SDCC HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello El Grande Fans,

Elio is finally back from the jungle, and he's brought with him 14 new penciled pages from Chapter One of our book. I got to salivate all over them yesterday, and I have to say, they are some of his best drawings to date. I don't know what they were feeding him in that village, but I hope he brought some home.

As you all know, next week is San Diego Comic Con, and Elio and I have decided to use these next seven days to let you all know that we will be there, and we will be showing original pages and designs at the entrance of HALL A on Friday and Saturday of the convention. We will be there from 2:00PM to 4:00PM on both days and we would be happy to talk with any of you about the project and even do a quick sketch or two of our characters for free if you'd like. We will also have some never before seen art to show, so come check us out. We'd really like to meet some of you guys and gals.

Make sure to look for our shirts with the EL GRANDE logo on the front, and the WORM in his space suit on the back; as seen above.

The images above are of our limited edition postcard that we will be passing out for free at the show. So you can't beat that right? Come and see us, and you get to check out some sweet art, get a free postcard, and a free sketch.

We hope to see a bunch of you there,
Joe y Elio

www.elioguevara.com
www.joekarg.com

THE POWER!

Hey All,
I'll be making a my final post until after San Diego Comic Con tomorrow night, so I thought I'd do a quick sketch for you all before then. The idea behind this sketch was a beautiful woman realizing, for the first time, the power she wields between her legs. Pretty simple, but I like putting a little more thought behind my images lately besides drawing or painting something that looks nice.

Make sure to check out the blog tomorrow night. I'll be posting the limited edition "EL GRANDE" postcard image that Elio and I will be passing out at San Diego. I just know you guys are gonna like it.

Peace,
Joe

SECURITY!!!!

LOW RES

HI RES

Hi all,
So I couldn't help but think about all the things I wouldn't be able to bring with me on the plane to San Diego today, and it inspired this piece. This is probalbly the first image I've ever done that has more meaning than just it's own face value. I tried to think of all the things I couldn't take on the plane like water, drugs, smoke, drugs, guns, and sex. I could have kept adding items to the image all night long, but I didn't want to over crowd it. See if you can see all the things I put in the image.

Peace,
Joe

ALEX

So I'm making some big strides with my digital illustrations. They're starting to reflect the way I think when I'm doodling while also lending some features that I wouldn't necessarily strive to accomplish on the page. For instance, the graphic truck on Alexis' shirt or the way the colors blend so cleanly. These are just not features that I care to dedicate meticulous time to when I'm drawing. Photoshop is truly an amazing tool for bridging some of the gaps between the traditional world and the digital together.

Also, I'd like to take this time to say that today was my 25th birthday, and I've never felt better in my whole life. Things are a bit crazy right now, but starting tomorrow, I'll be nine weeks away from a BFA from AIA, 13 days from San Diego Comic Con, 8 months from the publication of my comic book "EL GRANDE," and 0.00 seconds from experiencing my life in the present. I feel truly lucky to be alive and I love all of you out there who continue to support the pursuit of my happiness. Art has changed the way I see the world, and I hope I never have to stop doing it.

Thanks to all of you,
Joe

Peace,
Joe

NINJA GIRL

Here's a Ninja Girl character I threw together for my portfolio. I'd be lying if I said too much thought went into this, but I had a fun time drawing it. Anyone that comes on this blog very often knows that I draw and paint plain old figures most of the time, so this was a bit of a challenge.

I have to admit, my artistic curiosities don't fall too far outside my back yard. It's so difficult to draw a convincing enough shirt sleeve or tree branch. Most days, I would rather focus my training on achieving these simple goals of texture and naturalism as opposed to creature design and superheroes, but these are things they want to see in my portfolio at the Art Institute, but I won't pretend they're twisting my arm too hard. It was a blast.

Next up is a barbarian warrior. Bring it on:)

Peace,
joe

P.S. For anyone following the EL GRANDE blog, Elio will be back from Venezuela tomorrow with tons and tons of new finished pages, so we'll be posting some images from a whole new scene sometime early next week.

Semi Nude Fem Fig Draw Time BAM!

Hey Everyone,
I think my heart officially stopped for a 16th of a second earlier today from pure rage and exhaustion. What a crazy couple of weeks this has been. Elio and I just dropped 1000.00 American Euros on the El Grande postcards that we had printed for San Diego Comic Con as well as Atlanta marketing. I think we will be bringing 6000 cards to SDCC and passing out the remaining 4000 here in town at different movie events and comic book shops.

The first event will be tomorrow evening at the 12:00AM showing of Hellboy II: The Golden Army. We will be at Phipps Plaza downtown passing out cards and candy, so if you're here in Atlanta, please come out to receive this limited edition El Grande Postcard.

