Kostja Gatnik (11 September 1945 – 1 August 2022) was a Slovene artist,

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

and illustrator, best known for his illustrations in

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

.Slovenia's Best for Young Readers
by the

Slovenian Book Agency The Slovenian Book Agency ( sl, Javna agencija za knjigo Republike Slovenije often abbreviated to ''JAK'' or ''JAKRS'') is an autonomous government agency in Slovenia that was created to promote the importance of books and reading in Slovenia and be ...

Gatnik was born in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

in 1945. He studied at the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute o ...

in Ljubljana. He worked as a painter, graphic designer, illustrator and photographer. He illustrated over 60 books, published cartoons and designed puppets and theatre costumes. Among all characters he created perhaps the most famous is Magna Purga, a comic book hero. In 2010, he won the Grand Prešeren Award for his lifetime achievements in the fine arts. In 2011, he won the

Levstik Award The Levstik Award ( sl, Levstikova nagrada) is a literary award in Slovenia awarded for achievements in children's literature. It has been bestowed since 1949 by the Mladinska Knjiga Publishing House, making it the first literary award established ...

for lifetime achievement in illustration.

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* 1945 births 2022 deaths Artists from Ljubljana Slovenian illustrators Prešeren Award laureates Levstik Award laureates Slovenian cartoonists Slovenian graphic designers Slovenian children's book illustrators University of Ljubljana alumni {{slovenia-artist-stub