Born in Granada in 1953, at a very young age he moved with his family to Murcia, where he completed his initial studies. At only 16 years old, he managed to pass the entrance exam for a career in Architecture at the Higher School of this specialty in Madrid, which he will abandon in the second year. In the country’s capital, Portillo will be notably involved in the student movements fighting against the Franco dictatorship, which is facing its final stretch.

Although he abandoned his degree in Architecture, Portillo remained in Madrid until 1975, increasing his training in graphic design and drawing in several private schools, while learning ceramic techniques with César Montaña, a practice that he would later continue in Murcia in the workshop of Pedro Borja. During this period in Madrid, the creative signed his first collaborations with marginal magazines and as a poster artist for independent theatre groups.

Back in the Region, Pablo Portillo began his full professional activity as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator, after the aforementioned experience as a member of the Chaconsa team that designed several amphibious vehicles in Murcia. In 1982, in the company of his brother, Manuel Portillo, he founded the Forma studio, to later work alone.

From that moment until his retirement, he has worked as an independent professional, although with some parenthesis as an employee: in the advertising agency Ekipo (1983-84) and in the City Council of Murcia (1991-1995); in this institution, under the mandate of Mayor Méndez, he was in charge of implementing the corporate identity program designed by Eduardo Saro and of supervising and designing different advertising campaigns.