Nationality British Website shittywatercolour.com Name Shitty Watercolour | Education Autodidact | |
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Full Name Hector Janse van Rensburg Born October 1993 (age 22) United Kingdom Known for Watercolor painting, Illustration Profiles | ||
The story of how shitty watercolour got less shitty
Hector Janse van Rensburg, better known by his pseudonym Shitty Watercolour, is a British painter who started posting watercolour paintings on the social media website Reddit in February 2012, and later expanded to publishing his work on his own website, on Tumblr, and on Twitter. He currently attends the University of York, reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
Contents
- The story of how shitty watercolour got less shitty
- Background
- Influences
- Works
- Philanthropy
- Media coverage
- References
Background
Van Rensburg attended Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge, UK. In 2011, he won a Wilkinson Quincentenary Prize, awarded by St. John's College, Cambridge to the best entries in an essay competition for high school students.
Boredom and depression led van Rensburg to revisit an old watercolour set and seek subjects to paint. Already a reddit user, he realized that submissions, comments, and usernames on the website provided him with ample illustration opportunities. At first the quality of his paintings was, in his own opinion, accurately described by his reddit username Shitty_Watercolour, but encouraged by the response from reddit users, among whom he gathered a devoted following, his painting skills improved greatly. He uses art supplies manufactured by Winsor and Newton.
Influence(s)
Many people have mistaken the artist for Quentin Blake, best known for illustrating children's books written by Roald Dahl. The young painter considers this a compliment, and while denying that he is Quentin Blake, acknowledges that he is greatly inspired by him.
Works
Shitty_Watercolour became popular on reddit by posting his interpretations of pictures posted by "Redditors" (Reddit users), illustrating various comments on the subreddit /r/AskReddit, and illustrating usernames of redditors. He often welcomes celebrities during their reddit AMAs ("Ask Me Anything") by posting a painting of them. He has painted his own interpretations of classic artworks by painters such as Edward Hopper and Leonardo da Vinci. Since early 2013, the artist has been going through a "sloth period", during which he has been painting sloths based on famous pieces of art.
Van Rensburg now works for the BBC, and has done paintings on commission for Intel, Lionsgate, ASUS, CNN, USA Network, BuzzFeed, and Prizeo.
Philanthropy
In October 2012, the artist streamed live a 12-hour painting session on YouTube to raise money for charity: water, a non-profit organization which aims to provide drinking water in developing countries. Redditors donated a minimum of $10 to have a photo of their choice painted in a 5 cm by 5 cm square.
In July 2012, he painted a watercolour painting to help a redditor propose to his girlfriend, and more paintings to celebrate their engagement.
Media coverage
Shitty_Watercolour is consistently listed as one of the most popular and influential Redditors. The painter's portrait of President Barack Obama during his August 2012 Reddit AMA was published on the President's official Tumblr and on various news websites, including CNN. This portrait of Obama was hung in the campaign headquarters. His impressions of classic artworks and his paintings of sloths have also received considerable attention in the media.