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Kathryn Rathke

Kathryn Rathke

Kathryn Rathke - USA based illustrator

Looking at one of Kathryn Rathke’s line-based illustrations can be a bit like working out a puzzle – was it created using one fluid and continuous line, or many? According to the Seattle-based artist she owes her drawing skills to family connections. Her grandmother taught her to draw and supplied her with books by Arthur Rackham, Maurice Sendak, and William Steig, while her father was president of an advertising agency and used to bring home reams of paper for her to practice on. She has lots of other creative interests too. She learned to make leather masks in Italy, enjoys German experimental theatre, and sometimes throws parties where her friends must act out vignettes found in a 1912 children’s book called Entertainments for All the Year.

Training

Kathryn did an MFA in Set Design at the University of Wisconsin but was always drawing on the side, sometimes accepting commissions from newspapers and magazines. Eventually she flipped things around and made her illustration work a full-time profession and set design became her hobby.

Approach

Kathryn does everything digitally in Photoshop and Illustrator using a Cintiq screen by Wacom. If she’s doing portraiture work, she draws her subject many times over from different angles. This way she learns about the most important features of their face and can draw it in a way that makes it instantly recognisable.

Style

The line is core to Kathryn’s style and her work is very fluid. Expressive and calligraphic, there’s a unique sense of gesture in her illustrations. She also uses crosshatching to develop surfaces in her images, using layers of lines of varying thickness to build up a texture.

Awards

AI-AP Award 2005 Communication Arts Award of Excellence 2010 AI-AP Award 2012

Client list

The Guardian The Economist Intelligent Life Wendy's Leo Burnett Warner Bros Newsweek Time Out The Boston Globe Vanity Fair The Evening Standard The Financial Times The New York Observer Food and Wine magazine USA Today Esquire Oprah magazine
Colorful line drawing of a lady with a Junco
Kathryn Rathke
Seattle Artists of 2014 in black and white
Kathryn Rathke
Graphic art image of rabbit
Kathryn Rathke
Portrait of Ben Whishaw
Kathryn Rathke
Line and wash artwork of Kinglet
Kathryn Rathke
Lawrence Stern's portrait design for the novel "Tristram Shandy"
Kathryn Rathke
Gif shows a dog drooling over grilled chicken.
Kathryn Rathke
Portraiture of a Ramón Cruz
Kathryn Rathke
Standing red-spotted bull illustration
Kathryn Rathke
Smelt dinner illustrated by Kathryn Rathke
Kathryn Rathke
Kathryn Rathke
Rocking portrait of Liz Phair, an American singer-songwriter
Kathryn Rathke
Decorative flower pattern border
Kathryn Rathke
Salman Rushdie with US President pictures for The Guardian
Kathryn Rathke
1860s portrait of writer Charles Dickens
Kathryn Rathke
Line pen-and-ink portrait of F. Scott Fitzgerald
Kathryn Rathke
Depicting a 1950s man
Kathryn Rathke
Animal illustration of a beautiful cow
Kathryn Rathke
Maltese dog character design
Kathryn Rathke
Portraying of author Philip Roth
Kathryn Rathke
Fine line portrait of George Eliot
Kathryn Rathke
A bold portrait of the writer Vivian Gornick
Kathryn Rathke
GIF animation of a single line drawing of a ballet dancer
Kathryn Rathke
A kinetic likeness of Kathryn Rathke
Kathryn Rathke
Portrait of Canadian poet Margaret Atwood
Kathryn Rathke
Black sheep drawing by Kathryn Rathke
Kathryn Rathke
IM Pei's line portrait breaks and is reconstructed
Kathryn Rathke
GIF of woman in yoga pose
Kathryn Rathke
Female profile GIF animation
Kathryn Rathke
Photo realistic illustration of Radicchio
Kathryn Rathke
Portrait of Jim Belushi is an American actor
Kathryn Rathke
Simple pencil drawing of a sheep
Kathryn Rathke
Shel Silverstein in a live-action headshot
Kathryn Rathke
Alice and Caterpillar watercolor painting
Kathryn Rathke
Chic woman portraiture created by Kathryn Rathke
Kathryn Rathke
GIF animation of a trumpet blowing
Kathryn Rathke
The intellectual life of female writers in the 20th century
Kathryn Rathke
Musician Patti Smith portrait design
Kathryn Rathke
Kathryn Rathke
Kathryn Rathke draws Carol Marin for Chicago Magazine
Kathryn Rathke
Very tasty strawberries illustration
Kathryn Rathke
Food illustration of bread
Kathryn Rathke
Man portrait illustration
Kathryn Rathke
Portrayal of English actor "Hugh Laurie"
Kathryn Rathke
Portrait of the richest woman in Africa, "Isabel do Santos"
Kathryn Rathke
Animated gif of Muriel Spark, winking
Kathryn Rathke
Line portrait of Wally Olins
Kathryn Rathke
Illustration in vivid colors of the American rock star Prince
Kathryn Rathke
Cincinnati Chef with a suspicious moustache
Kathryn Rathke
P.G. Wodehouse holding pipe
Kathryn Rathke
animated action line drawing of happy dog
Kathryn Rathke
Medical illustration of spinal
Kathryn Rathke
Palindromes movie poster design
Kathryn Rathke
Intelligent Life Bob Dylan Digital portrait
Kathryn Rathke
Chicago Magazine portrait of Sandra Cisneros animation
Kathryn Rathke
Shouting Rooster
Kathryn Rathke
Line art of Labra-doodling
Kathryn Rathke
Chicago Magazine Jeff Tweedy Portrait animation
Kathryn Rathke
University of California Santa Cruz portait of Reyna Grande animation
Kathryn Rathke
Animation of Post Malone getting tattoo
Kathryn Rathke
Gif animation of old woman
Kathryn Rathke
Pencil art of duck
Kathryn Rathke
Animated line drawing of a famous statue
Kathryn Rathke
Gif animation of wren bird
Kathryn Rathke
Rem koolhaas portrait art
Kathryn Rathke
Line art portrait of Shel Silverstein
Kathryn Rathke
Portrait of Tom Waits
Kathryn Rathke
Martin Amis & Tom Wolfe Portrait
Kathryn Rathke
Animal in forest
Kathryn Rathke
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