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Martin Handford | |
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| Born | 27 September 1956 (age 68) London, England |
| Occupation(s) | Children's author and illustrator |
| Years active | 1986–present |
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Martin Handford (born 27 September 1956) [1] [2] is a British children's 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).
Born in London, Handford was a solitary child, born to divorced parents. He began drawing crowds when he was 4 or 5 years old, and, later as a child, he started making stick figures on paper. [3] After school, when most other children he knew would go out and play games, he would draw pictures instead. [3] His inspiration to draw such figures came from classic films and the toy soldiers he played with during that era.
As an adult, Handford worked for three years in an insurance office (Crusader Insurance Company) to pay for his studies at UCA (University for the Creative Arts) formerly KIAD (Kent Institute of Art and Design) in Maidstone, Kent. [4] After graduating, Martin worked as a freelance illustrator specialising in drawing crowd scenes for numerous clients. [1]
Martin Handford created the album cover for The Vapors' 1981 album Magnets . The cover features an assassination scene which forms the shape of an eye.
In 1986, Handford was asked by his art director at Walker Books to draw a character with peculiar features so that his pictures of crowds had a focal point. After much thinking, he came up with the idea of "Wally", a world traveller and time-travel aficionado who always dresses in red and white. [3] Wally is joined on most of his travels by his friend Wenda—who wears clothes with the same colours as Wally's—and by an evil character named Odlaw (Waldo spelled backwards) who dresses in yellow and black.
Handford became a minor celebrity with the success of Where's Wally?. The Where's Wally? trademark sold in 28 different countries. Beginning in 1987, Handford produced a total of seven "classic" Where's Wally? books, but his character was branched out into other products, including notebooks, pillows, posters, video games and many others. There was even a syndicated comic strip as well as two animated TV series (one in 1991 and another in 2019, the latter being retitled to Where's Waldo to cater to the American audience).
Handford has gained the reputation of being a methodical 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] The drawings are drawn to the same scale as in the books and each 2-page spread usually contains about 300 to 500 figures, with Wally often being the last character drawn into the crowd. [5]
The Where's Wally? books were published in the UK by Walker Books and in the United States under the title Where's Waldo? first by Little, Brown and Company before being taken on by Candlewick Press (Walker Books' American subsidiary publishing 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 for filming in 2005 by Nickelodeon Movies but was cancelled due to a management change at Paramount Pictures.
In 2007, Handford sold the rights to Where's Wally? to the Entertainment Rights Group, the world's biggest independent owner of children's brands. [6] He made £2.5 million in this sale. [5]
The style of art executed by Handford is an example of "Wimmelbilderbuch" drawings, originally popularised by Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Brueghel the Elder and Hans Jürgen Press.
Sir John Tenniel was an English illustrator, graphic humourist and political cartoonist prominent in the second half of the 19th century. An alumnus of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, he was knighted for artistic achievements in 1893, the first such honour ever bestowed on an illustrator or cartoonist.
Alice is a fictional character and the main protagonist of Lewis Carroll's children's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass (1871). A child in the mid-Victorian era, Alice unintentionally goes on an underground adventure after falling down a rabbit hole into Wonderland; in the sequel, she steps through a mirror into an alternative world.
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The Kent Institute of Art & Design was an art school based across three campuses in the county of Kent, in the United Kingdom. It was formed by the amalgamation of three independent colleges: Canterbury College of Art, Maidstone College of Art and Medway (Rochester) College of Design. In turn KIAD merged with the Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College on 1 August 2005 to form the University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester. In 2008, this gained full university status and became the University for the Creative Arts.
Where's Waldo? is a hidden object game developed by Bethesda Softworks and published by THQ for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991. It was the first video game loosely based on Martin Handford's 1987 book of the same name. Mostly similar to the books, players must help Waldo get to the Moon by finding him in each of the eight levels in the game.
Charles Henry Bennett was a British Victorian illustrator who pioneered techniques in comic illustration.
Where's Wally? is an animated television series production based on the Where's Wally? books by Martin Handford, animated by DIC Enterprises, HIT Communications PLC and The Waldo Film Company. The television series aired on CBS in the United States and ITV in the United Kingdom for one season with a series of four episodes being released straight-to-video following afterwards. The program's opening song "Where's Wally?" was composed by Michael Tavera. The distribution rights to the show are currently held by Mattel Television.
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Anthony Edward Tudor Browne is a British writer and illustrator of children's books, primarily picture books. Browne has written or illustrated over fifty books, and received the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2000. From 2009 to 2011 he was Children's Laureate.
Where's Wally? is a British series of children's puzzle books created by English illustrator Martin Handford. The books consist of a series of detailed double-page spread illustrations depicting dozens or more people doing a variety of amusing things at a given location. Readers are challenged to find a character named Wally and his friends hidden throughout the pages.
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An activity book is a type of book, generally aimed at children, which contains interactive content such as games, puzzles, quizzes, pictures to colour and other elements that involve writing or drawing in the book itself. The book may, or may not, have a loose narrative or contain other non-interactive elements structured around the interactive elements. Activity books may be made for entertainment, education or a mixture of both.
Interactive children's books are a subset of children's books that require participation and interaction by the reader. Participation can range from books with texture to those with special devices used to help teach children certain tools. Interactive children's books may also incorporate modern technology or be computerized. Movable books, a subsection of interactive books, are defined as "covering pop-ups, transformations, tunnel books, volvelles, flaps, pull-tabs, pop-outs, pull-downs, and more, each of which performs in a different manner. Also included, because they employ the same techniques, are three-dimensional greeting cards."
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A Wimmelbilderbuch, wimmelbook, or hidden picture book is a type of large-format, wordless picture book. It is characterized by full-spread drawings depicting scenes richly detailed with humans, animals, and objects. Typically made for children, the drawings are filled with characters and items that may be discovered.
Where's Waldo? is an American animated children's television series produced by DreamWorks Animation Television, based on the Where's Wally? book series created by Martin Handford. It is the second television adaptation of the series, succeeding the 1991 animated series, and incorporates elements from that series. The series debuted on Universal Kids on July 20, 2019. It moved to the streaming service Peacock for its second season on July 15, 2020. Additional episodes of the series aired on December 11 the same year. Other media featuring the titular character include the 1991 original animated television series and the series of books.
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