I started in a pretty unorthodox way, which is drawing on big giant paper rolls. My uncle used to work in a, or labored in a paper mill, and then when I ran out of that paper, I started drawing on the walls with the approval of my mom and my dad.
First of all, both my parents are architects, so my first trials and experiences was helping at my parents’ studio. You know, I was doing a lot of ruining their work. They had a lot of architectural renderings that they needed to present to their client, and I thought they’d like a little color, so I started adding suns and moons and things around them, to the dismay of my parents, because once they discovered it they had to work overnight to fix what I’d done and start all over again. So maybe that was it. My first trial.
How I decided that this was become a professional life and a career, was actually the job of a teacher. I used to have mild dyslexia, and really struggled through school, and I always saw drawing as my way of refuge, with my trouble with writing. And my mom was a little concerned that I was falling behind from the rest of my peers, and she came and talked to this teacher.
I was probably like in fourth or fifth grade. And she says, “I’m really worried about Rafa. Rafa’s not catching up with the rest of the kids with reading and writing.” And she looked at my mom, and she said, “Don’t worry. You know, he’s not gonna be a writer. He’s gonna be an artist, so just go home, relax.” So I think that that was the first sign that I knew that I was gonna end up doing some kind of art.
