Artist Spotlight - Bernabe Martinez
Every morning in Chicago, while his kids get ready for school, Bernie Martinez sits in the same spot, opens Sketchbook on his phone, and draws. He draws whatever comes to mind that morning, whether it’s an idea from last night, a current event, holiday, anything top of mind.
What started last October as his way to keep up with Inktober has become a daily ritual. His approach shows that exercising your creativity doesn’t always require a drive for perfection or a big project. Sometimes the best ideas come from quick, simple sketches.
Do-it-yourself Daily Prompts
Bernie is a visual artist from Chicago, whose love for art has been around since he could hold a crayon. He's self-taught and learns from observing and from creating daily. His work is not defined by a single medium or style. It is one of exploration and the enjoyment of creating. His work spans traditional and digital mediums, though he feels both are equally "traditional" at this point.
Last October, he found himself wanting to participate in Inktober but unable to keep up with the prompts. Sometimes, the structure of daily prompts is exactly what you need to jumpstart a daily exercise, but for Bernie the commitment felt heavy and wasn’t flowing with his life at that moment. The pressure felt overwhelming.
So that morning in October while his kids were getting ready for school, he grabbed his phone and did a quick doodle instead. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a simple sketch that took a few minutes.
"It was easy to hold my phone and just do some quick doodles," he says. He recorded the process and posted it. Then he did it again the next day. And the next.
"Before I knew it, I had a couple days straight. Plus some great feedback from fellow artists, which kept me motivated and has held me strong up until this date." That motivation has carried him for over 100 days now.
The Same Spot, The Same Routine
The process has become a ritual. His routine starts with minimizing and merging the previous day's drawing into the canvas with his other daily sketches. This way, he archives his drawings together and can go back to one if he wants to expand on it, while also managing space.
Then he draws whatever might be on his mind at the moment or an idea that might be lingering from the night before. Current events might be the topic of the day, holidays, or just in-the-moment inspiration.
"I always make sure any and all phones I get have a stylus to be able to draw with," he explains. Currently, he uses a Galaxy Ultra 22, and Sketchbook is installed on both his phone and his Microsoft Surface Pro. He adds, “Since it is so user friendly both my kids, 13 and 10 have it in their iPads as well.”
Right now, he's going through the alphabet, drawing each letter or something that starts with it.
"It has now become a daily habit and routine that I hope to continue on," Bernie says.
The Permission to Start Simple
Bernie’s daily sketch routine offers a flexible blueprint for anyone who’s ever felt intimidated by drawing challenges or who’s simply struggled to maintain a creative habit.
The beauty in Bernie’s daily sketch routine is that its simplicity lets his time and creativity lead. Some days, the sketch is the final piece, while other days it’s only the starting point for something bigger. That simple doodle he made in just a few minutes can later be refined into something more elaborate when time and inspiration align.
For him, it removes the all-or-nothing feeling and allows him to show up consistently, building skills and habits. Plus through sharing his art he has found an amazing community of artists virtually and in person that offer another powerful source of inspiration.
Bernie strives to grow as an artist and make an impact with his dedication to his craft, one daily sketch at a time. Be sure to check out his Instagram profile and see all the incredible art he creates.
