Hans de Beer is a Dutch illustrator and author, recognized as the original creator behind the Little Polar Bear book series, which has been adapted into multiple anime works in Japan. Born in 1957 in Muiden, a small town near Amsterdam in the Netherlands, de Beer initially pursued studies in history before deciding to become an artist. He went on to study illustration at the Rietveld Academy of Art in Amsterdam, where the Little Polar Bear series originated as his graduation project.

De Beer is the creator of the original children's books featuring the character Lars, a young polar bear. These books serve as the foundation for all related media. His work as an original creator is directly credited for the anime adaptations produced in Japan. Specifically, he holds the original work credit for the 1990 anime film Little Polar Bear: Shirokuma-kun, Doko e? and the 1991 original video animation Little Polar Bear: Shirokuma-kun, Fune ni Noru. These Japanese productions were animated by I.G Tatsunoko, the studio that later became Production I.G, with the latter title released on December 1, 1991.

The Little Polar Bear books, originally published in Switzerland by Nord-Sud Verlag, have achieved significant international success. They have been translated into eighteen languages and published in 27 countries, with de Beer winning numerous awards including the Bologna International Book Fair selection and the Golden Plaque of the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava. The franchise's popularity led to a broader range of animated adaptations beyond Japan, including a German-British television series that aired on the BBC in the mid-1990s and a German feature film released by Warner Bros. in 2001. Despite the existence of these European adaptations, de Beer's significance in the context of anime specifically lies in his role as the original source creator for the Japanese animated productions of his work, which were among the first visual adaptations of the series.