'Kappie en de Schrik der Zeeën' (1950).
Joop Hillenius was a Dutch industrial designer who began his career at the Toonder Studio's, most notably drawing the 'Kappie' newspaper strip during the 1950s.
Early life
Johannes Zacharias Hillenius was born in 1924 in Amsterdam. His parents were Pieter Hillenius and Jeltje Catharina Brouwer. Hillenius received his artistic education from the local Arts and Crafts School ("Kunstnijverheidsschool"), the future Rietveld Academy. In 1947, he found employment with the Marten Toonder Studio's, at the time the largest production house of comics and animation in the Netherlands. In his magazine series about this studio, Jan-Willem de Vries described how Hillenius found a companion in fellow artist Coen van Hunnik, who was about the same age. During lunch hours, the two men often pranked shoppers in the Amsterdam Kalverstraat, for instance dressing up as tramps and faking a brawl.
'Kappie en de Vliegende Hollander' (Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant, 11 February 1949).
Toonder work
During his time at the studio, Hillenius worked on Toonder newspaper comics like 'Olle Kapoen', 'Panda' and 'Tom Poes', presumably only doing fill-in or assistant work. Between 1949 and 1957, he was the lead pencil artist of Toonder's newspaper adventure comic about tugboat captain 'Kappie', at the time written subsequently by Dirk Huizinga and then Lo Hartog van Banda. Hillenius' involvement lasted from the episode 'Kappie en de Zeewedstrijd' (story #21) through 'Kappie en de Geheime Schatkist' (#71). He was the third penciler on the feature after Mary Oosterdijk and Frits Godhelp. In 1957, Hillenius was succeeded by Ton Beek.
Further life and career
Not much is known about the further life and work of Joop Hillenius, except that he worked as an industrial designer. In 1954, he married Marion Zaal, with whom he had one daughter, Muriel. Joop Hillenius died in June 2016 at the age of 92.
'Kappie en het Verlaten Eiland' (1951-1952).