Hector Janse van Rensburg

Janse Van Rensburg is from Cambridge and attended Hills Road Sixth Form College. His mother is Scottish and his father is South African.[9] 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.[10]

Boredom and depression led Janse 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.[2][11] At first the quality of his paintings was, in his own opinion, accurately described by his Reddit username Shitty_Watercolour. Encouraged by the response from Reddit users however, among whom he gathered a devoted following, his painting skills improved greatly.[12]

Many people have mistaken the artist for Sir 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.[11]

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.[4] He often welcomes celebrities during their reddit AMAs ("Ask Me Anything") by posting a painting of them.[13] He has painted his own interpretations of classic artworks by painters such as Edward Hopper and Leonardo da Vinci.[7][14][15][16] 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.[17][18][19]

Janse Van Rensburg worked for the BBC for a few months,[12][20] and has done paintings on commission for Intel, Lionsgate, ASUS, CNN, USA Network, BuzzFeed, and Prizeo.[21]

Janse Van Rensburg provided the illustrations for Daniel Howell's coming out video in June 2019.[22]

Janse Van Rensburg created the artwork for the software package management system Yarn.[23]

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.[24][25]

In July 2012, he painted a watercolour painting to help a redditor propose to his girlfriend, and more paintings to celebrate their engagement.[26]

Shitty_Watercolour is consistently listed as one of the most popular and influential Redditors.[24][27][28][29] 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.[13][30][31][32] This portrait of Obama was hung in the campaign headquarters.[12] His impressions of classic artworks and his paintings of sloths have also received considerable attention in the media.[7][14][15][16][17][18][19][33]

• Shitty Watercolour on Twitter
• Shitty_Watercolour's Reddit account