About

I’m a Puerto Rican 2x Emmy-nominated filmmaker and visual artist based in Los Angeles, and I made Quickdraw: Sketch & Art Studio for everyone who has ever said “I’ll never be an artist because I can’t draw.”

Who I am

For over 25 years I’ve told stories as a filmmaker, and along the way I’ve been lucky enough to earn two Emmy nominations, back to back, for PBS’s Artbound series. My wife, Moni, and I started the documentary company Friends We Love in 2008 to champion creative expression and tell community-driven stories. Alongside the films I make art and run workshops and pop-ups around Los Angeles.

Why I made Quickdraw

At nearly every workshop I’ve run, someone sits down at my table and says, “I can’t draw.” I heard it so many times that I stopped hearing it as a fact and started hearing it as the real problem. It isn’t a lack of talent. It’s a belief, and most of us were never given permission to make mistakes on the way to getting good. I carried the idea of an app that could change that for four years.

This year, as film work slowed, I had a choice: wait for things to turn around, or build the app in my head. I’d never written a line of code and I’m in my 50s. I learned with YouTube and Claude as my teachers, one lesson at a time. A lot of people in my industry look at AI with fear. I see it as another creative tool, like a camera or an editing suite.

Quickdraw is for anyone who thinks they aren’t an artist. Its motto is Mistakes Welcomed. It switches between English and Spanish with a single tap, because families should be able to make art in the language that feels like home, and what you make can be printed as museum-quality prints, t-shirts, hoodies, mugs and more, right from the app.

It’s out now, and it means a lot to me as a Puerto Rican creative. It’s proof that it’s never too late to learn something new.

Palante,
Michael

More of my work: michaelvargas.art (art) and friendswelove.com (film).