Using the banana panorama, I wanted to implement many of my favorite architectural details into this fictional town (such as the bay window and round windows). I wanted it to have a realistic city view, yet unconventional at the same time. My favorite thing about this sketch is that no matter what you may believe inhabits inside these buildings, these exteriors would compliment to whatever you imagine.

Observational drawing is somewhat still new to me, since I mostly draw from pictures that are referenced, or photographed by me. It has helped me change my perspective while drawing, and I will continue to find art in the real world.

My favorite aspect of drawing is sketching portraits. My personal art style can be found by how I draw portraits. It's the most personal aspect in my art, other than original pieces. It seems realistic, but with harsh lines and quick mapping of the features.

This painting is meant to portray my life at the moment, using Salvadoran folk art as the art style. I have included the trees in my front yard, the beach, and the ledge of my aunt's porch in El Salvador. They are all objects that pertain to important memories of my life. The bird flying toward the sun represents the promise of a bright future ahead of me.

This is my mother, Ana, and I had photographed this photo on one of our coffee dates that we usually have each week, and I thought it was a beautiful reflection of her that I decided to paint it. It was a sort of relaxing painting, just so that I could practice my skills in using acrylics, but I think that it came out really nice and its a memory I cherish.

One goal I have with my art practice is to be able to do more plein air painting wherever I go. Here, I was sitting by the courtyard in my college campus, and I felt so satisfied by the outcome of this piece. Plein air painting is a breath of fresh air for me since I don't have to worry about every line, every color, every choice. Not that I don't have fun creating for projects and assignments, but sometimes, it's nice to switch my brain off and paint what's right in front of me.

Both of these models are referenced images, but I wanted to work with these faces since they have a lot of textures, lights, and shadows, which would allow to me easily introduce myself to ink, since I'm not so familiar with it. I like trying new materials and techniques that would further my skills and imagination.

Left: 50 minutes

Right: 15 minutes

I tried to focus on letting the tone paper do its job at being the base of these figures, even if the models were in a well-lighted environment. I used a white pencil for highlight, sanguine as a neutral color to complete the outline of the features, and black as harsh contrasts and shadows.

Left: I was in my school's library when I started quick sketching people going up to the vending machine that was right outside my window. The time I had to draw them was very limited; almost 30 seconds if I was lucky. I thought it was good practice for observational drawing and figure drawing.

Right: This took me about an hour and a half, and this was a model I found online. I used charcoal and an eraser to achieve the realistic effect of skin and muscle, and I believe it really creates a dramatic difference to the drawing rather than using just pencil.