Fiep had worked with the writer and poet Han G. Hoekstra as early as in 1947; she did the 
illustrations for his book of verse for children, Het verloren schaap.

In 1952 Fiep illustrated a new volume of children’s verse by Hoekstra called Rijmpjes en versjes uit de nieuwe doos. In 
this volume Fiep experimented with the silhouette figures she was to use for Jip and Janneke a year later.

In 1976 the publishing house Meulenhoff gave Fiep an opportunity to make new illustrations 
for the book Rijmpjes en versjes uit de nieuwe doos, but now in full colour and without a deadline! Fiep made a wonderful book which she would later say was her favourite. She made 
glorious and moving illustrations. A striking feature of the book is the placement of the illustrations and the distribution of the verses over the page. Fiep and graphic designer 
Joost van de Woestijne had devoted a great deal of attention to this Bobo.

Bobo
In 1976 the children’s magazine Bobo asked Fiep if she would be interested in making colour illustrations of Jip and Janneke for the magazine. Initially Fiep was not very keen on the idea, but eventually she was persuaded to try. It meant a new struggle for her with the two children in black and white. Because they are silhouettes, they are two-dimensional, and this now caused extra problems for Fiep. How could she bring these flat figures to life in a world of colour, with a land-scape or interior in the background? In the previous black and white publications of the Jip and Janneke illustrations, Fiep had simplified the surroundings, leaving more and more out. Placing the figures straight on the white paper made their images stronger and accentuated their silhouette forms. Now Fiep had to make a U-turn in her thinking.

According to editor-in-chief Marcella Pleysier of Bobo, ‘initially Fiep found it very difficult to give Jip and Janneke a world of colour. But gradually she got the hang of it and started to enjoy it. The colour plates got better and better. Every week a plate had to be finished, and sometimes a cover as well! It was a gigantic amount of work for Fiep, who even then was no spring chicken.'

Fiep continued to work for Bobo until 1991. Bobo published Pluk van de Petteflet as a serial and Fiep made many new illustra-tions for it. Floddertje also appeared in Bobo. Fiep and the 
author Mies Bouhuys made a large number of new adventures of Pim and Pom and a wonder-
ful series of stories about an imaginary animal, Het geheim van Toermalijn.

Up until 1991 
Fiep made cover illustrations which alluded to subjects and themes in each particular issue.