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Artist Draws Wholesome Watercolor Comics Where A Cat Is Giving Out Mental Health Advice (20 Pics)
Interview With Artist
Artist Hector Janse van Rensburg aka ‘S**tty Watercolour’ aka 'Swatercolour' is making us happier and our lives more wholesome with his comics that feel like miniature hugs and feature a meowtivational cat. The UK-based painter has become a global phenomenon and is now known as the world’s favorite self-deprecating artist.
“The comics that came before this series were less optimistic, and this series is a bit like a response to that. They sometimes approach difficult issues like mental health, but the aim of the comics is not to solve the issues but to show a different perspective on them. That new perspective often comes from the cat, who is based on my cat Ona who passed away a few years ago,” Hector told Bored Panda about his newest work.
We’ve collected some of Hector’s best work featuring the lovely cat, so scroll down, upvote your fave comics, and read on for our full interview with the painter about his art, as well as for his advice when drawing “happy little wobbly blobs of color.”
More info: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Reddit | Patreon
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
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#3
Kathy Brown 5 years ago
Sometimes I end up doing more than I planned, when I don't feel like doing anything, but I take that first step.
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Demongrrrrl 5 years ago
I always put on clothes when I get up in the afternoon, even if I'm just going to sit on the couch. Makes me feel sort of virtuous - I actually did something today!
Naomi Armitage 5 years ago
Thank GOD for my dogs. Otherwise, I would stay in my pajamas all day. What's the point? Not like I'm going anywhere...
Rainbow Panda 5 years ago
“That’s one blue pants for a young man, one big step for pantskind.”👖
“Before I started painting online about 8 years ago, I had never had any interest in art and now it looks like that's where my life is going,” Hector said. “Ostensibly, that just means I'm sitting at my desk with a brush more often than a keyboard, but it is a whole different type of challenge to think of things about human nature that I want to communicate in my paintings.”
He added: “One part of that is that it's like I'm living through my art, which can be difficult.”
#4
Jus 5 years ago
I like sleeping and early morning my sleep feels the sweetest, it's of best quality. If a cat wanted to wake me up to throw philosophical statements, I would say goodbye to such cat.
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#5
Precious Domalanta 5 years ago
This ain't a normal comic, This is a comic that encourages you🥺❤❤
Rainbow Panda 5 years ago
One step at a time, you will reach great heights if you continue! ❤️
Chris DiFonso 5 years ago
I do a lot of walking, usually 13,000+ steps each day. I don't view it as taking 13K steps; I look at it as taking 1 step, 13K times.
#6
Keegan Clements-Housser 5 years ago
Turns out Marcus Aurelius was reincarnated as a cat.
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We wanted to find out how the painter manages to stay passionate about art. However, Hector told us that passion might be the wrong thing to focus on. Instead, the key is discipline.
“I think if you rely on some feeling of passion to motivate you then you will have a hard time. I've been doing a comic every day recently and I tend to wake up, think of an idea, and then have it painted by lunchtime,” he revealed a bit about his disciplined schedule.
“The schedule around my painting process is quite robotic by now, and I think doing it that way opens up a clear space where you can be more creatively free. If I didn't have a schedule and instead waited around for inspiration that was good enough to motivate me to paint, then I probably wouldn't be as productive.”
#7
Naomi Armitage 5 years ago
I need someone to say this to me. I'm constantly comparing myself to others, and I hate my place.
#8
R J 5 years ago
Feeling a bit sad knowing that it is normal to not have a great someone forever. One day you may lose someone. I lost my mom and she reminds of this cat. HOWEVER, i got married recently and my wife is now like this cat. Next, i can be this cat for my children. Life is a lovely circle.. there is pain and loss but also joy and fulfillment
yslasoli 5 years ago
It's a good culmination of all previous ones. After anxiety and unknowns now or anytime, the simplicity and love from little things with our tiniest companions can help reset our spirits a little. Or a lot.
Load More Replies... Rainbow Panda 5 years ago
Here’s all the ping pong balls you want, Angel kitty. 🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓🏓
#9
Cat Nip 5 years ago
well get a cat you will not regret it (trust me) plus they will last you 20 years!
