What do you think?
Rate this book
30 Days of Creativity: Draw, Color, and Discover Your Creative Self
The creator of the worldwide bestselling coloring books is back with a new book to unlock that inner creative lurking in us all, a guide that encourages comfort, pushes us to experiment, and above all, empowers us to discover joy in our own lives
In 30 Days of Creativity , colorist Johanna Basford takes you on a journey of imaginative prompts and inspiring ideas that will kick-start your creativity. A mix of whimsical doodle pages, expert artistic advice, and simple step-by-step drawing guides, the book celebrates the things that bring us comfort and joy, from scrumptious ice cream cones to flourishing potted plants. And of course, there's plenty of pages to color when you find yourself in flow and want to remain in the creative bubble a little longer. For those of us who struggle to make time for self-care, the prompt to pick up your book each day will soon become a creative habit that allows a little calm into your life.
In 30 Days of Creativity , colorist Johanna Basford takes you on a journey of imaginative prompts and inspiring ideas that will kick-start your creativity. A mix of whimsical doodle pages, expert artistic advice, and simple step-by-step drawing guides, the book celebrates the things that bring us comfort and joy, from scrumptious ice cream cones to flourishing potted plants. And of course, there's plenty of pages to color when you find yourself in flow and want to remain in the creative bubble a little longer. For those of us who struggle to make time for self-care, the prompt to pick up your book each day will soon become a creative habit that allows a little calm into your life.
80 pages, Paperback
Published October 26, 2021
8 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 4, 2021
30 Days of Creativity by Johanna Basford, a creativity journal, workbook for every person out there who wishes to kick start their creativity. A book which will help you discover your creativity through drawing, colouring, etc.
The book has 30 or more prompts / tasks for each day to begin and built a habit and the book helps us built a channel of creativity and gives us a direction. There are in total 15 coloring activities and 15 drawing/doodling ones.
I feel the book came to me at the right time. If you keep a track on my posts, I did mention to start with some scrapbook journaling a couple of days back, but we all feel we lack that Creativity, well I felt the same about me. But I did start with this book a couple of days back and it genuinely feels so good.
Now I feel we all have some form and level of creativity within us, we just need to brush up a little and nurture it, which is where this book helped me. Yes, it's not important to be the best artist around, but it's important to be your best self and creative what resembles you!
I have started my creative journey with this beautiful book and I suggest you guys start too! I will definitely be sharing some of my snippets from the creatives in this book on reels in the future. Do keep an eye on that!
The book has 30 or more prompts / tasks for each day to begin and built a habit and the book helps us built a channel of creativity and gives us a direction. There are in total 15 coloring activities and 15 drawing/doodling ones.
I feel the book came to me at the right time. If you keep a track on my posts, I did mention to start with some scrapbook journaling a couple of days back, but we all feel we lack that Creativity, well I felt the same about me. But I did start with this book a couple of days back and it genuinely feels so good.
Now I feel we all have some form and level of creativity within us, we just need to brush up a little and nurture it, which is where this book helped me. Yes, it's not important to be the best artist around, but it's important to be your best self and creative what resembles you!
I have started my creative journey with this beautiful book and I suggest you guys start too! I will definitely be sharing some of my snippets from the creatives in this book on reels in the future. Do keep an eye on that!
November 5, 2021
I am loving this book - it's an activity book to help you rediscover the joy of creativity that you had as a child with a crayon in hand, but which you may have lost as you grew up!
There is also a course - short video clips - to accompany each day which will always remain online - you can sign up here: https://mailchi.mp/johannabasford.com.... So you can step through the 30 days with the author, if you wish, or you can tackle them on your own however you see fit!
There is also a course - short video clips - to accompany each day which will always remain online - you can sign up here: https://mailchi.mp/johannabasford.com.... So you can step through the 30 days with the author, if you wish, or you can tackle them on your own however you see fit!
October 26, 2021
Pub Day for this pretty and delightful book. Just received my copy in the mail. If you like to draw and color occasionally but need inspiration this book is for you.
Excellent quality, thick craft paper, and easy instructions. You can follow along the 30 day plan or just pick something at random and go for it!
