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An illustration of a bustling city scene featuring various people and landmarks. Figures gather around a blue bus, a red market stall and a bronze statue of a person on a plinth.

Master of the editorial illustration, we give you Rodion Kitaev

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Date
14 December 2012

Text is nice, words are interesting, but sometimes a whole blob of copy is too much for our little eyeballs to deal with. That’s why someone (don’t know who, Santa?) invented editorial illustrators to make long articles look more appealing to the aesthetically fickle human being. What better example of editorial illustration is there than the enormous portfolio of Russian-born Rodion Kitaev? His bold colours and friendly style could transform even the most boring of articles into something actually quite appealing. Check out his Flickr for pages upon pages of beautiful illustrations, you won’t be disappointed!

A surreal collage featuring a cityscape under a bright sun, topped by a yellow wedge and a timeline ending in the word “STOP”. Below, a yellow human figure stands beside a blue, organic shape containing a landscape and a red circle with small white figures.
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Rodion Kitaev: For Prime Russian Magazine

A surreal illustration of a giant, multi-coloured robot standing in a city. Yellow and blue lines connect the robot to various objects, including a golden trophy, a chicken, and a small house.
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Rodion Kitaev: For Sekret Firmy Magazine

An infographic on a magazine cover shows a fleet of colourful lorries, each representing a different European country. The trucks are labelled with country names and large monetary figures in Russian, such as “Германия” with “$2.99 млрд”.
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Rodion Kitaev: For Sekret Firmy Magazine

An illustration of a map of Europe and Russia, featuring figures in suits walking across the landscape. The right side of the image is dominated by large, architectural letters that spell “Россия”.
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Rodion Kitaev:

A complex collage featuring various surreal scenes, figures and abstract shapes. A yellow jagged burst contains the words “DOG DONUTS”, while other sections show people on a “VIP” podium and a figure climbing a ladder.
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Rodion Kitaev: For F5 Newspaper

An illustration of two people sitting opposite each other at a table, playing a game of chess. The scene is a collage of fragmented memories and images, including a calendar from “1997” and a city street scene.
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Rodion Kitaev: For Russkiy Reporter Magazine

An illustration of a colourful Istanbul cityscape with a river flowing through the centre. Hand-drawn text at the top reads “you go to ISTANBUL”.
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Rodion Kitaev: For You Go To Travel Agency

An illustration of a dense city skyline overlooking a blue sea. In the foreground, various buildings and structures are arranged to spell out “Home to London” in a stylised, architectural font.
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Rodion Kitaev: For You Go To Travel Agency

An illustration divided into six panels showing queues of people in various city settings. Each scene features a digital timer and people waiting in line for things like a bus, a shop, or a landmark.
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Rodion Kitaev: For Afisha Magazine

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About the Author

Liv Siddall

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Liv joined It’s Nice That as an intern in 2011 and worked across online, print and events, and was latterly Features Editor before leaving in May 2015.

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