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David Lippman 2 years ago
I can't count up to three, either. I had the lowest math grades in the history of my school. So my teachers gave me two options: 1. Become a mathematician 2. Spend my life tending a boiler and digging sludge out of it. I made them a counter-offer: to kill myself in front of them. They backpedaled with cliches about "the greatness of America and the reputation of the school." I got a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing instead. Straight A's. Still can't solve a math problem. But I wish I had become a mathematician. Or a boiler tender.
Hector said that the ideas for his comics come from negative thoughts that he can turn into more positive ones.
“So I think about the ways in which people can feel bad and how you might approach them as a friend would. I don't think I find it too difficult to think of ideas which is probably a testament to how nice my cat was,” he complimented his cat Ona for being a fantastic feline.
#10
Betsy Knox 5 years ago
That makes me think about how souls evolve and the complexities of all forms of life.
Rainbow Panda 5 years ago
Humans may have complicated lives, but they have more luxuries than a cat. Appreciate life everyone. 👍
Khloe Ness 5 years ago
im going to cry.. and stop posting comments I just want to read them their so adorable
David Lippman 5 years ago
I have read this six times and cry every time. So powerful.
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David Lippman 5 years ago
This one hits me the most, because I truly BELIEVE I am beyond repair from all the negative stuff that has happened to me or been inflicted on me. I tried to kill myself three times in despair, firmly believing the statement my father -- who ware normally my biggest cheerleader -- hurled at me once, that "One very cold morning, you're going to wake up and realize that nobody in the entire world gives a damn whether you live or die." As you may well imagine, it had a dramatic impact on me, and years later, I asked my father about that, what it meant, and why he said it. He gave a fumbling non-answer answer, tap-dancing around what he said, acting as if didn't remember saying it, which didn't help one bit. This cartoon helps.
David Lippman 2 years ago
I'm beyond fixing. I have no family, no friends, nobody loves me. I only have co-workers, and they are co-workers. When I die, nobody will care or miss me. "Those who vanish like the morning dew will surely be quite happy."
David Lippman 3 years ago
I wish I could do something right. I keep trying to, but there's always someone standing there, laughing his or her head off at my ineptitude and incompetence.
#12
Rainbow Panda 5 years ago
Circles and circles, until you realize what you want to do. So true! 🔁💝
Bored Panda also wanted to hear what advice Hector would give other potential artists who are dabbling with watercolor paintings. He said that a lot depends on each individual artist’s end-goal: there are two paths that they can take.
“For me, it's that the niceness and technical ability of a painting are different things and you can aim at either,” he said.
“It's perfectly possible to make happy little wobbly blobs of color and people will enjoy them if the message is good and sincere. There's probably a boundary of neatness that you should stay within but messiness is cool too. Also, most of my pictures look very bad at first, and then it's only after a while that they come together. I think that's because a few wobbly blobs on their own look like an accident, but a finished painting of wobbly blobs looks purposeful.”
#13
izzy bradford 5 years ago
but its the moment that's special, not the picture! it's just not the same.
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Catlady6000 5 years ago
One of my Moms roommates had advanced Alzheimer's, she had just a handful of things she would constantly talk about, almost on a loop. Two,of my favorites were memories she had as a child, one of those was building sand castles with her baby brother and how much fun it was chasing after waves
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
Somehow it seems so fitting that you would write a comment like that, Catlady. Wishing you a lovely day!
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Alexandra Heinlein 5 years ago
You will have the pleasure of building it with your friends. I've learned that sometimes it's easier to look at what you can accomplish now instead of paying attention to what might happen in the future. The future is never definite until it becomes the present.
#14
Donna Tomczek 5 years ago
My cat is a better therapist than the paid one my sister sees every other Monday... I'm less depressed + she's not!
David Lippman 5 years ago
Everybody in the world needs a cat -- or a dog -- like this one. I had a father who went down to the basement in despair, a borderline narcissist mother who loathed me as I got older, and teachers who did not care or regarded me as a source of amusement.
Sharon Hahn 5 years ago
Animals depend on us for their lives; we need to give them more attention.
#15
Myxomatosis 5 years ago
This is my Kitty. Minus the tie. Trampling me in bed on my hard days saying, "Get up Mom!".
