by That was the best gift anyone could give me when I was a child: a box of coloured pencils. And when I say pencils, I really mean a whole creative arsenal: markers, crayons, coloured waxes, pastels, or any other material for drawing, always accompanied by a brand-new sketchbook, filled with tempting blank pages. With that gift in my hands, I would disappear from reality. I was no longer just a child, but an explorer of worlds I imagined myself. And the coloured pencils allowed me to transfer those worlds directly from my mind onto those gleaming sheets.
I remember that someone once asked me why I liked drawing so much. My answer was quite deep for a child my age: where others saw only a piece of paper, I saw infinite possibilities. My imagination was an unstoppable engine, capable of conjuring up characters, landscapes, and emotions, and my pencils were the tools to bring them to life. Drawing was not just a pastime; it was a way to understand and express the world around me.
Years later, I was given my first computer, an AMSTRAD CPC 464 with 64KB of memory, a tape drive, and a monochrome green phosphor monitor. It was a huge leap: from pencils to pixels. I spent many hours glued to that screen, first playing video games and then learning to program them myself. Little by little, my intention to study Fine Arts, which I had always been so sure about, began to fade. The ones and zeros captivated me, and I ended up diving headfirst into Computer Science.
During my studies, my creative side was pushed into the background. So many notes, so much code, and so much math left no room for coloured pencils. But once I had my Computer Engineering diploma in hand, I realized that something was missing. I felt the need to find a balance, to combine my imagination and creativity with those keyboarded critters I had learned to master. So I signed up for a bunch of graphic design, web design, and 3D modeling courses, and I even went on to earn a degree as a Graphic Design Technician.
Since then, my professional career has been a journey along both sides of the border between two worlds: one foot on the computer keyboard and the other among coloured pencils. It hasn’t always been easy to maintain that balance, and when one side takes up too much space, the other rebels and demands its place. But that tension is also a source of inspiration and growth, and in fact, my greatest achievements have always come from the right combination of both: my creativity brings a lot to the table when developing technical projects, and my computer skills pave the way for my artistic pursuits.
Looking back, I realize that drawing was not only the beginning of my creative journey, but also the foundation that has allowed me to successfully navigate the digital world. And although the tools have changed a lot, the essence remains the same: turning ideas into images and dreams into reality.
