I was born in 1974 in New York City, and ever since I can remember I've always had a passion for art, especially pencil drawing and other types of media. At an early age I began to draw simple stick figures on the edges of my textbooks to create flip-book animations. Needless to say, both my parents and teachers were extremely upset for defacing school property; however, after several incidents, my mom realized I needed another form of expression.

I was so excited when I received my first set of color pencils for Christmas. I began to draw my neighborhood, my family, friends and ugly monsters (the usual things that spring up in the mind of a nine-year-old.)

Scholastically, I attended Mott Hall School, a junior high magnet school in New York City. Later I chose to attend High School of Art and Design enrolling in its four-year architecture program. Without a doubt, the best high school for the arts in New York City.

Following the comprehensive architectural experience, I subsequently signed up as an undergraduate at City College of New York's Architectural Degree Program. As a sophomore I won an award for a site design of a library with its surrounding landscape. The hundred dollar check that came with the award was an unexpected but pleasant surprise.

Nevertheless, architecture did not allow for much creativity, imposing too many restrictions on design which caused daily struggles to create a functional yet appealing space. One day, a former architecture student visited my class and began to share his tales of drawing with a computer and creating virtual worlds. I was intrigued yet skeptical.

Everything changed when he blurted out the word Internet. I was fascinated with his wild stories of interactivity, sound, animation, and more importantly, freedom of expression. Subsequently, I transferred to CCNY's Electronic Design undergraduate program. Ever since I've been extremely happy.

Under the new curriculum, I was exposed not only to pencil drawing, but also to sculpture, oil painting, print making, plate etching, photography, 3D animation, web design, HTML programming, computer graphics, and MAC hardware and software. In the meantime I was rediscovering my artistic persona that had been suppressed for so long.

While in the program, I had the privilege to meet a great person, Professor Bill Tinker. He was the first person to ever evoke eloquently  the subtleties of an art piece; to never judge an artistic piece, but to understand its meaning, to grasp the significance of the author's intentions and message.

Under his tutelage I learned a great deal, both as a person and as a professional, allowing me to use my Mexican ancestry as a motivational and inspirational conduit to express myself to the fullest extent in all my endeavors. Due to his instruction I've learned to harness and understand the artistic qualities of Matisse, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Edward Hopper, even the controversial Marilyn Manson with his very graphic artwork and very cool videos. Don't get me wrong, I will always cherish my time in architecture for it provided maturity, discipline, endurance, and patience in all my projects.

If you wish, you may take a look at some of my assignments from Prof. Tinker's class and from other classes in my portfolio section.

Unfortunately, Prof. Tinker passed away in 1999 after suffering a heart attack. I miss him dearly.

Presently, I'm a sixth-grade teacher at my alma-mater Mott Hall School where I also serve as the school's webmaster. I  instruct students on HTML programming, web safety and entrepreneurship. In 2003 I was awarded Certified Entrepreneurship Teacher of the Year by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. Was I inspired to become an educator from my late professor? I would like to think so.

I graduated from CCNY in 1999 with a B.A. in Computer Graphics with a collective 3.18 GPA and 4.0 GPA in my major. In February, 2006 I received a Masters of Science Learning Technology accumulating a 4.0 GPA with distinction from Mercy College of New York.

In 2000 I became a member of the Beta Theta Omega (Graduate) Chapter of Chi Alpha Epsilon (XAE).

I'm also involved in many freelance projects that, not only keep me busy, but also provide a network of people that I can rely for assistance and mentorship.

That's about it for now. I hope you enjoy my site.