That’s my plan! 😊
This would also make a fantastic gift for anyone who enjoys dabbling in art. It’s not geared for kids, but any kid interested in art, say about 12 years old and up, would love it. It’s traditional art, so no cartoons or anime, but that’s ok.
Enjoy !
Excellent quality, thick craft paper, and easy instructions. You can follow along the 30 day plan or just pick something at random and go for it!
That’s my plan! 😊
This would also make a fantastic gift for anyone who enjoys dabbling in art. It’s not geared for kids, but any kid interested in art, say about 12 years old and up, would love it. It’s traditional art, so no cartoons or anime, but that’s ok.
Enjoy !
January 7, 2022
30 Days of Creativity is a workbook with eclectic prompts and artist advices that will guide you through your journey of creativity. The book is expertly curated by the author with pages that are pleasing to work with, giving the instant satisfaction of being a creator!
I thoroughly spending time working on this book. From doodling, sketching to colouring, using this book turned into pockets of peace and happiness for the past month. The book is planned in such an interesting way, with exercises that will broaden your imagination and are whimsical as well. It was a truly enjoyable experience getting the creative juices going and getting a concrete result at the end.
I thoroughly spending time working on this book. From doodling, sketching to colouring, using this book turned into pockets of peace and happiness for the past month. The book is planned in such an interesting way, with exercises that will broaden your imagination and are whimsical as well. It was a truly enjoyable experience getting the creative juices going and getting a concrete result at the end.
June 30, 2021
A slim coloring book to inspire readers to create their own art. Great illustrations and ideas to produce ones own illustrations. My favorite idea was illustrating family recipes that have been handed down. I can see a whole book project ahead. 🙃
November 5, 2021
Thank you for an advance copy of this book! I am a huge fan of Johanna Basford. I love the activities in this book so much I just had to pick up a physical copy for myself. Can't wait to work through these 30 days of activities and prompts. Artists and creatives of all types will love this book!
November 2, 2021
This review is taken from my blog where I review adult colouring books from a mental health perspective. A comparison of the UK and US edition can be found in writing and video form, photos and a video flick through of the book can also be found here -https://colouringinthemidstofmadness....
This book is most similar to How to Draw Inky Wonderlands but it’s also largely different from anything previously produced by Johanna and in fact, anything else I’ve seen on the market. This book was born during the Covid-19 pandemic and Johanna created it to help instil creative habits in us all. I’ll be completely honest, when she first announced the theme of the book, I was disappointed because I’m not such a huge fan of books where I need to add anything myself other than colour because drawing isn’t my forte (despite the fantastic lessons Johanna gave us) and my imagination isn’t so up to scratch with working out what to add. However, I have learnt that Johanna is always to be trusted and as ever, she’s created a truly beautiful book, way beyond my expectations based on the title and it’s honestly really lovely! While there are a lot of activity pages, they mostly don’t feel overwhelming or unachievable, at least not to me and there are plenty of colouring pages for those traditional creative days that are what so many of us were drawn into this hobby by. The pages consist of 30 double page spreads of activities and 5 double pages of colourable quotes interspersed within these. The activities include 18 colouring tasks (this is mostly based on explicit instruction to colour as really the whole book can be coloured), 11 drawing tasks, 7 doodling, 1 recipe and as previously mentioned, 5 colourable quotes.
