Dikkie kijkt vanachter een stenen muur after 1947

Eddy de Smet made this image of Dikkie peering from behind a stone wall with ink and paint. I can almost feel Eddy’s hand moving across the page, carefully outlining each brick and the slight curve of Dikkie’s hair. The way the wall is rendered, with its craggy edges and blue shading, gives it a real sense of depth, as though Dikkie is truly hidden. I imagine Eddy, hunched over his drawing table, meticulously layering each color, deciding just how much shadow to add, and how to catch Dikkie's sly expression. There’s something so tender about this image. It reminds me of other cartoonists like Hergé, who created Tintin. All of us artists are kind of like kids playing hide and seek. We conceal bits of ourselves, inviting the viewer to peek around the corner and discover something new.