Hector, who has a Philosophy, Politics, and Economics degree from the University of York, has been experimenting with watercolors since December 2011. He revisited an old watercolor set when he felt bored and depressed. Originally, he started uploading his illustrations on Reddit in 2012, then he spread his gaze wider and moved on to Tumblr and Twitter.
The cartoonist admits that he’s inspired by Sir Quentin Blake who illustrated the children’s books written by beloved author Roald Dahl. So if you felt that you found his art style oddly familiar and felt nostalgia for your childhood when looking at Hector’s drawings, this is why!
#16
David Lippman 2 years ago
Me? I'm tired of living. I'd like to start over as a Galapagos Tortoise. Eating vegetables and entertaining visitors.
#17
Chris DiFonso 5 years ago
Good moments are even better because of challenging moments; we can appreciate the good moments more from a comparison point.
Catlady6000 5 years ago
Sweet cat. But, it can be healthy to do this for short periods, like a day just lying on the ground watching clouds, or a weekend hiking, just letting things go for a minute to recharge
David Lippman 2 years ago
I tried to do my life. It was a failure. All I did was alienate people and infuriate them beyond forgiveness. Forgiveness itself is a myth. "Those who vanish like the morning dew will surely be quite happy."
#18
Dwight Moody 5 years ago
Put them all in a book, it will be a best seller and help more people than you can imagine.
#19
Rainbow Panda 5 years ago
A wishing star is double as great when you share it with a friend. 💫
#20
SaraFromHell 5 years ago
These are spot on, and beautiful. Thank you for these. Keep em coming.
David Lippman 2 years ago
Me? I'm tired of being the "unwanted eight-year-old autistic being who exists in this house." I don't want to live any more. Let someone else do my assignments...he or she will do them better.
Danna Ruth 4 years ago
these are truly wonderful...i wish every sad person had these cat thoughts to help them navigate the world. is there a book of these?
Larry Leister 5 years ago
i see it as art that gifts kindness ---> by showing/reminding us how to be kind to ourselves. *love* *hugs*
Larry Leister 5 years ago
It's art that is kind by showing/reminding us how to be kind to ourselves. *love* *hugs*
David Lippman 5 years ago
I'm sitting here in tears, reading this....it's incredibly moving and powerful.
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Doggo Georgia 5 years ago
Awww! These are so inspiring, I'm looking forward to the next post about these!
Data1001 5 years ago
I came across the "for now" one before, and it resonated with me so I immediately shared it. But these others are just as amazing, if not more so. A perfect reminder to treat ourselves with compassion.
Cat Nip Gal 5 years ago
I love it and I have actually made a comic like this that uses it
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Darko Pešić 5 years ago
Thank you for these comics, sometimes it really helps to see something like that
Leo Domitrix 5 years ago
OMG. In the feels. This is what therapists should say... Oh, wait. I have two cats. Yep, I'm covered!
Dilly Millandry 5 years ago
In cat hair? I don't have cats at the moment but it was a regular feature!! 😁
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Evelína Zlá 5 years ago
When I clicked on it I was like "Please don´t make me cry... please don´t."... Thank you :)
Remi Flynne 5 years ago
Beautifully drawn and with lovely messages. I'm so in love with this kitty!
Doggo Georgia 5 years ago
Awww! These are so inspiring, I'm looking forward to the next post about these!
Data1001 5 years ago
I came across the "for now" one before, and it resonated with me so I immediately shared it. But these others are just as amazing, if not more so. A perfect reminder to treat ourselves with compassion.
Cat Nip Gal 5 years ago
I love it and I have actually made a comic like this that uses it
Load More Replies... Darko Pešić 5 years ago
Thank you for these comics, sometimes it really helps to see something like that
Leo Domitrix 5 years ago
OMG. In the feels. This is what therapists should say... Oh, wait. I have two cats. Yep, I'm covered!
Dilly Millandry 5 years ago
In cat hair? I don't have cats at the moment but it was a regular feature!! 😁
Load More Replies... Evelína Zlá 5 years ago
When I clicked on it I was like "Please don´t make me cry... please don´t."... Thank you :)
Remi Flynne 5 years ago
Beautifully drawn and with lovely messages. I'm so in love with this kitty!
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