I would love to post an image of the card here today, but Elio and I wanted to save that image for our post before the Con, so if you want to see the image, you'll either have to come out to the show or wait two week:)

In the between time, I have been doing some doodles today of a semi nude and fully nude woman just to give you all something new to gander at.

Peace,
joe
www.elioguevara.blogspot.com (EL GRANDE BLOG)

NEW TRICKS:)

OK, so it's been a super busy art day. This will be my third post today, and I've done a ton more stuff you haven't seen yet. I always feel good when I get some much done. I'm sure you can all relate to that.

So anyway, I was fooling around in photoshop while I'm waiting for the fireworks to start, and I realized how backwards my approach to computer coloring has been. As a watercolorist, I work using lots of loose wash work before I hit my details, and my digital approach has only just touched on that in the past. Anyway, I tried some new stuff, and I think it is the first big step I've made in a while on here.

Hope you dig it,
Joe

BUSINESS CARD THUMBS

These are my first batch of new business card thumbnails. I really want my new cards to feel like there is some sort of story taking place since I'm marketing myself as a story artist. My favorite ones are the image where the man is removing his jacket and the woman is in the foreground, and the trumpet player.

I'm sure that it's pretty clear, but I should let you know I was referencing Mr. Jordi Bernet pretty heavily for compositional ideas. That guy is such a brilliant storyteller. He was my first choice next to Joe Kubert, and Moebius. I'll check out some stuff from those guys next and post some more later.

Let me know which one you like.

Peace,
joe

HAPPY 4th EVERYONE!!!

Hey guys n gals,
I hope you're all having an awesome 4th. It's a good day whether you're American or not right? Anyway, I dug up a pretty appropriate image from Elio's portfolio to post on the El Grande blog, but I had to throw something together on the quick for mine. I was going to do a Cap, but I thought that would be too easy, so I drew the Red Skull instead.

Have a good one, and go check out Elio's image. It's really awesome.

Peace,
Joe

Don't Mess with TEXas!

Just running around like a chicken with it's head chopped off today. I've taken the EL GRANDE postcard to the printers, scanned about a million images for the lettering, gone to the bank, done my laundry, read some of Joe Kubert's TEX, drew this image and had lunch. WOO!

Time to get back to it. Hope you're all enjoying your day.
Joe

MY GRANDMA

OK, so that image of the two of my grandparents got written over with just the image of my grandpa's face, so I had to start over. Not having much time, I just did an image of my grandmother rather than redoing the entire illustration of both of them. I was able to make it a little more personal for her this way, so I like it.

My grandma is about the most religious woman I've ever had the privilege of knowing, and so I thought she may like to see herself showered with heavenly light.

I hope you like it Grandma, and I wish you two the best while you're grieving the loss of a family member.

Love,
Joe

THE LOSS OF A FRIEND

This post is a special dedication to my Grandparent's dog JACK. His died this week, and I just can't stop thinking about the poor little guy. I've known Jack for nearly 13yrs, and he was always the sweetest and kindest dog. My uncle Jim and I used to roughhouse with him when I was a boy. He would really bite the hell out of us sometimes, but it was never anything we didn't sign up for. Over the years Jack became a little more fat, and slightly less rambunctious, but all the more loving. There truly isn't enough I can say about this wonderful dog, and all the love he brought into the lives of everyone he touched.

I wish that I had a photo of him, but I don't. Instead of an illustration of Jack, I have provided a cropped image of my grandfather; Jim Karg. This is part of a larger image I'm doing of he and my grandmother Suzanne Karg. Sorry I didn't have enough finished to feature you grandma. I hope you don't feel left out. I'll finish it and have it posted in the next day or so.

You will be missed Jack. You were such a wonderful friend and I love you.

Joe

PEACE BE WITH YOU

This is a special post for Michael Turner. He passed away yesterday, and I just wanted to do a little something for the guy.

Witchblade came out when I was a teen and I'll never forget the first time I saw it on the shelves. I couldn't believe there was a comic with a girl that looked like that. He definitely pushed a lot of boundaries in the comic world, and though his last years were a struggle, he still put in a lot of time for his fans and his career. I don't care what you think of this guy, but that's a champion in my eyes.

Peace Mike,
Joe

PORTFOLIO HAS BEGUN!!!!

Ok everyone, so I'm only two weeks from starting my final quarter of college and four weeks from SDCC and the heat is on. I have to split my days into three parts now.

1. Work for money
2. Work for El Grande
3. Work for Portfolio

This is no easy task for me. So far I'm pretty exhausted. Today I did a ton of drawing and scanning, and this is the first piece I've begun to throw together. It is a turn around for a visual development section of my portfolio.

