Martin Handford spent much of his childhood drawing and his earliest influences were cinema epics and playing with toy soldiers. After art college, he began working as a freelance illustrator specialising in drawing crowd scenes. Martin now gathers his inspiration from a huge variety of sources: films, visiting museums and art galleries, reading comics and books, and collecting ephemera and trivia. Gradually, from all this meticulous research, the inspiration for a picture emerges, which Martin embellishes with his own ideas to create his astonishing scenes. He is fascinated by crowds and is attracted to their vibes, patterns and details - especially humour.

"I love the idea of an exciting journey that never ends, filled with colour, energy and people smiling - what could be better?" Martin Handford

Martin Handford spent much of his childhood drawing and his earliest influences were cinema epics and playing with toy soldiers. After art college, he began working as a freelance illustrator specialising in drawing crowd scenes. Martin now gathers his inspiration from a huge variety of sources: films, visiting museums and art galleries, reading comics and books, and collecting ephemera and trivia. Gradually, from all this meticulous research, the inspiration for a picture emerges, which Martin embellishes with his own ideas to create his astonishing scenes. He is fascinated by crowds and is attracted to their vibes, patterns and details - especially humour.

"I love the idea of an exciting journey that never ends, filled with colour, energy and people smiling - what could be better?" Martin Handford