Leonel Lopez, Sr. is best known for his intricate sgraffito work. Prior to the drought that hit Mata Ortiz in 1992, Leonel had worked his fields and tended his stock while his wife Elena (one of Manuel Rodriguez' sisters) made pottery figures. In the depth of the drought, Leonel was sanding and polishing pots for Elena as there wasn't much else to do. Then he started filling in her designs, then began making his own pots. After the first year he graduated to buying unfired blank pots from others, painting them and firing them. Then in 1995 he started to use the sgraffito method of decorating his pots. His brother-in-law Oscar Rodriguez was his inspiration to go into sgraffito but Leonel took it to a whole new level.

Leonel is known for crafting fish, wildlife, birds and incredibly detailed forest and desert landscapes. He also incises geometric designs, nativity scenes and Day of the Dead/Night of the Dead motifs on his pots. As much as he is a full-time artist now, he also finds time to tend his cattle and help with the roundups and the branding.

Leonel's sons Leonel Jr. and Abel are also potters. Leonel Jr. generally makes slipped spherical pots and decorates them with sgraffito geometric designs. He also sometimes fuses animal shapes into his geometric designs. Abel is also primarily a sgraffito artist, decorating some of his pots with ominous cathedrals and Day of the Dead motifs while others he decorates with polychrome birds-in-the-bushes designs.