Barcelona architect Tito Merello creates digital paintings on iPad

Tito Merello Vilar, an architect from Barcelona, has built a massive digital art practice using only an iPad and apps like Procreate and Corel Painter. With over 224,000 Instagram followers and more than two thousand published works, his reach exceeds that of many professional illustrators, yet he has no formal training in illustration. His images simulate traditional painting techniques—including oil painting—with remarkable softness in light transitions and density in volumes, evoking classical figurative painting rather than digital illustration. Merello moves fluidly between portraits, still lifes, urban landscapes, and architecture, often with a deliberately rough, sketch-like finish that nonetheless displays precise light management. He credits his architectural training for his ability to construct space, read perspective, and understand how light modifies volume. The tablet is merely the tool; the eye is that of someone who has spent years measuring proportions and studying surfaces.