Cortijo met Rafael García Diéguez when they were both attending a course at the School of Arts and Crafts on Amor de Dios Street (1947-48), near where his father (Bernabé) ran the barbershop and close to the painter’s new home, located on Aposentadores Street. There he had the opportunity to receive the teachings of the painter Rafael Cantarero, and was a fellow pupil of three companions whom he would always distinguish with a deep friendship: Francisco Manzano, Diego Mollejas and Rafael García Diéguez, who was preparing to enter the School of Architecture.