Welcome to my archive! You'll find a variety of personal and professional artwork here, including many in-progress images.
(I am currently seeking gallery representation. Please contact me using the email address on my About page. Thank you for exploring my work!)
Contact: karlgude@gmail.com
High school cartoon
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Dairy farm
Painting in the 80s
At the 92 Olympics for AP
Teaching at MSU
Teaching in Indonesia
About the Artist
Throughout much of my career, I was a professional artist and graphic designer.
After retiring in 2020, I have dedicated my time to creating personal art.
A major inspiration that led to me becoming an artist was learning about my great-great-grandfather, Hans Gude, an amazing Norwegian romanticist painter. His legacy and artistic achievements ignited a passion
in me, motivating me to pursue my own creative endeavors.
My artistic journey began with drawing cartoons for my high school newspaper. Forgoing college, I took on various jobs, including teaching English in Colombia, serving as a factory-line boss in L.A., working as a carpenter in the Sierra Nevadas, and managing a 300-acre dairy farm in Vermont. Despite these diverse roles, I consistently drew and painted and eventually felt confident enough in my self-taught skills to pursue a career as a professional artist.
At the age of 24, I left the farm and moved
to New York City, hoping to draw comics. Instead, I found a dream job producing cartoons, illustrations, and infographics for journalism. This career spanned 27 years,
during which I worked in New York City and Washington, D.C., serving as the Director of Infographics for prominent news organizations such as UPI, The NY Daily News, The National Sports Daily, The Associated Press, and Newsweek magazine.
In 2006, I transitioned to academia as a full-time faculty member at the School of Journalism at Michigan State University. There, I taught "Visualizing Information with Infographics" and "Creativity and Complex Problem-Solving." My
15 years at the university were happy ones marked by recognition, as I received both college and university-wide teaching awards. Thank you, students!
Additionally, I engaged in side-consulting, conducting national and international workshops on infographics and creative problem-solving for various organizations. I have delivered several TEDx Talks and spoken at numerous professional conferences, including the Society for News Design, South by Southwest (SXSW), and the Political Analytics Conference at Harvard.
Upon retiring in 2020, my wife, Dorsey, and I traveled the country via small highways, towing
a camper. We have since settled in Connecticut, where I now dedicate most of my time to drawing, painting, and printmaking.
Seeing America through it's backroads: Lone Pine, CA, at the base of Mt. Whitney (the distant one at right with the pointy top)