National Artist for Visual Arts, writer, and journalist Hernando R. Ocampo - better known to the Philippine artworld as HR - was born in Santa Cruz, Manila to parents Emilio Ocampo and Delfina Ruiz. He took up a pre-law course at the Letran College and commerce at the Far Eastern University. Moreover, he joined Narciso Reyes in establishing the Veronicans, a pre-war group of writers. Despite being offered scholarships to study abroad, he declined, preferring to stay with his family and home. As a self-taught artist, he learned drawing and painting from magazines such as Life and Time which showed color reproductions of paintings done by the masters.