Miki Muster

Nikolaj Muster (22 November 1925 – 7 May 2018), known as Miki Muster, was a Slovenian academic sculptor, illustrator, cartoonist, and animator. He is viewed as a pioneer in the field of comics and animation in Slovenia, known for the series of comics featuring the characters Zvitorepec, Trdonja, and Lakotnik, and animated TV commercials.

Biography Muster first got interested in animation when he saw Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Ljubljana, in 1953 with a degree in sculpture. Even during the studies, he wished to join the Disney studios in the US, which was impossible given the post-war political situation.

In 1952, Muster started drawing his comic strip Zvitorepec, which was running in magazines Poletove podobe in povesti (PPP) and Tedenska tribuna. PPP was supposed to publish Disney's comics but as they did not arrive in time, Muster filled in with his own one.

In 1973, Muster moved to Munich to pursue a career in animation at Bavaria Film.

Muster died on 7 May 2018 in a nursing home in Notranje Gorice, aged 92. Some stories outlined real-world problems such as increasing pollution and aggressive driving, while a story about Lakotnik building his own house made fun of the construction process in Yugoslavia in the 1960s.