The book itself is paperback and unlike the majority of Johanna’s colouring books, it’s rectangular, not square and measures 21.5 by 25.5cm, making it the same size as Ivy and the Inky Butterfly and How to Draw Inky Wonderlands and the same height as all of the US editions of Johanna’s colouring books. As with all US editions, there is no removable dust cover (nor is there on the UK edition this time), instead having flexible card covers with ½ French flaps which open out front and back to reveal a beautiful design of all sorts of objects including cakes, flowers, fish and utensils that is fully colourable; it isn’t waxy and is very smooth meaning most mediums will be suitable for colouring it, just be careful with alcohol markers in case they bleed through to the external covers. The covers are a beautiful pale blue and the front cover has gold foiling accents. The spine is white with black text and is glue bound which has caused issues in the past for colourists and without very careful handling can lead to pages falling out. Little to none of the content enters the spine and therefore you don’t lose much in the gutter. The pages are printed double-sided. The paper is the same as that used in previous US editions of Johanna’s titles from Magical Jungle onwards, this paper was created and named after Johanna and it’s beautiful. It’s not the same paper as used in the UK editions. The paper is a pale ivory colour, it’s a medium thickness and lightly textured and it’s perfect for pens and pencils. It has a good level of tooth so it can cope with pencil lines being drawn and erased and the Staedtler Pigment Liners that Johanna uses herself and recommends drawing with work beautifully on the paper with a light touch but can lead to feathering and spreading due to the tooth of the paper. Using the Staedtler Pigment Liners means that your drawings will match Johanna’s and blend in really well with the printed artwork so your drawings won’t stand out as “different” from the content that’s already on the page. The paper is ideal for pencils and water-based pens and you only need to avoid alcohol makers or particularly wet media. As ever, there’s a test page at the back of the book where you can check out how each of your tools and mediums behaves.
This is very much an activity book but with a real grown-up feel to it and it’s a great way to start a creative habit. It begins with an introduction and tips page and follows on to a habit tracker so that you can mark off each day when you’ve done your allotted 10 minutes of creativity. There are no page numbers and each double-page spread stands alone so you can work through the book in order, work through the same page on consecutive days until it’s finished or work through at random, picking and choosing what you fancy as you go, it’s entirely up to you. There are no rules and no rights or wrongs. If you’re getting stuck about where to start then Johanna is running a 30 day free course of videos and you can follow along with her in your book to get the habit embedded and also to experience being part of a huge group of people all over the world who’ll all be doing the same thing. If you’re interested in joining the course or participating later then all of the information about it can be found on her website and social media pages and it begins on the 1st of November.
The colouring pages and sections in this book are, as ever, really lovely and encompass a wide range of subjects including baking ingredients and equipment, robots, art supplies, all sorts of food, flowers, underwater creatures and more. Many of the drawing tasks can be avoided if you wish but it’s always worth pushing yourself a little out of your comfort zone and having a go if you can; Johanna is such a good teacher and you might just surprise yourself! These tasks include doodling as well as actual drawing but they’re mostly pretty small projects so not too challenging.
In terms of mental health, it’s really good. Personally it’s not my favourite book because I am and always will be a die hard colouring fan and drawing and activities, as well as having text on the page just isn’t so up my street. However, I can absolutely appreciate the benefits of this book for many of the more adventurous among you who want to create and keep a new creative habit and need a little nudge to get there. This book eases you in gently and feels like a friend guiding you through the tasks and offering words of encouragement and tips and tricks where needed. It isn’t overwhelming and the tasks are all a manageable level and there are very few nearly empty pages to contend with. There is a good range of difficulty within the activities and they’ll all take totally different lengths of time to complete too which is ideal for adapting to your schedule. There are pages where you can colour or draw a full spread as well as small drawings where you can complete a single one really quickly and get a lovely sense of achievement from doing so.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book, while it’s not my favourite, it’s a really lovely addition to anyone’s collection and it’s a great book to dip in and out of as well as to help you begin a creative habit, something that is known to reduce anxiety and stress levels and promote calmness. The activities are well-described and easy to follow and the colouring pages are beautiful and this will be the perfect accompaniment to the video series Johanna has created to get your habit kick-started.
This book is most similar to How to Draw Inky Wonderlands but it’s also largely different from anything previously produced by Johanna and in fact, anything else I’ve seen on the market. This book was born during the Covid-19 pandemic and Johanna created it to help instil creative habits in us all. I’ll be completely honest, when she first announced the theme of the book, I was disappointed because I’m not such a huge fan of books where I need to add anything myself other than colour because drawing isn’t my forte (despite the fantastic lessons Johanna gave us) and my imagination isn’t so up to scratch with working out what to add. However, I have learnt that Johanna is always to be trusted and as ever, she’s created a truly beautiful book, way beyond my expectations based on the title and it’s honestly really lovely! While there are a lot of activity pages, they mostly don’t feel overwhelming or unachievable, at least not to me and there are plenty of colouring pages for those traditional creative days that are what so many of us were drawn into this hobby by. The pages consist of 30 double page spreads of activities and 5 double pages of colourable quotes interspersed within these. The activities include 18 colouring tasks (this is mostly based on explicit instruction to colour as really the whole book can be coloured), 11 drawing tasks, 7 doodling, 1 recipe and as previously mentioned, 5 colourable quotes.
