Harmsen van der Beek

Eelco Martinus ten Harmsen van der Beek (more commonly Harmsen van der Beek or just Beek; 8 October 1897 – 24 July 1953) was a Dutch illustrator and commercial artist. Abroad, he is best remembered for his illustration of Enid Blyton's Noddy books.

Van der Beek was the creator of the Flipje character in 1935. This was a comic strip featuring a character made of berries which was commissioned by a jam factory in Tiel. He was already well known in the Netherlands when he approached London publishers Sampson Low at the end of the 1940s. The result was the creation of the Noddy series for young children, authored by Enid Blyton - still a major property for animators half a century later. Van der Beek simply signed his work as "Beek". The conscious intention to create a Disney-style sympathetic focus character — a European Mickey Mouse — was reportedly a major factor. Beek's death in 1953 led to a few new illustrators for the Noddy books, amongst which was his assistant Peter Wienk.