are for one more expensive and much better quality than something you might see intended for children.
The adult colouring book trend has been quite big in the last few years and I have gathered quite a collection. So far I’ve particularly loved the ones released by illustrator ‘Johanna Basford’ which is what I’m going to share with you today.
I’m going to include links to the books on her website just in case you are interested in purchasing any of them, I will link them throughout this post in the names of each book just so you know where to expect to find them. Note: None of these links are affiliate links, they are just so you know where to find them.
My Johanna Basford Colouring Book Collection
I’ve really fallen in love with ‘Johanna Basford’s‘ magical worlds that she brings to life through stunning illustrations or as she likes to call them inky tales. She created them but it’s up to us to bring them to life by colouring them in and this makes each copy so individual.
Ivy and the Inky Butterfly by Johanna Basford
‘Ivy and the Inky Butterfly’ was released in 2017 and was Johanna’s first colouring book that also included a story. This book has some magical scenes and characters, it follows Ivy’s story, a young girl who discovers a secret door that leads to a magical world.
I’ve only coloured a couple of pages but my hope this year is to take more time to spend on my other creative hobbies including colouring, art journaling and photography.
I love the story of this book and I love the elements of curiosities as well as magical worlds and the little creatures included in it.
World Of Flowers by Johanna Basford
‘World of Flowers‘ is Johanna’s newest book, it was inspired by her grandmother who was both an lover of gardening and an artist.
What I love about each of her books is they take you on an inky tale that’s just waiting for you to bring them to life through your own imagination and this one is no exception, it filled with beautiful illustrations of ‘flora and gardeners delights’.
Enchanted Forest by Johanna Basford
‘Enchanted Forest’ was one of the first books that I purchased from ‘Johanna Basford’ along with ‘Secret Garden‘ and is also one of my favourites. I keep going back to this one time and time again.
This book takes you on a magical journey into an enchanted forest filled with ‘woodland creatures and magical castles’. I love that even though most of her books don’t have words they have an underlying story and theme through out.
Lost Ocean By Johanna Basford
‘Lost Ocean‘ also has to be another one of my favourites, inspired by what lays under the sea, it has some beautiful illustrations filled with different creatures including octopi, exotic fish and mermaids.
Like many of Johanna’s other books, this has a little treasure hunt which is placed throughout the many stunning illustrations, this one, in particular, has shipwrecks and pirates treasure to continue with that underwater theme.
Magical Jungle By Johanna Basford
I picked up ‘Magical Jungle’ in 2016 not long after it released, as the name suggests this one has a jungle theme and includes some beautiful illustrations of exotic animals both big and small.
My favourite that I’ve done so far is this giant butterfly which I notice a theme of throughout her books and these have to be some of my favourites to colour in because I love butterflies.
Secret Garden by Johanna Basford
‘Secret Garden‘ was Johanna’s first book and includes beautiful gardens and creatures hidden throughout it.
My favourite from the book has to be the bird duo pictured above, I love these style of images in her books they are simple yet look so beautiful once they are coloured in. I love colouring in the background in a dark colour it just makes the colours pop.
What mediums do I use to colour with?
I love using all sorts of mediums to colour in, from markers to pencils each one gives a unique look to the illustrations. And even if you feel like you are lacking artistic skills it doesn’t matter because you can easily create whatever your heart desires through colouring in these beautiful illustrations while diving into a magical tale all at the same time.
If you would like me to do a post on what kinds of mediums I use? I can totally do that. let me know if you would like a more indepth post on what I use to colour and art journal.
I feel like now is a great time to get into things like colouring or art journaling, with people self-isolating and the stress and anxiety that everyone is experiencing right now, it is certainly a great way to de-stress. Even though purchasing physical colouring books may not be accessable to everyone right now there are some alternative ways of being able to get into something like colouring, whether it be downloading a colouring app on your device or if you have a home printer you can download some free colouring pages and print them out. Johanna has kindly created a page on her website where people are able to download some free colouring pages to print out at home so If your interested in getting in to colouring then you can always check it out and download some to colour in.
I think what I love most about Joanna’s books apart from the stories and themes is the focus on nature, I remember having to study botanical illustration when I was studying Media Arts in my early adulthood and these illustrations take that idea of documenting the many beautiful species of plants we have on our planet but with something extra.
One of my other hobbies is taking pictures of nature particularly flowers and I think that’s why I love these books so much. When I’m colouring in these illustrations it gives me that same level of happiness as if I was out photographing nature.
If your interested in trying your hand at drawing check out Johanna’s latest book ‘How to draw Inky Wonderlands’ she gives you the basics to creating simple but beautiful inky wonderlands of your own. I picked this up and I can’t believe how easy it is, it is defiantly something I would love to include in this series at some point. I think she also has some tutorials on her website or social media, if you want to check those out as well.
What are your favourite colouring books? any recommendations? let me know.
Until next time, I hope you have a lovely day.
Disclaimer – This post is not sponsored and doesn’t contain any affiliate links, links included are for reference only in case your interest in purchasing the reviewed product. Read full Disclaimer here.
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