The book itself is paperback and unlike the majority of Johanna’s colouring books, it’s rectangular, not square and measures 21.5 by 25.5cm, making it the same size as Ivy and the Inky Butterfly and How to Draw Inky Wonderlands and the same height as all of the US editions of Johanna’s colouring books. As with all US editions, there is no removable dust cover (nor is there on the UK edition this time), instead having flexible card covers with ½ French flaps which open out front and back to reveal a beautiful design of all sorts of objects including cakes, flowers, fish and utensils that is fully colourable; it isn’t waxy and is very smooth meaning most mediums will be suitable for colouring it, just be careful with alcohol markers in case they bleed through to the external covers. The covers are a beautiful pale blue and the front cover has gold foiling accents. The spine is white with black text and is glue bound which has caused issues in the past for colourists and without very careful handling can lead to pages falling out. Little to none of the content enters the spine and therefore you don’t lose much in the gutter. The pages are printed double-sided. The paper is the same as that used in previous US editions of Johanna’s titles from Magical Jungle onwards, this paper was created and named after Johanna and it’s beautiful. It’s not the same paper as used in the UK editions. The paper is a pale ivory colour, it’s a medium thickness and lightly textured and it’s perfect for pens and pencils. It has a good level of tooth so it can cope with pencil lines being drawn and erased and the Staedtler Pigment Liners that Johanna uses herself and recommends drawing with work beautifully on the paper with a light touch but can lead to feathering and spreading due to the tooth of the paper. Using the Staedtler Pigment Liners means that your drawings will match Johanna’s and blend in really well with the printed artwork so your drawings won’t stand out as “different” from the content that’s already on the page. The paper is ideal for pencils and water-based pens and you only need to avoid alcohol makers or particularly wet media. As ever, there’s a test page at the back of the book where you can check out how each of your tools and mediums behaves.
This is very much an activity book but with a real grown-up feel to it and it’s a great way to start a creative habit. It begins with an introduction and tips page and follows on to a habit tracker so that you can mark off each day when you’ve done your allotted 10 minutes of creativity. There are no page numbers and each double-page spread stands alone so you can work through the book in order, work through the same page on consecutive days until it’s finished or work through at random, picking and choosing what you fancy as you go, it’s entirely up to you. There are no rules and no rights or wrongs. If you’re getting stuck about where to start then Johanna is running a 30 day free course of videos and you can follow along with her in your book to get the habit embedded and also to experience being part of a huge group of people all over the world who’ll all be doing the same thing. If you’re interested in joining the course or participating later then all of the information about it can be found on her website and social media pages and it begins on the 1st of November.
The colouring pages and sections in this book are, as ever, really lovely and encompass a wide range of subjects including baking ingredients and equipment, robots, art supplies, all sorts of food, flowers, underwater creatures and more. Many of the drawing tasks can be avoided if you wish but it’s always worth pushing yourself a little out of your comfort zone and having a go if you can; Johanna is such a good teacher and you might just surprise yourself! These tasks include doodling as well as actual drawing but they’re mostly pretty small projects so not too challenging.
