Phiny Dick is born in Rotterdam, as Afine Kornelie Dik, on the 14th of September, 1912. She is the only child of Afina Hazewinkel and Kornelis Egbert Dik, a captain in the merchant navy. As a young dreamy girl she can drift away endlessly into the world depicted in Gustave Doré engravings shown in Perrault's fairytale edition of ‘Mother Goose'.

Her talent for drawing emerges in 1933 when she makes sketches for her fiancé Marten Toonder for the 'This IJs' cartoon story. For the weekly 'Extra' magazine she creates 'Doris and Daantje'.

In 1939 she starts writing illustrated children's books. Her first book was about a cat called 'Miezelientje'. This cat has remarkable resemblance with Marten Toonder's own Tom Puss, a character who will two years later, appear in the Dutch papers. This illustrates the influence that Marten Toonder and Phiny Dick have on one another during their illustrating and writing. The script of the first 23 Tom Puss stories show clearly her style of writing.

Phiny Dick's books such as 'Van Pom, Verk and Fop' and 'Suizebol and Bijdepink' are a huge success. Despite this, after the war she decides to devote herself to cartoon stories. For more than a decade she makes the comic strip 'Olle Kapoen' which also appears in Norwegian, Swedish and French daily and weekly editions. She also creates the cartoon 'Birre Bear' and writes some of the scripts for 'Kappie'.

She is also multi talented as a painter. For the book 'De dag na Betlehem' (The day after Bethlehem) written by her brother-in-law, Jan Gerhard Toonder she makes a series of pastels. She learns Chinese painting techniques and in her Irish period she starts making oil paintings, poster paintings, acrylic drawings, and water colours. She creates many covers for Bezige Bij Mr. Bumble paperback editions. She is Marten Toonder's muse.

Phiny Dick dies in Blackrock, Ireland on the 7th of August, 1990.