【作者】馬丁．韓福特（Martin Handford）
馬丁．韓福特（Martin Handford）童年大部分的時間都在畫畫，早期影響他最深的，是電影院裡的史詩巨片和玩具士兵。藝術學院畢業後，他成為一名自由插畫家，專精於繪製極具震撼力的龐大人群場面。如今，馬丁（Martin）從極其廣泛的管道汲取靈感：看電影、逛博物館與藝廊、閱讀漫畫和書籍，以及收集各類紙本紀念品與冷知識。透過這些精細嚴謹的資料搜集，一幅畫作的靈感便悄然誕生；接著，他會融入自身的奇思妙想，將畫面點石成金，打造出令人驚嘆的宏大場景。他深深為「人群」所著迷，極易被人群散發的活力、韻律與細節所吸引，特別是其中的「幽默感」。

「我熱愛這個概念：一趟充滿色彩、活力與燦爛笑容，永無止境的刺激旅程，還有什麼比這更棒的呢？」— 馬丁．韓福特（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