In terms of mental health, it’s really good. Personally it’s not my favourite book because I am and always will be a die hard colouring fan and drawing and activities, as well as having text on the page just isn’t so up my street. However, I can absolutely appreciate the benefits of this book for many of the more adventurous among you who want to create and keep a new creative habit and need a little nudge to get there. This book eases you in gently and feels like a friend guiding you through the tasks and offering words of encouragement and tips and tricks where needed. It isn’t overwhelming and the tasks are all a manageable level and there are very few nearly empty pages to contend with. There is a good range of difficulty within the activities and they’ll all take totally different lengths of time to complete too which is ideal for adapting to your schedule. There are pages where you can colour or draw a full spread as well as small drawings where you can complete a single one really quickly and get a lovely sense of achievement from doing so.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book, while it’s not my favourite, it’s a really lovely addition to anyone’s collection and it’s a great book to dip in and out of as well as to help you begin a creative habit, something that is known to reduce anxiety and stress levels and promote calmness. The activities are well-described and easy to follow and the colouring pages are beautiful and this will be the perfect accompaniment to the video series Johanna has created to get your habit kick-started.
September 3, 2021
Johanna Basford has always created beautifully intricate designs for coloring. This book is no exception. She begins this book with an accountability chart. This set of circles with 1-30 provides the user to set aside at least 10 minutes every day for 30 days time to refresh and reflect. Not only does this book allow for the relaxation of coloring, but it also provides sparks of creativity. Examples are provided and on the next page, space is available for you to add your own drawings.
I believe this is an excellent book for personal use. The written word is lovely as are the illustrations, but it would not be appropriate for a library.
I believe this is an excellent book for personal use. The written word is lovely as are the illustrations, but it would not be appropriate for a library.
November 2, 2021
This review is taken from my blog where I review adult colouring books from a mental health perspective. A comparison of the UK and US edition can be found in writing and video form, photos and a video flick through of the book can also be found here - https://colouringinthemidstofmadness....
This book is most similar to How to Draw Inky Wonderlands but it’s also largely different from anything previously produced by Johanna and in fact, anything else I’ve seen on the market. This book was born during the Covid-19 pandemic and Johanna created it to help instil creative habits in us all. I’ll be completely honest, when she first announced the theme of the book, I was disappointed because I’m not such a huge fan of books where I need to add anything myself other than colour because drawing isn’t my forte (despite the fantastic lessons Johanna gave us) and my imagination isn’t so up to scratch with working out what to add. However, I have learnt that Johanna is always to be trusted and as ever, she’s created a truly beautiful book, way beyond my expectations based on the title and it’s honestly really lovely! While there are a lot of activity pages, they mostly don’t feel overwhelming or unachievable, at least not to me and there are plenty of colouring pages for those traditional creative days that are what so many of us were drawn into this hobby by. The pages consist of 30 double page spreads of activities and 5 double pages of colourable quotes interspersed within these. The activities include 18 colouring tasks (this is mostly based on explicit instruction to colour as really the whole book can be coloured), 11 drawing tasks, 7 doodling, 1 recipe and as previously mentioned, 5 colourable quotes.
The book itself is paperback and unlike the majority of Johanna’s colouring books, it’s rectangular, not square and measures 21 by 25cm, making it the same size as Ivy and the Inky Butterfly and How to Draw Inky Wonderlands and the same height as all of the UK editions of Johanna’s colouring books. There is no removable dust cover this time, instead having flexible card covers with ½ French flaps which open out front and back to reveal a beautiful design of all sorts of objects including cakes, flowers, fish and utensils that is fully colourable; it isn’t waxy and is very smooth meaning most mediums will be suitable for colouring it, just be careful with alcohol markers in case they bleed through to the external covers. The covers are a beautiful pale blue and the front cover has gold foiling accents. The spine is white with black text and is glue and string-bound which makes it very durable but a little tricky to get it to lie flat for drawing in, however, little to none of the content enters the spine and therefore you don’t lose much in the gutter. The pages are printed double-sided. The paper is the same as that used in previous UK editions of Johanna’s titles from Magical Jungle onwards, this paper was found through a global hunt and it’s beautiful, it’s not the same paper as used in the US editions. The paper is a very pale ivory colour, it’s a medium thickness and lightly textured and it’s perfect for pens and pencils. It has a good level of tooth so it can cope with pencil lines being drawn and erased and the Staedtler Pigment Liners that Johanna uses herself and recommends drawing with work beautifully and seamlessly on the paper with no feathering, spreading, shadowing or bleeding and they blend in beautifully with the printed artwork so your drawings won’t stand out as “different” from the content that’s already on the page. The paper is ideal for pencils and water-based pens and you only need to avoid alcohol makers or particularly wet media. As ever, there’s a test page at the back of the book where you can check out how each of your tools and mediums behaves.
