Jan Kruis

Jan Kruis is best known for his family comic 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen', that appears weekly in the women's magazine Libelle since 1970. Kruis was born in Rotterdam and studied at the Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten. He began his career doing freelance jobs for advertising agencies in the 1950s.

He published his first comics in De Havenloods, a magazine for which he drew 'Prins Freddie'. His production really took off when he joined the magazine Olidin and created such series as 'Tommy' (1958-1963), 'Baldino' (1959) and 'Stientje en Gertje' (1962).

In 1965, he was present in Kuifje with the gag series 'Gregor', that was later continued in Pep until 1967. In 1969, he took over 'Sjors en Sjimmie' comic from Frans Piët in the magazine Sjors. He completely modernized and restyled the strip, and handed it over to Jan Steeman after two episodes. He was then asked by the women's magazine Libelle to create a weekly comic. This resulted in the family comic 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen', that has appeared in the magazine's pages on a weekly base and in a series of albums since 1970.

He continued to work on this comic until his retirement in 1998. He handed over his creations to the Studio Jan Kruis, an art studio based at the editorial offices of Libelle, initially headed by Daan Jippes. Artists that have worked for the studio are Gerben Valkema, Peter Nuyten, Rob Phielix, Maarten Gerritsen and Michiel van de Vijver.

After his retirement from his weekly comic, he did a project for the Lepra Foundation featuring his well-known characters, and he commenced working on a comics adaptation of Multatuli's 'Woutertje Pietersen'.