How It All Began
I should probably start by introducing myself more formally. My name is John Karp. I have always enjoyed drawing as a child, but never really considered digital design until I was about 10 or 11 years of age. My first real experience with design on the computer was while learning to use Adobe PageMill 1.0 in conjunction with the classic Adobe Photoshop 3.0. I spent hours of wasted time on making various fan sites for my childhood interests. By about 1997, the end of my junior high years, I published my first fan website on the internet. I received quite a bit of traffic for those early days of web and felt quite content with myself. After a bit more learning and tinkering with Adobe Photoshop, I felt my newly acquired skills would be better suited for the digital world. With that, I decided to transfer from my parochial high school to a public high school that had more outlets for computer work than Office '97. New doors were opened at the new school when I enrolled in a Regional Occupational Program (R.O.P.) by the name of Graphic Design & Production. I excelled in the lessons and projects and finally decided design was for me.

Starting College
I started attended college in the fall of 2001. My first graphic design course was essentially an Introduction to Photoshop class. Quite "bone-headed" I would say, but I picked up a few new techniques, including the use of vectors for selecting an object. My knowledge grew slightly and I continued my courses. Three years and an Associate of Arts degree later, I was graduating from Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California and getting ready for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's Graphic Communication major.

Graphic Communication at Cal Poly
Fall of 2004 marked my first moments in Cal Poly's Graphic Communication department. The school was quite overwhelming with all of the open space and thousands of busy-bodies bustling around the campus. Within the department, I learned there is much more to design than merely a computer and your imagination. I learned the science of printing technologies and the thought process of good success in the business. During those years, I took a variety of classes including book and magazine design, web design, and digital typography. After gaining the experience, I found magazine design to be quite interesting and enjoyable. By graduation in June of 2007, I had a fresh internship opportunity. This internship was my big break. I was given the opportunity to work for Sports Illustrated in New York. My department was Creative Services & Brand Marketing under the guidence of department head John Jaxheimer.

Professional Career
My internship with Sports Illustrated lasted from June 2007 through early August 2007. While there, I was given the opportunity to dabble in advertisement and internal marketing work as directed by John Jaxheimer (sample work can be seen in my portfolio under "Professional"). The experience was both refreshing and a great learning experience. Now with my internship behind me, I am looking to expand my horizons and eagerly await what comes next!

Fun Links
You can also find me on deviantART and MySpace.