This is very much an activity book but with a real grown-up feel to it and it’s a great way to start a creative habit. It begins with an introduction and tips page and follows on to a habit tracker so that you can mark off each day when you’ve done your allotted 10 minutes of creativity. There are no page numbers and each double-page spread stands alone so you can work through the book in order, work through the same page on consecutive days until it’s finished or work through at random, picking and choosing what you fancy as you go, it’s entirely up to you. There are no rules and no rights or wrongs. If you’re getting stuck about where to start then Johanna is running a 30 day free course of videos and you can follow along with her in your book to get the habit embedded and also to experience being part of a huge group of people all over the world who’ll all be doing the same thing. If you’re interested in joining the course or participating later then all of the information about it can be found on her website and social media pages and it begins on the 1st of November.
The colouring pages and sections in this book are, as ever, really lovely and encompass a wide range of subjects including baking ingredients and equipment, robots, art supplies, all sorts of food, flowers, underwater creatures and more. Many of the drawing tasks can be avoided if you wish but it’s always worth pushing yourself a little out of your comfort zone and having a go if you can; Johanna is such a good teacher and you might just surprise yourself! These tasks include doodling as well as actual drawing but they’re mostly pretty small projects so not too challenging.
In terms of mental health, it’s really good. Personally it’s not my favourite book because I am and always will be a die hard colouring fan and drawing and activities, as well as having text on the page just isn’t so up my street. However, I can absolutely appreciate the benefits of this book for many of the more adventurous among you who want to create and keep a new creative habit and need a little nudge to get there. This book eases you in gently and feels like a friend guiding you through the tasks and offering words of encouragement and tips and tricks where needed. It isn’t overwhelming and the tasks are all a manageable level and there are very few nearly empty pages to contend with. There is a good range of difficulty within the activities and they’ll all take totally different lengths of time to complete too which is ideal for adapting to your schedule. There are pages where you can colour or draw a full spread as well as small drawings where you can complete a single one really quickly and get a lovely sense of achievement from doing so.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book, while it’s not my favourite, it’s a really lovely addition to anyone’s collection and it’s a great book to dip in and out of as well as to help you begin a creative habit, something that is known to reduce anxiety and stress levels and promote calmness. The activities are well-described and easy to follow and the colouring pages are beautiful and this will be the perfect accompaniment to the video series Johanna has created to get your habit kick-started.
This book is most similar to How to Draw Inky Wonderlands but it’s also largely different from anything previously produced by Johanna and in fact, anything else I’ve seen on the market. This book was born during the Covid-19 pandemic and Johanna created it to help instil creative habits in us all. I’ll be completely honest, when she first announced the theme of the book, I was disappointed because I’m not such a huge fan of books where I need to add anything myself other than colour because drawing isn’t my forte (despite the fantastic lessons Johanna gave us) and my imagination isn’t so up to scratch with working out what to add. However, I have learnt that Johanna is always to be trusted and as ever, she’s created a truly beautiful book, way beyond my expectations based on the title and it’s honestly really lovely! While there are a lot of activity pages, they mostly don’t feel overwhelming or unachievable, at least not to me and there are plenty of colouring pages for those traditional creative days that are what so many of us were drawn into this hobby by. The pages consist of 30 double page spreads of activities and 5 double pages of colourable quotes interspersed within these. The activities include 18 colouring tasks (this is mostly based on explicit instruction to colour as really the whole book can be coloured), 11 drawing tasks, 7 doodling, 1 recipe and as previously mentioned, 5 colourable quotes.