The story is about a world famous designer who is pulled into another world when he sleeps by a race of beings whose planet is a barren waste land. They need him to use his imagination to build them a world worth living in. I'll post more images for this and many other ideas in the coming weeks as they come along.

This turn around is clearly unfinished, but I didn't have my trusty WACOM tablet with me, so I just moused in some grays to give you all something a with a little more pizzaz than line art. Hope you're all having a super weekend, and GO SEE WALL-E!

Peace,
Joe

EL GRANDE CALCOMANIA

Hey Everybody,
Check out the newest image I've thrown together for El GRANDE. It is now the banner for the EL GRANDE BLOG and Elio and I are super happy with it. Obviously Elio illustrated the mouth of cat in the image, and the two of us worked together to design the title for the book. The rest is all my graphic design genius brain though:)

I hope you enjoy it,
Joe

SPIRIT

I've got SPIRIT! Yes I do! I've got SPIRIT! How bout you!?!

Hey everyone,
I just watched the SPIRIT trailer for the tenth or eleventh time in last 2 months, and I just can't believe how lame this looks; yet I can't look away:) I really hope the MS3TK guys get ahold of this movie one of these days. It looks like they'd really have a good time with it.

I totally can't knock the character though. He's one of the greats right? Not only that, but one of my favorite artist of all time, Jordi Bernet, has drawn him on various occasions now, so I've got nothing but love. I'm still going to poke some fun though:)

Peace,
Joe

MARCO!

Hey everyone,
I can't believe I'm only posting like once a week now. What kind of lazy artist would do such a thing? A BUSY ONE THAT'S WHO!:)

I'm super busy these days working on my portfolio for graduation next quarter, writing and lettering El Grande pages for San Diego, working at a sculpture studio and eating and sleeping somewhere in between. I pump about 8,000 cups of coffee directly into my veins every morning and never look back.

On top of it all, I took on this job to do a Polo illustration for a fundraiser coming up soon in Atlanta for the "Kool Kids Foundation." It was a bit of a rush job, but all and all I'm happy with it. I found some new tricks to throw in my hat, and that's always a good thing for the future. So now it's back to work, and I hopefully I'll have the time to scan something in for y'all next week.

Peace,
Joe

THIS ONE'S FOR DUNCAN

Hey Everyone,
I picked up the newest Hellboy trade this week by Mignola and Fegredo, and it totally got me excited to be working in comics all over again. What great read. I was so into it by the end of the read that I had to do an image based on one of Fegredo's. This pose is from the second book in the series, and it I had a blast doing it.

Thanks for the experience Duncan.
Joe

LAB RAT

I was finished up my PSYCHE project today up at the school, and I couldn't help but feel like a mouse in a lab, so I fooled around with this digital illustration off and on for about an hour and came up with this.

I'm going to post a Hellboy painting on Friday along with some stuff over on the El Grande page, so I'll see you then.

Peace,
Joe

WATER COLOR FIRST PASS

Hey Guys,
I was getting back into the painting game the other day and thought I'd share my progress. I'm looking at the watercolors in a whole new way, and I think this is the biggest step I've taken towards my approach to my pages in a while. I can't tell you how excited I am to get started on my book. I've been developing the story now for about five months and it's finally starting to take form. I'm sure it will continue to grow and evolve between now and the time I start my layouts in September and I couldn't be more jazzed.

The two dog paintings are for my friend Michelle and the close up of the face is an image for my mom. I'll render out the faces a little bit more to tighten up the image, but I'm going to leave the rest the way it is. Some resin might find it's way to the boards too. Not sure yet.

Come check out the new splash page on El Grande too when you get a chance. It's fu@$ing awesome.

Peace,
Joe

DVD MENU

Hey Everyone,
Sorry for not posting for the last couple days. I'm keeping up with the EL GRANDE BLOG just fine, but I can't seem to keep up with this one. Go fig. Anyway, I wish I could share some super cool image with you, but I've been swamped at school finishing up this quarter. I drew like 100+ Batman storyboards this week, but they are far from spectacular; I assure you.

So, here is the first draft of my DVD menu for my DEMO reel. The fonts are not final and the kerning could use some tweaks, but I really dig it for the moment and I'd love to hearyour thoughts.

Peace,
Joe

SKETCH CENTRAL PART 3

THE END!

Peace,
Joe

SKETCH CENTRAL PART 2

Here you go everyone. I'm super busy working on some really cool stuff to show you next Friday, but until then it's sketches, sketches, sketches! I'll post the 3rd and final round on Tuesday.

