Have you ever spent hours looking for Wally or Waldo? And do you exactly know what you are looking for? If you have no idea, then there is plenty of information available about him in the article written below, so just dig-in into the world where Wally or Waldo is lost!
Introduction
Martin Handford’s iconic book creation has gone to television and Halloween costumes, but still, a question is stuck in everyone’s mind – who is Wally and where is he? However, it turns out there are plenty of things to learn about him from his birth to how he changed his personality. And once you learn everything about him, you’ll surely not see him in the same way!
About Martin Handford
Martin Handford, a British illustrator, is drawing large crowds of stick figures on one page ever since he was five. He improved his skills along with humor and complexity with time. He was inspired by movies like “Adventure of Robin Hood “or “Alamo” and by books like “The Golden History of the World.”
He graduated from Maidstone Art College but couldn’t make it to the post-grad course at the Royal College. Later he got into more inconspicuous work. He worked as a clerk at the Guardian Royal Exchange office, and he also worked on his illustrations in his free time. The illustration of the insurance clerk was a generic description of his work in the office. And his work was lost in the crowd until a perfect publisher came into his life.
What is “Where’s Wally” all about?
The publisher Walker Books was headed by a former circus clown – David Lloyd. He mostly wore quirky accessories or hats in the office, and around the mid-1980s, he was in desperate search of something new for his children’s book company. David Bennett, also a part of the Walker Books, explained that they require something that features dense crowds just as the styles of the French illustrator Phillippe Dupasquier.
Martin Handford was called in for the same, and he handed over his book of dense and funny illustrations to the Walkers. But Donna Casanova (Walker Employee) felt that something was missing and also brainstormed to give birth to Wally or Waldo.
How does the character come into being?
Wally’s character was not extra cool. The stripes out of Wally came into being just out of necessity, not out of love for stripes. Handford gave him the stripes shirt because it was quite eye-catching, but the jeans were another ordinary outfit.
Handford drew more pictures to the pages of an equal scale and packed more and more figures on each page. This work took him six to eight weeks to complete one scene of the illustration. He worked day to night from 2 p.m to 6 a.m to complete each book. Later Handford gave birth to the global phenomenon called “Where’s Waldo”?
How did Wally or Waldo get their names?
The was made to travel around the globe with different names that suited his personality of being vague and nerdy. However, the origin of Wally and Waldo is quite more complex than any other name. Wally was the name given to a trainspotter who is a bit nerdy and somewhat an idiot. Whereas Waldo just came randomly came up to replace Wally. Waldo’s personality grew with time.