The book itself is paperback and unlike the majority of Johanna’s colouring books, it’s rectangular, not square and measures 21 by 25cm, making it the same size as Ivy and the Inky Butterfly and How to Draw Inky Wonderlands and the same height as all of the UK editions of Johanna’s colouring books. There is no removable dust cover this time, instead having flexible card covers with ½ French flaps which open out front and back to reveal a beautiful design of all sorts of objects including cakes, flowers, fish and utensils that is fully colourable; it isn’t waxy and is very smooth meaning most mediums will be suitable for colouring it, just be careful with alcohol markers in case they bleed through to the external covers. The covers are a beautiful pale blue and the front cover has gold foiling accents. The spine is white with black text and is glue and string-bound which makes it very durable but a little tricky to get it to lie flat for drawing in, however, little to none of the content enters the spine and therefore you don’t lose much in the gutter. The pages are printed double-sided. The paper is the same as that used in previous UK editions of Johanna’s titles from Magical Jungle onwards, this paper was found through a global hunt and it’s beautiful, it’s not the same paper as used in the US editions. The paper is a very pale ivory colour, it’s a medium thickness and lightly textured and it’s perfect for pens and pencils. It has a good level of tooth so it can cope with pencil lines being drawn and erased and the Staedtler Pigment Liners that Johanna uses herself and recommends drawing with work beautifully and seamlessly on the paper with no feathering, spreading, shadowing or bleeding and they blend in beautifully with the printed artwork so your drawings won’t stand out as “different” from the content that’s already on the page. The paper is ideal for pencils and water-based pens and you only need to avoid alcohol makers or particularly wet media. As ever, there’s a test page at the back of the book where you can check out how each of your tools and mediums behaves.
This is very much an activity book but with a real grown-up feel to it and it’s a great way to start a creative habit. It begins with an introduction and tips page and follows on to a habit tracker so that you can mark off each day when you’ve done your allotted 10 minutes of creativity. There are no page numbers and each double-page spread stands alone so you can work through the book in order, work through the same page on consecutive days until it’s finished or work through at random, picking and choosing what you fancy as you go, it’s entirely up to you. There are no rules and no rights or wrongs. If you’re getting stuck about where to start then Johanna is running a 30 day free course of videos and you can follow along with her in your book to get the habit embedded and also to experience being part of a huge group of people all over the world who’ll all be doing the same thing. If you’re interested in joining the course or participating later then all of the information about it can be found on her website and social media pages and it begins on the 1st of November.
The colouring pages and sections in this book are, as ever, really lovely and encompass a wide range of subjects including baking ingredients and equipment, robots, art supplies, all sorts of food, flowers, underwater creatures and more. Many of the drawing tasks can be avoided if you wish but it’s always worth pushing yourself a little out of your comfort zone and having a go if you can; Johanna is such a good teacher and you might just surprise yourself! These tasks include doodling as well as actual drawing but they’re mostly pretty small projects so not too challenging.
In terms of mental health, it’s really good. Personally it’s not my favourite book because I am and always will be a die hard colouring fan and drawing and activities, as well as having text on the page just isn’t so up my street. However, I can absolutely appreciate the benefits of this book for many of the more adventurous among you who want to create and keep a new creative habit and need a little nudge to get there. This book eases you in gently and feels like a friend guiding you through the tasks and offering words of encouragement and tips and tricks where needed. It isn’t overwhelming and the tasks are all a manageable level and there are very few nearly empty pages to contend with. There is a good range of difficulty within the activities and they’ll all take totally different lengths of time to complete too which is ideal for adapting to your schedule. There are pages where you can colour or draw a full spread as well as small drawings where you can complete a single one really quickly and get a lovely sense of achievement from doing so.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book, while it’s not my favourite, it’s a really lovely addition to anyone’s collection and it’s a great book to dip in and out of as well as to help you begin a creative habit, something that is known to reduce anxiety and stress levels and promote calmness. The activities are well-described and easy to follow and the colouring pages are beautiful and this will be the perfect accompaniment to the video series Johanna has created to get your habit kick-started.
