Disclaimer – Please read this disclosure about my use of affiliate links which are contained within this post.
30 Days of Creativity is by Johanna Basford who very kindly sent me a UK and US edition to review. This review is of the US edition, (my UK review can be found here) which is published by Penguin. I have also written a comparison post which can be found here, or the video comparison post can be found here.
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.
If you’d like to purchase a copy it’s available here:
Amazon UK –
Book Depository Worldwide – https://tidd.ly/3vRrhJJ
Video Review