I have been missing my homeland. I was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico but moved to the states five years ago. I don’t regret the move at all, as I’ve met fantastic people and lots of doors have opened. But I miss my hometown –the warmth of the people, the smell of the ocean, the taste of the food, the sound of the coquís. Today I dug out some previous sketches I had done in Old San Juan, where I used to work and sketched regularly. These sketches were done April 16,

#iceland #markers #virtualpaintout

Today one student told me another professor had taught him that he should never use the left side of his sketchbook. It is the second time, in two different universities that a student tells me the same thing. I would’ve thought this would be true with markers or Sharpies, because of the bleed-through, but actually both students were using pencil.. I am really enjoying finally being able to use both sides of the sketchbook, even with a heavy application of Copic markers. The

Value sketch with a Chartpak marker while waiting at Fine Arts Cinema. Practicing an exercise in which you take mid values and decide to either push it to black or pull it to white. I still have to work on my decisions, but it was interesting. #markers #Valuesketching

I’ve been getting more and more comfortable using markers on my sketchbook. True, I hate the bleed thru, but I just ordered a sketchbook that apparently solves that; will write a review after I try it. I have ventured a bit into using colors, both on a small 6″x4″ sketchbook as well as on a larger 8.5″ x 11″ one. I still mess up one of every three sketches (at least), but getting more comfortable every day. Here are some of my latest efforts: #markers #PuertoRico #sketching

I’ve been reading a lot about sketchers using fountain pens and I decided to see what all the fuss is about. I went to a local shop and purchased a Lamy Vista, medium nib and a bottle of Pelikan 4001 brown ink to start. The pen is a joy to write with, but sketching with it is another story. I have the habit of rotating the pencil from when I started architecture school and drafted by hand. This is terrible for a fountain pen, it simply stops writing. This had never been a pro

I had to shelter from the rain at Cuartel de Ballajá. Actually I’m blogging from there right now; the non-stop shower, although light, hasn’t let me get to my destination. A couple days ago I found in an art supply store, hidden among discontinued and obsolete items, two sets of six Design 2 markers. I felt like I was in American Pickers… The owner, an old friend, sold me each in $6. And they are really juicy! I remembered I had them in my bag, so decided to give them a test

Two posts in just a few hours? I don’t remember having done this before, but as I am now posting from my phone it gets a lot easier. Also, the last few days I’ve been sketching a lot, so I don’t want to get behind. I did these while waiting for my class to start. One was while having a sandwich at La Tortuga, the other is my third version of El Callejón del Hospital. What I like about this one is that all the color was put in before the black. It is really my interpretatio

I did a few sketches yesterday with different media, charcoal pencil, graphite pencil, markers, pen brush and a felt tip point pen. Some of them were done while watching the Super Bowl with a group of excellent friends. I like that switching media keeps me exploring and even feels like I’m playing. #sketching #Penbrush #charcoal #markers #ink

I always tend to sketch architectural subjects, buildings, sculptures or spaces; of course, that’s what I’ve practiced for years.  One of the coolest things about the blogging communities and forums is that you get to see what other people who share your interests are doing.  I see a lot of incredible sketches by great artists whose subjects are objects or people from their daily life.  Rather than being ordinary or mundane, their subjects are very interesting, dynamic and vi

Last Saturday our sketching group Garabateando.com went to my Alma Mater, the University of Puerto Rico; it is affectionately called iupi, “short” for UPR.  We met at the historic quadrangle, where the traditional clock tower, designed in the 1930’s by architect Pedro de Castro, is evidently the most important structure. I’d had sketched there probably dozens of times, but it was the first time that it wasn’t part of a class.  It’s a pity that it was raining, as there were ot

Two friends of mine, architects Alexandra Betancourt and Maitée Hernández started an amazing project about a year ago called Taller (D)Espacio. Located in Santurce, PR, they introduce youngsters to an impressive array of art, design and architectural experiences usually reserved for first year design studios at architecture schools. However, their students range from seven to sixteen years of age. Yes… Seven! They asked me if I could spend a session with them as a guest instr

I only could sketch for a couple of hours, as I had a class, but my industrial design students joined me at the end of the class and participated as well.  I always had wanted to sketch the courtyard of the building I teach at, which is the restored building of Hospital de la Concepción.  The second sketch is a view of the gallery around the courtyard.  The third sketch is the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, as seen from the main building of the School of Fine Arts of Puerto R

Here I used my son’s Faber Castell Manga Shojo set and my Copic markers; I am really enjoying sketching this fast and loose. *edit: LOL@ my Japanese calligraphy… I’m probably cursing there on that sign… #sketching #Japan #loose #virtualpaintout #architecture #markers #sketch #Copic #dibujo #drawing

I had an impromptu sketching session today at lunch; had almost 50 minutes free, so I went virtually to Cape Town once again, as part of The Virtual Paintout.  After navigating for a while, I finally settled for the view.  As I hadn’t planned, I could only use the few items I had at hand at the office:  32 lbs. Hammermill Laser Printer paper, felt-tip pens, a Sharpie and a four or five almost-dried-out Prismacolor markers.  Really tempted into rendering with fluorescent highl

Could somebody PLEASE incorporate Aesthetics 101 into Engineering Curricula? When an otherwise beautiful landscape is completely disregarded and desecrated with all sorts of “engineering marvels” we should really be offended. Today I sketched the view from my work’s parking space. Not even mature trees can cover up and hide the magnificent display of towers, power cables, antennas, chimneys, cranes and transformers. It is like if they throw all the items listed on their c

Last Saturday Prof. Leytham lent me his Sailor brush pen so I could try it.  It is designed for Japanese calligraphy, which brush can produce beautiful lines of different widths.  I fell in love with it and will be purchasing one promptly.  Tonight I wanted to see if the brush tip of my Copic markers would work in a similar way. I decided to try them on one of my sketchbooks, a Hand-book with heavyweight sheets.  These are supposed to take light watercolor washes, but as soon

Well, today I did my first sketch of a non-blob car as an adult.  I decided that it was time I overcome my fears and start practicing sketching them properly.  I’m not doing neurosurgery, so I’m allowed to commit as many mistakes as I want.  As a friend of mine says, it is just a small drawing. I used to own a Prius, and I loved it, and thus miss it very much.  So I googled for a picture of a Prius; mine was silver, but I wanted to use more brilliant colors so went for one wi

Back in school I did most of my renderings with colored pencil and airbrush.  I only used markers very sparingly, they were expensive and didn’t seem as forgiving as I would’ve thought.  I remember though seeing a lot of beautiful drawings rendered with markers, but I never put the effort to learn to use them extensively.  Around a year ago I decided to get a set of markers and learn for good. Nowadays with the internet you can do a lot more research before purchasing a produ