January 12, 2022
I was a little thrown by this book because I expected project ideas or a little more critical thinking to go into the 30 days of creativity. Then I realized this was written by an author of some adult coloring books I’ve used in the past. This one is much more basic and makes me think of a simple doodling self care book with sets of vases for you to draw plants in and the like. It wasn’t something I personally loved because it didn’t feel like creativity to me since it was so prescriptive. Some people might like that though. It’s possible I’m rating this one too low, but I just don’t think it markets itself quite right. Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy.
September 30, 2022
This was a really fun way to keep myself being creative. The best part was that she advised doing each exercise for just ten minutes - which fit very well with my daily meditation practice. Drawing or coloring while I meditated not only helped me realize that being creative was fun, but it gave me something to focus on.
The exercises are open ended enough that I could easily go back through the book during another month- November, April, June... etc. and fill in more of the pieces that I didn't finish in the allotted ten minutes. There's also the opportunity to download the tracker page found at the beginning of the book. All in all, it was a great experience.
The exercises are open ended enough that I could easily go back through the book during another month- November, April, June... etc. and fill in more of the pieces that I didn't finish in the allotted ten minutes. There's also the opportunity to download the tracker page found at the beginning of the book. All in all, it was a great experience.
December 13, 2021
I love everything about this book! The illustrations, how the author encourages the reader to express their own designs and the mental peace the whole activity brought me. Everything from the cover, designs and words was absolutely immaculate, artistic and admire-worthy.
I am very grateful for rekindling the passion for art inside me. A must try for everyone specially adults who many a times lose themselves with the hustle bustle of the world
I am very grateful for rekindling the passion for art inside me. A must try for everyone specially adults who many a times lose themselves with the hustle bustle of the world
February 8, 2022
30 Days of Creativity is designed to kick-start your creativity through various prompts and ideas. There are a lot of fun prompts from coloring, sketching and doodling to help spark creativity and inspire your own projects. This book is a lot of fun and can be a great source of joy for anyone wanting to take a break from all that life throws at them.
Special thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.
Special thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.
August 7, 2021
[review of uncorrected page proofs]
Adult coloring book meets smash book.
With guidance and inspirational quotes (and even a recipe) sprinkled throughout, readers attempting to bring art and creativity into their daily lives get the opportunity to color, draw, and doodle their way through this book. There is even a 30-day habit tracker provided.
Adult coloring book meets smash book.
With guidance and inspirational quotes (and even a recipe) sprinkled throughout, readers attempting to bring art and creativity into their daily lives get the opportunity to color, draw, and doodle their way through this book. There is even a 30-day habit tracker provided.
December 6, 2021
Beautiful friendly book. I love her YouTube tutorials (such a gorgeous voice!!!) and rushed out to buy this one. I did mine with gouache and paint pens, no problems with the paper. Loved it!!
December 12, 2021
In search of a soothing comfort activity that gets the inner juices flowing and inspires to create gorgeous illustrations? Johanna Basford is a celebrated artist and author of bestselling art books who has crafted this perfectly amazing colouring book to ensure building a habit of creating art.
This is a perfect 30-day detox to develop a creative habit that also instils calm and joy at the same time. With easy-to-follow daily practices, super-creative doodles and step-by-step drawing guides, it's a beautiful doodle-art and an excellent colouring book.
The book is too pretty to draw or colour into it, but definitely worth the time and effort. It's effortlessly chic and the purpose of it is to inculcate the habit of a little bit of creative activity and get the urge to create new masterpieces every day.
This is the perfect tool to get back into art and drawing, as well as it functions as a relaxing therapeutic activity. Although a few designs are often a little intricate for beginners, the others are easy to follow. Also a lovely gift item.
This is a perfect 30-day detox to develop a creative habit that also instils calm and joy at the same time. With easy-to-follow daily practices, super-creative doodles and step-by-step drawing guides, it's a beautiful doodle-art and an excellent colouring book.
The book is too pretty to draw or colour into it, but definitely worth the time and effort. It's effortlessly chic and the purpose of it is to inculcate the habit of a little bit of creative activity and get the urge to create new masterpieces every day.
This is the perfect tool to get back into art and drawing, as well as it functions as a relaxing therapeutic activity. Although a few designs are often a little intricate for beginners, the others are easy to follow. Also a lovely gift item.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews