{"id":20462,"date":"2025-05-06T08:59:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T06:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getitmagazine.co.za\/lowveld\/?p=20462"},"modified":"2025-05-06T08:59:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T06:59:07","slug":"wouter-de-witt-an-artists-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/getitmagazine.co.za\/lowveld\/blog\/2025\/05\/06\/wouter-de-witt-an-artists-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Wouter de Witt: An artist\u2019s journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Born in Mbombela, Wouter – or Ghost, as he is better known – may not have studied art formally, but that didn\u2019t stop him from honing his skills, one pencil stroke at a time.
\n\u201cI had art at school, but I really got into it when I picked up Christopher Hart\u2019s How to Draw Cartoons for Comic Strips. That book was a game-changer for me,\u201d he says. One of his earliest memories of drawing was a pencil sketch of a crying little girl, one of the moments when he realised he had something special.<\/p>\n

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Life, however, took him on quite the adventure before he fully embraced art as a career. From the Infantry School in Oudtshoorn to the Bourke\u2019s Luck Dog Training Unit, Ghost\u2019s early years were anything but conventional for an artist. His travels took him across Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Greece, and even Sweden, before he eventually returned home to Mbombela, reclaiming his old job at a printing company. But art kept calling to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my spare time, I started doing chalkboards for restaurants and murals for kids\u2019 rooms. It was something I loved, and eventually, I decided to make it permanent.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fast-forward to today, and his portfolio includes illustrations for books like Tinkers Guide to the Wild, Blinktand van Bosveldparadys, Beautiful Colours, and even an Austrian title, Die Dschungel Detektive. His work has also graced the pages of Viva Afrikaans textbooks and numerous Macmillan Publishers\u2019 titles.<\/p>\n

For many artists, finding a unique style is a journey of trial and error. But for Ghost, drawing felt natural from the start. \u201cOf course, practise makes perfect,\u201d he adds. \u201cWhen I started, I learned from library books and Mad Magazine, I still have a few of my favourites. Today, things are much easier with free YouTube tutorials and online courses.\u201d While cartooning remains his first love, his artistic range extends beyond that, and he also does murals in acrylic and wildlife oil paintings when he\u2019s not illustrating or sign-writing walls. \u201cIt keeps things interesting,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

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One of his most well-known projects is painting the beloved Lowveld icon, Old Joe. \u201cThe original stone was put up to honour Joe Barbas, who supervised the construction of Schoemanskloof\u2019s first motorway in 1927,\u201d explains Ghost, adding that 2025 marks 20 years of him giving Old Joe new \u2018jackets\u2019 with fresh paint jobs. \u201cIt\u2019s always a fun trip to go and give Joe a makeover. Big shout-out to TRAC, who\u2019ve become the official guardians and sponsors of Old Joe!\u201d<\/p>\n