Inside the magical world of illustrator Johanna Basford whose intricate colouring books have sold more than 25 million

If I hadn’t glanced up at exactly that moment, I might never have spotted the castle which lead to the idea for my new colouring book. I was driving to climb Beinn Iutharn Mhòr and Càrn Bhac, a pair of munros near Braemar, when the light bulb moment for Magical Worlds struck. There’s a little castle – not much more than a turret visible from the road – surrounded by trees on an island in the middle of a loch. I remember seeing it fleetingly as I drove past and thinking it was the perfect storybook scene. A small snapshot of enchantment hidden in plain sight, in amongst the road signs and brake lights and satnav screens. I loved the idea of making an entire colouring book of views like that – peeks at enchanting spaces and fairytale places, so that no matter where you are, you could open the book and find yourself somewhere intrinsically more charming. Magical Worlds is an escape from reality, an invitation to tumble down the rabbit hole and find yourself someplace more delightful.

We have so many similarly beautiful scenes here in Scotland, that we almost take them for granted, often thinking of them as tourist attractions instead of spots of wonder in our everyday lives. But making this book was the perfect opportunity to celebrate these magical places I’ve been lucky enough to visit and find ways of capturing them in a colouring book for others to enjoy too. From castles as bold and mighty as Dunottar near where I live or as magical as Eilan Donan on the west coast, to the ever so pretty Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye or the mystical looking islands of Loch Lomond – we are lucky enough to live in a landscape that even the most vivid of fairytales would struggle to compete with.

But magic doesn’t have to be grand and spectacular, it can be found anywhere if you know where and how to look. As a child I remember being awestruck by the pinecone studded interior of the Bavarian Summer House in the grounds of Brodick Castle on the Isle of Arran. Decorated with a mosaic of pinecones, it’s a breath taking piece of craftmanship. But I was equally captivated playing in the burn behind my granny’s house on the island, surrounded by a dense tangle of rhododendron bushes. Dens were made, agates and crystals washed, dams constructed and demolished.

Sometimes a place is wonderful in an obvious sort of way, other times, you need to peer a little closer and bring your own magic. It might be a snail with a pretty patterned shell slowly making its way across the patio or an enormous pumpkin, fit for a fairy house, its tendrils creeping over a vegetable allotment – finding the magic potential in the everyday is a super power of mine. I can take these little snapshots of life and make them enchanting.

Scotsman photographer Lisa Ferguson shot Johanna Basford on location at the Colinton Tunnel

It’s this act of looking, of taking time to seek out the wonder in our daily lives, to step away from the hustle and to glance up from our screens, that I wanted this book to be about. It’s an opportunity to take a break from the real world – which we all need from time to time. Creativity is the perfect form of self care – portable, accessible and won’t cost the earth. If you are having a bad day at the office you can’t exactly step aside and run yourself a bubble bath or delve into a yoga retreat. You can however open a colouring book, pick up a few pencils and spend some time colouring. Self care doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive, it can literally be as easy as child’s play. The soothing nature of putting pencil to paper, of selecting a colour and seeing a drawing slowly come to life is a welcome respite from the perils of modern day living.

During Covid, we saw sales of my colouring books spike. I received so many messages from people telling me the books were helping them with anxiety or giving them a purpose or a distraction at a time when the real world seemed so scary and chaotic. I think that’s the joy of colouring. It’s the simple act of pausing reality and delving into an imagined world for a time. It’s also about being in that mystical flow state, where the rest of the world melts away and you are blissfully captivated by the simple task at hand. Often our concentration is interrupted; our thought patterns and imaginings become a staccato dance between new flashes and reels, email alerts and group texts. Colouring books are the antidote to all of this, particularly in my opinion, to doom scrolling. It’s a purpose for fidgety hands and a task for overwhelmed brains. You can pause on obsessively watching news feeds, the TikTok dancers, the unboxing and the pranking and the high protein cooking, now you just have to decide which shade of green to use on that big curly leaf. To be honest, I find these quiet moments are like a spa break for the mind.

Bizarrely, it’s often during these digital detoxes, whether I’m creating in the studio or walking in woodland, swimming in the sea or climbing a mountain, that I get the next wave of ideas. The space to imagine expands and the inspiration and ideas come to fill it. When my head is consumed with spreadsheets and schedules, hashtags and school reminders, there seems little room for anything new and wonderful to flourish.

Yet, put me in Loch an Eilein, surrounded by the forest clad mountains of Aviemore, swimming towards that picturesque ruined castle on the island and have something feathery wisp against my leg. I will instantly know that it’s a loch monster, guarding some sunken treasure hidden in the murky depths and I am moments from being pulled into the dark waters, never to be seen again. It’s time to abandon my confused friend and swim for the pebbly shore like my life depends on it. It’s every girl for herself, my long suffering friend Caroline is on her own. I will later calm down, realise it was probably just a bit of weed but note that this entire debacle would make for a nice colouring book page. You can find it in the first half of the new book.

Scottish illustrator Johanna Basford's latest intricate colouring book features Magical Worlds. PIC Lisa Ferguson

I’m often asked if I ever run out of ideas and find myself battling the inky equivalent of Writer’s Block. The answer is yes, of course. Some days the inspiration flows and I cannot draw quickly enough, other days I do battle with the blank page. Luckily for me, I live with two small creative directors that not only provide brutally honest feedback in real time ‘Mum, that dragon looks like a mouse with wings. Try again’ but also have an endless stream of ideas and suggestions that they fire at me night and day. The great thing about children, Evie is 10 and Mia 7, is that they see the wonder in everything. A kingfisher should have a crown, it’s a king after all. How do you make a pirate ship fly? Lots of balloons of course. What is the most magical vegetable? A turnip obviously. I listen, nod, percolate and somewhere down the line, these whimsical thoughts of my children become illustrations that thousands of people around the world then colour.

So if you are in need of a little enchantment in your day, an escape from the chaos and calamity, the doom scrolling and the never ending task of adulting, why not pick up some pencils and open a colouring book and find yourself somewhere more magical?

Magical Worlds: An Enchanted Colouring Adventure by Johanna Basford is published in paperback by Ebury on 24 October, priced £16.99