Jommeke - 'Spoken Op School' (2025).
Dieter Steenhaut is a Belgian musician, record producer and comic artist. Since 2020, he is one of the artists of the long-running children's series 'Jommeke', originally created by Jef Nys.
Early life and career
Dieter Steenhaut was born in 1997 in Ghent, and has spent most of his life in Zwalm, a town 20 kilometers south of this city. His father was the poet, painter, composer, writer and teacher Didier Steenhaut (1971-2023). Among Steenhaut's main graphic influences were the painters Rembrandt Van Rijn, Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso, as well as the comic creators Hergé, Marc Sleen and Jef Nys. When he was two years old, Steenhaut actually met Nys at the Comics Festival of Middelkerke, where the veteran artist signed a 'Jommeke' album for him. While Steenhaut obviously couldn't remember much from this encounter, it did amuse him that Nys had no idea that one of his future successors was seated in that stroller.
During his studies at the Arteveldehogeschool in Ghent, he initially focused on Latin and history, but eventually shifted towards Dutch language and visual arts. A study trip to Berlin widened his view on different art forms, and he learned to appreciate street art and electronic music. Deciding to pursue a career in arts, he had an internship with the cartoonist Lectrr. He has later worked at his former school as a teacher in drawing from observation.
In his professional career, Dieter Steenhaut has been active as both a visual artist and a musician. With his father on vocals, he has recorded alternative electronic music under the name Stonekite. One of his songs, 'Our Song', was later covered in the amateur TV contest 'Belgium's Got Talent'.
Jommeke - 'Rare Vogels' (2023).
Jommeke
Even before he graduated from the Arteveldehogeschool, Steenhaut responded to a newspaper ad by Standaard Uitgeverij, asking for new artists for the popular children's comic series 'Jommeke'. A day before his graduation in 2020, he was informed that he was hired. Under supervision of the longtime 'Jommeke' artist Philippe Delzenne, he studied three years to get the drawing style in his fingers.
In 2023, 'Rare Vogels' (#314), the first 'Jommeke' album drawn completely by Dieter Steenhaut was published. It was a collection of one-page gags, scripted by Willy Linthout and Ann Smet. Due to the sudden death of the artist's father, the album's release had been postponed. Since then, Steenhaut has been part of the regular 'Jommeke' team, creating new installments in the series, in addition to the volumes created individually by Delzenne and Van Loock.
In 2024, Steenhaut participated with the auction show 'Stukken van Mensen', where on behalf of the heir of Jef Nys he sold the original cover art for the 'Jommeke' album 'De Vliegende Ton'. During the show, he promised that the host Paul De Grande would have a cameo in Steenhaut's next 'Jommeke' story. This album, 'Spoken Op School' (#325, 2025), was incidentally also the first 'Jommeke' story co-scripted by Steenhaut in collaboration with Kristof Berte.
Steenhaut has named Mic Mac Jampudding his favorite 'Jommeke' character.
Illustrator
During his 'Jommeke' training period, Steenhaut also did additional illustration jobs for Standaard Uitgeverij, notably on new installments in the children's book series 'Duupje' (2021- ), written by An Swartenbroekx. The series was a continuation of the once popular children's story series 'Duupje', originally created by René Swartenbroekx and illustrated by Guido Van Looy in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but now continued by the original writer's daughter. Steenhaut also illustrated the children's puzzle book 'Breinbrekers voor 6+' (2021) and a 'Jommeke'-themed 'Monopoly' board game.
Illustration from Duupje #4 (2024).