Email   Print   Share By Joy Pariante, Sentinel Leisure Editor

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Peterman shows how basic geometric shapes can be transformed into a cartoon character. Joy Pariante, Sentinel Leisure Editor

Gimel Peterman, instructor for cartooning for the CYS Edge program, observes Brevin Perez’s as he sketches during cartooning class at Apache Arts and Crafts Center.

The cartooning class helps children develop basic drawing skills.

Brandon Perez, front, and Isaac Morgan work on their characters.

Great cartoonists get their start somewhere. Stan Lee, who co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Iron Man and the Hulk, worked at a cartoon publisher filling ink wells and erasing pencil marks from final products. He furthered his career by writing text for comics and drawing his own while serving in the U.S. Army Signal Corps as a “playwright.”

Before Charles Schultz created the characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy, he taught art classes and did lettering work for a Roman Catholic comic-style magazine. Shultz created a few popular comic strips before hitting it big with “Peanuts,” which would make him a household name and was published worldwide for more than 50 years.

Fort Hood kids will be able to look back on their experiences in the Edge program cartooning class. They might pinpoint this as the prelude to their adventure into the world of comic art. Instructor Gimel Peterman began his love affair with art when he was around 8 years old, about the same age as many of his students.

“That’s why I asked for a specific age group, because that’s the age I started to care,” Peterman said.

He said cartooning is a great way for children to begin experimenting with art.

“When you’re about nine, you have a lot of detail and characters in your imagination and you’re starting to put a lot of love into your sketches,” he said.

During the class, which is held once a week at the Apache Arts and Crafts Center through the month of January, students learn how to draw cartoons of the human form, including bodies and facial expressions.

“Cartooning is the breaking down of complex things into their simplest form,” Peterman said. “If a child can break down the most complex thing in the simplest ways, they can draw anything.”

Interactive exercises help students learn to speed sketch to capture the emotions of classmates and the teacher. They also do exercises to increase their attention to detail and observational skills, which will help make them better artists. “We’ve learned so much we can be future drawers,” said Andrew Manrriquez, a student in the cartooning class.

Fellow student Emily Pinzon said she and her classmates are improving themselves during the class also.

“I’m feeling really good about myself,” she said. “Everyone’s feeling really good about themselves right now.”

Edge program classes vary month-to-month. For more information on upcoming offerings and how to enroll, visit www.hoodmwr.com/edge.htm.



NEW CYS PROGRAM TAKES KIDS TO EDGE

Child and Youth Services is offering a new program geared at enriching the lives of Fort Hood’s children. The Edge was introduced Army-wide in August 2009 and is successfully engaging kids and parents across post.

The Edge offers monthly activities geared towards helping kids learn new skills and discover hidden talents, said Koy Grant, program manager, Edge. “They (children) have found they had talents and flourished in things they didn’t have interest in previously.”

Classes include digital photography, radio production, glass fusion, culinary arts and more. Outdoor oriented classes will be offered once the weather allows, Grant said. The classes are taught by instructors from the community who have background in the class topics, including instructors from Central Texas College’s hospitality and communications departments and the Apache Arts and Crafts Center. Class lists change monthly and are taken from participant requests, ideas from the public and ideas from the instructors, Grant said.

Classes are $20 for a once a week class and $40 for a twice a week class. Participants meet at Hi-Chaparral Youth Center and are transported to their class site. Classes run 4:30-6:30 p.m.

For more information or to suggest a class topic, contact Grant at 553-3995 or e-mail edge@hoodmwr.com. For more program details, visit www.hoodmwr.com/edge.htm.