Carolina Moscoso left architecture, but architecture apparently never got the memo.
Her illustrations keep precise lines, domestic spaces and an almost technical compositional logic. Then something slips: an impossible plant, an odd perspective, a detail that turns the room into a slightly misfiled dream.1
Start with a familiar structure
Moscoso says she often anchors a drawing in a concrete, relatable environment before pushing it somewhere stranger.1
That instinct comes directly from her former practice. She worked as an architect and still uses AutoCAD in her digital process. Her own portfolio continues to describe her as a Portuguese architect and graphic artist based in New York.2
Moving into illustration did not erase the old profession. It gave those habits another problem to solve.
For editorial work, Moscoso is less interested in mastering every technical detail of a brief than in finding the human, emotional or symbolic element that can unlock an image.1
Tools survive careers
Her personal Hypothetical Plants project also grew from architecture. She had built an AutoCAD object library for drawings: plants, vases, people. The plants and vases gradually became a project of their own, then an exhibition.1
In an earlier interview, she described working in Photoshop or AutoCAD with a deliberately limited toolset, then returning to paper when she needed a looser gesture.3
That is useful for anyone changing disciplines. A career switch does not require throwing away the old mental machinery. Constraints, software and the way you break down a problem can become exactly what makes the new practice distinct.
Moscoso no longer has to make a building stand up. Her images still look as if someone might inspect the plans.