Jeff Rankin is a South African artist and cartoonist who, after mandatory service in the South African Military, attended the Durban School of Art. His first year he did the basic art and design but then chose to do printmaking for his fine art training. This involved a great deal of graphic design and he also dabbled in illustration. He later specialized in printmaking in the UK and afterward did full time lecturing and went on to receive a Higher Diploma in printmaking at Durban and then an MA in Fine Art at Stellenbosch University.
He held a variety of full time and part time positions at institutions in South Africa from the late seventies until 2009. He worked with students in Fine Art, Textile Design, Graphic Design, and Architecture. He quit in 2009 after he co-founded the art school at Walter Sisulu University, East London, in 1994. He gave up after becoming displeased and disenchanted with the teaching environment. It was at this time he retired from WSU. Just before retiring, he built his Albatross Studio where he now works on his own time and teaches classes in printmaking.