Lucy Cousins on how the magic of Maisy Mouse was created

Illustrator Lucy Cousins created one of the world's most loved children's characters, Maisy Mouse, in 1990. Since then Maisy books have sold 27 million copies and been translated into 27 languages. Here she explains how Maisy came into being.

How can two simple, black-dotted eyes on a cartoon mouse inspire such curiosity, joy and wonderment?

Strange magic can happen with children's books; deceptively simple illustrations and stories collide with young imaginations and become something larger.

When Lucy Cousins describes drawing Maisy, the widely loved cartoon mouse, it sounds as if she just happened upon a fully-formed character.

'I spent a short while drawing every animal I could possibly think of,' says Cousins.

'When I drew the mouse, it was definitely the one I wanted to use. She just looked back at me from the page and seemed to have a personality.'

So many of her young readers have felt the same thing over the years.

'I could instantly tell what her world looked like, and what her character was. She just sort of appeared to me.'

Known for their striking use of colours and strong black outlines, Cousins' picture books have sold more than 26 million copies.

It wasn't a style that came naturally to her, however.

'I found colour quite difficult to use; I didn't really know how to apply it. I was a little bit scared of it,' she says.

'My first children's book had very little colour in it. It's amazing for me to look back because now colour is such an important part of my work.

'I just love working with colour, experimenting, putting different colours together and different proportions of colour and how they all change.'

A mother of four grown-up children, Cousins now turns to her 10-month-old grandson for new ideas and ways to interact with her audience.

'He's being quite an inspiration to me,' she says. 'Especially when I'm looking at books with him, his reactions are so fantastic.'

Many try their hand at children's illustrations, but few have succeed to the extent that Cousins has with Maisy.

So what makes this little mouse special?

'She's very joyful about life, even the simple things in life, she just loves the sunshine, flowers and her friends. She has lots of adventures,' says Cousins.

According to the illustrator, she's a mixture of what children do in their everyday lives and what they would love to do.

'You've only got to see children play to see they're totally absorbed in that world that they are imagining.'

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