Peace,
Joe

SKETCH CENTRAL PART 1

Hey everyone,
Thanks for being so patient with my computer problems lately. I scanned like everything I've drawn in the last 10 days and it ended up being 30 pages of figures, faces, and monkeys, so I'm going to take it easy on you and post this in three parts with some paintings and illustrations in-between.

If you get tired of waiting for me to post my own art, I encourage you to visit the EL GRANDE BLOG to see what my art partner ELIO GUEVARA is up to. It's sick to the max!

See you on Friday:)
Joe

www.elioguevara.blogspot.com (MY COMIC PROJECT)

INHABIT ATLANTA GALLERY EVENT!!!!

Hi Everyone,
I will be participating in a super cool gallery event this FRIDAY MAY 9th in the Virginia Highlands with Inhabit Atlanta and Kool Kids Foundation. It starts at 7:30PM and runs until 1:00AM. Admission is free, but you must RSVP to get on the list. If you are interested in attending, please follow this link to RSVP. Directions are on the site, but if you have any questions about how to get there, just email me.

This event should be super fun. There are 12 other artists that will be exhibiting as well as food and live music. You really can't pass that up for free can you? I should think not. Hope to see you all there.

Peace,
Joe

EL PRESIDENTE

Hey guys. Still having computer problems, so I couldn't post any new images of my own this week, but here is an image Elio did for our comic "EL GRANDE." This character is one of his best,;in my opinion. Go check out the EL GRANDE BLOG to see about ten more images of this dude as well as a complete description of his role in the book.

Peace,
Joe

MY COMPUTER IS GONE:(

Well everyone, it is a sad day in the world of JOE KARG. My computer is officially dead. I will be posting at least twice a week from Elio's still, but I think the quote of the day is on hiatus. Also, I was going to launch a new blog this week, and I'm going to throw that to the back burner as well; at least until I get another computer lined up.

This post features my newest round of life drawings. I haven't done any life drawing in about a month and a half, and I was a little intimidated at first, but I ultimately feel that the time away was just what the doctor ordered.

Go check out the newest "EL GRANDE" post today too. It's a really good one.

I will try my best to post some cool stuff this Friday, but no promises:(

Peace,
Joe
www.elioguevara.blogspot.com (MY COMIC)

INDIAN WARRIOR SKETCH DUMP

The last 4 weeks, I have been training my friends Andrew and Yusuke to replace me as a T.A. for Elio Guevara at the Art Institute of Atlanta this fall after I graduate.  The first thing they wanted to work on was some character designing and anatomy, so I told them to design an Indian Warrior.  

These are just a couple of the drawings and designs I did for them along the way to help them get a grasp of the assignment.  We used a Rodin sculpture to choose our pose and then let our imaginations run wild.  Those guys did a super job, and if you would like to see their work, please follow the links attached to their names.

You guys are awesome, and I'm so happy that you guys are trying so hard and growing so fast.  I feel privileged to be a part of your journey.

Peace,

Joe

P.S.  If you haven't seen my comic book project "EL GRANDE" yet, please come over to the blog and give it a look.  Elio Guevara is doing some of the boldest images I've every seen, and it's a real treat for your eyes.  No Lie.

010

This message goes out to Pete, Tyler, and Teri (sorry if I misspelled that)

You guys are so so amazing! I can't imagine my life without out. I can only hope that I can take some piece of you wherever my life takes me. I've never met a cooler and more openly accepting group of friends in my entire life, and I'm so grateful for you you guys. Thanks so much for all your support over the years. We've known each other for five years, and I hope I'll know you for another 5 years and then some unless all of our brains get scrambled in 2012:)

I would also like to announce in this post that I will be starting another blog next week that will also have daily posts, but they will be on much different wavelength than the ones you see here. I will make a bigger announcement about it next Tuesday, but I just wanted to let you brace yourselves for the greatness of one of the best ideas ever conceived by a woman. That woman's name is Teri, and so this post comes full circle.

Peace,
Joe

009

What is this insatiable hunger for pleasure we have? I feel like I live in a Caligulan society. Obesity, Drug Abuse, Sexual Perversion, and Crime are at a seemingly epidemic level in the streets of America. Take it easy everyone. Sure, every now and again, masturbate to something weird or have some ice cream. Smoke a joint to celebrate the month of March (its a great month), but try your best to control yourselves. We are a stampede of rampaging HULKS. "HULK FEED!" "HULK RAPE!" "HULK KILL!" Whoa there big guy! Here's a veggie plate, and a pair of plain old 36C breasts with tiny nipples. See if you can't find some pleasure in that, and I'll be right back with a sweet documentary and some heroin. Heroin's still cool right?:)