About Me
I was born in the quiet, mountainous city of Jinotega, Nicaragua, in 1987. A year later, my family moved to Guatemala, where I spent nine years of my childhood surrounded by the world of architecture. My mother’s drawing tables, pencils and set squares became part of my everyday world, and while I was never drawn to conventional education, I was endlessly fascinated by the freedom of sketching. My notebooks were never filled with lessons —
only with drawings.
When we returned to Nicaragua in 1997, I brought my sketchbooks with me. What started as a personal hobby soon became something more. Friends would ask me to draw caricatures of teachers or classmates, and I realized how something as simple as a drawing could make people smile, laugh or feel seen. Those little moments planted the seeds for what would become
my life’s work.
In 2004, I followed my family’s tradition and enrolled in architecture at the National University of Engineering. But my heart wasn’t in it. Two years later, I made a bold shift, leaving architecture behind to pursue a degree in Graphic Design at the Polytechnic University of Nicaragua. Those years were filled with creative challenges, from being part of product launches for brands like Scribe and Kimberly-Clark to experimenting with new forms of visual expression like the graffiti and american comics style.
By 2009, my entrepreneurial spirit led me to open my first workshop, airbrushing custom designs on helmets, motorcycles and cars. This was born from my obsession with detail and the experience I had with graffiti allowed me to easily master the airbrush. That same year, my mother and I unexpectedly found ourselves creating sacred art for Catholic churches. She would emboss religious scenes in aluminum, and I would bring them to life with color. Together, we created pieces that still hang in churches across Nicaragua tangible proof of how creativity can become part of something bigger than yourself.
The Digital Age
My professional design career took shape in 2012, when I joined Still Image, working with brands like Tip Top Restaurants and Alhambra Cinemas among other brands and companies with a national presence, developing visual content for digital media such as websites and the beginnings of social networks.
In parallel, I collaborated independently with various private companies and projects. I always highlight the In Shape magazine, a fitness-focused magazine. I collaborated for a year and a half and in the last 6 editions I was in charge of the total design, achieving the best data in acceptance and sales during these editions.
A year later, at Nestrix, I entered the world of mobile apps and games, contributing to over 30 apps and 5 games, including Ceelo’s Joyride a physics-based driving game developed for CeeLo Green and Atlantic Records in collaboration with Hyperpower Game Group. Each project added a new layer to my experience, blending illustration, branding, and user experience into a versatile creative foundation.
Something interesting to note is that my knowledge of digital resource design came from my projects at Still Image, because during my studies, digital design wasn't part of the academic curriculum. However, with Nestrix I grew and reached a totally different level of knowledge and perspective of design, and so we developed and completed various digital projects on the web and mobile.
While I'm very excited about the games we developed, it's important to share that, together with the various development teams and the creative team I belonged to, we developed loyalty applications for retailers, payment platforms, digital event apps, marketplaces, data management platforms, and utility monitoring among other services.
In 2018, I stepped into a senior role at Imox Technologies, specializing in interface and user experience design.
My contribution at Imox was the design of the interface for its main product, WIN Platform, a real-time Big Data management platform. This platform allowed operators and manufacturers to monitor usability data from mobile devices, send push notifications, lock the device, perform background system updates, and more.
This platform required a high level of detail in the user experience because its users were mostly directors and administrators who did not require extensive knowledge or familiarity with technology.
Pinol Nicaragua
But my passion for illustration and branding remained strong. In 2020, I founded Pinol, a studio focused on helping businesses build their visual identity through thoughtful branding and digital illustration. We partnered with over 35 small and medium-sized businesses, as well as larger companies like RIZCO, Selva Negra, and CCN (Compañía Cervecera de Nicaragua). In 2021, we launched Chemise Pinol, a culturally inspired clothing line honoring Nicaraguan identity.expressive.
Then, in 2024, I made the leap to Silicon Valley — a place where creativity meets innovation — to continue my work as a visual artist in the Bay Area. Today, my practice focuses on charcoal portraits and illustrations, offering clients work that is personal, meaningful, and made to last.