Martin Handford facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Martin Handford
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| Born | September 27, 1956 London, England
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| Occupation | Children's author and illustrator |
| Years active | 1986–present |
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Martin Handford is a British author and illustrator. He was born in London, England, on September 27, 1956. He became famous in the mid-1980s for creating the Where's Wally? book series. In North America, this series is known as Where's Waldo?.
Contents
Early Life and Art Beginnings
Martin Handford grew up in London. He started drawing crowds of people when he was only 4 or 5 years old. As a child, he often drew stick figures on paper. While other kids played, he preferred to draw. His ideas for these drawings came from old movies and the toy soldiers he played with.
When he became an adult, Handford worked in an insurance office for three years. He did this to save money for art school. He studied at the University for the Creative Arts in Maidstone, Kent. After finishing his studies, Martin became a freelance illustrator. He specialized in drawing big crowd scenes for different clients.
Creating Where's Wally?
In 1986, Martin Handford got an interesting request from his art director at Walker Books. They wanted him to draw a special character. This character would be a focal point in his detailed crowd drawings. After a lot of thought, he came up with "Wally."
Wally is a character who loves to travel the world and even through time. He always wears clothes with red and white stripes. Wally is often joined by his friend Wenda, who also wears red and white. There is also an opposite character named Odlaw. Odlaw's name is "Waldo" spelled backward. He wears yellow and black clothes.
The Success of Where's Wally?
The Where's Wally? books became very popular around the world. The Where's Wally? brand was sold in 28 different countries. Starting in 1987, Handford created seven main Where's Wally? books.
The character also appeared on many other products. These included notebooks, pillows, and posters. There were also video games based on the books. The series even had a comic strip and two animated TV shows. One TV series came out in 1991. Another, called Where's Waldo, was released in 2019 for American audiences.
Martin Handford is known for being a very careful and hardworking artist. It could take him up to eight weeks to draw just one two-page picture for a book. He draws the pictures at the same size they appear in the books. Each two-page spread usually has about 300 to 500 figures. Wally is often the very last character he draws into the crowd.
The Where's Wally? books were first published in the UK by Walker Books. In the United States, they were called Where's Waldo?. They were first published by Little, Brown and Company. Later, Candlewick Press, which is Walker Books' American company, took over publishing them. The first four books were printed in Italy. Later, they were reprinted in China.
In 2007, Martin Handford sold the rights to Where's Wally? to the Entertainment Rights Group. This group is a large owner of children's brands. He received £2.5 million from this sale.
Art Style: Wimmelbilderbuch
The type of art Martin Handford creates is called "Wimmelbilderbuch" drawings. This German word means "picture book full of teeming images." These detailed drawings show many characters and objects in a busy scene. This style was made popular by famous artists like Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brueghel the Elder a long time ago.
See also
In Spanish: Martin Handford para niños
