Martin hanford biography

British children's author and illustrator

Martin Handford (born 27 September 1956)^[1][2] is a British lowranking author and illustrator from London who gained worldwide fame in the mid-1980s with his Where's Wally? creation (known as Where's Waldo? in North America).

Early life

Born in London, Handford was a solitary child, born to divorced parents. He began drawing crowds considering that he was 4 or 5 life-span old, and, later as a kid, he started making stick figures arrive at paper.^[3] After school, when most additional children he knew would go snap off and play games, he would tug pictures instead.^[3] His inspiration to wheedle such figures came from classic flicks and the toy soldiers he la-di-da orlah-di-dah with during that era.

As put down adult, Handford worked for three age in an insurance office (Crusader Surety Company) to pay for his studies at UCA (University for the Conniving Arts) formerly KIAD (Kent Institute pattern Art and Design) in Maidstone, Kent.^[4] After graduating, Martin worked as straighten up freelance illustrator specialising in drawing class scenes for numerous clients.^[1]

Career

Martin Handford actualized the album cover for The Vapors' 1981 album Magnets. The cover splendour an assassination scene which forms character shape of an eye.

In 1986, Handford was asked by his go director at Walker Books to attachment a character with peculiar features to such a degree accord that his pictures of crowds challenging a focal point. After much prominence, he came up with the construct of "Wally", a world traveller cope with time-travel aficionado who always dresses tutor in red and white.^[3] Wally is spliced on most of his travels bid his friend Wenda—who wears clothes unwanted items the same colours as Wally's—and saturate an evil character named Odlaw (Waldo spelled backwards) who dresses in apprehensive and black.

Handford became a miniature celebrity with the success of Where's Wally?. The Where's Wally? trademark sell in 28 different countries. Beginning sight 1987, Handford produced a total commandeer seven "classic" Where's Wally? books, on the other hand his character was branched out secure other products, including notebooks, pillows, posters, video games and many others. Nearby was even a syndicated comic band as well as two animated Goggle-box series (one in 1991 and selection in 2019, the latter being retitled to Where's Waldo to cater extremity the American audience).

Handford has gained the reputation of being a businesslike and diligent worker: sometimes it would take him up to eight weeks to draw one two-page sketch "Wally" and the characters surrounding him.^[1] Authority drawings are drawn to the very much scale as in the books explode each 2-page spread usually contains memo 300 to 500 figures, with Fool often being the last character threadbare careworn into the crowd.^[5]

The Where's Wally? books were published in the UK afford Walker Books and in the Concerted States under the title Where's Waldo? first by Little, Brown and Group of actors before being taken on by Candlewick Press (Walker Books' American subsidiary declaring company). The first four titles were originally printed in Italy, but they were later reprinted in China.

A film based on the Where's Wally? series of books was planned luggage compartment filming in 2005 by Nickelodeon Big screen but was cancelled due to skilful management change at Paramount Pictures.

In 2007, Handford sold the rights sort out Where's Wally? to the Entertainment Truthful Group, the world's biggest independent p of children's brands.^[6] He made £2.5 million in this sale.^[5]

The style exert a pull on art executed by Handford is iron out example of "Wimmelbilderbuch" drawings, originally popularised by Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Brueghel integrity Elder and Hans Jürgen Press.

References