Obituary - Dick Bruna, illustrator and creator of Miffy

Died: February 16, 2017

DICK Bruna, who has died aged 89, was a celebrated writer and illustrator and the creator of Miffy, the white rabbit who enchanted millions of young children, and adults, around the world for more than half a century. Bruna wrote and illustrated 124 books during his long career and sold more than 85 million in multiple languages.

The books themselves were based on a simple design - a white rabbit in outline with dots for eyes and a cross for a mouth - although creating each picture involved hundreds of sketches until Bruna got exactly the right expression. The format of the books also never changed and were always published in a small square shape, which Bruna believed was ideal for little hands.

The simplicity of Bruna's characters also drew adoration not only from children, but from adult art lovers too. Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum put on a show featuring his work in 2015, which celebrated Bruna's work but also put it into its historical context, showing his drawings and book covers alongside artists who influenced him like Henri Matisse and Fernand Leger. A dedicated Miffy museum for children was also opened in Utrecht, Bruna's home town, in 2016.

Growing up in Utrecht, Bruna had been expected to follow his father into the family publishing firm but he was always interested in the artistic rather than the business side from the start - as a child he remembered being struck by the work of Rembrandt and Van Gogh. "I didn't go to school, I was just at home," he said. "And we had a book about Rembrandt and one about Van Gogh, and I read those two books I think five or six times."

He did attend art school in Amsterdam for a time, but after six months left to work for his father's firm, where he designed many posters and book covers. His work drew admiration from some of the authors he drew for including Georges Simenon who told him: "I see that you are trying to make your covers still simpler and simpler. You are doing the same in designing as I try to do in writing."

Bruna's first picture book, The Apple, was published in Holland in 1953, followed two years later by the first two Miffy books: Miffy (or Nijntje in the original Dutch) and Miffy at the Zoo. The books were first published in the UK in 1964.

They were an immediate success and in all there were 32 books about Miffy as well another series about a dog called Snuffy. However, it was always Miffy who remained Bruna's most popular character and became a merchandising juggernaut, featuring on stationery, toys and children's trinkets sold across the world as part of a multimillion-euro business.

Describing the process of creating the character, Bruna said he always used a paintbrush specially trimmed by him and said that, with just two dots and a cross, it was incredibly hard to get the emotion he wanted to convey just right. The only way to draw the little rabbit over and over again until he got it right.

Curator of the Rijksmuseum exhibition, Caro Verbeek, said the simplicity of Miffy was an illusion. She said she asked other curators at the museum draw Miffy's head, with its dots for eyes and "X'' shape representing nose and mouth. "They did not succeed," she said. "It is incredibly difficult. But the fact that it seems so simple proves that he is a true genius."

Bruna's publisher believed that the size of the books was also key to their success. Publisher and friend Marja Kerkhof said: "He thought that size was really good for two little children's hands, and he loved the visual impact, too. It is very clear pictures, almost like a pictogram, and the fact that he leaves so much out - he goes to the essence of things - and of course his very strong, powerful primary colours.

"Even today, if you see it in a store you would think, 'hey, this looks different to a lot of other things out there'. There is no clutter, it's all very clear."

Kerkhof travelled with Bruna around the world and said it was clear how popular the books were in Australia and Asia. Wherever he went, there were always long queues to meet him.

A bronze statue of Miffy, designed by Bruna's son Marc, was erected in Utrecht where municipal flags were flown at half-mast following his death.

Bruna continued to work into his 80s, and said ideas were always buzzing around in his head. "I'm nearly always thinking about new stories on my bicycle," he said. "You can't stop it. Sometimes I think I'd like to, because I want to sleep or something!" However, eventually he did retire in 2014, his last book appearing in 2011.

He died in Utrecht and is survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter and six grandchildren.