Cartoonist Launches Youth Sketching-Cartooning Class in Texas: Interview

Gimel Peterman- Photo Courtesy of Fort Hood Sentinel

Our very own ALFG subscriber Gimel Peterman is putting his gift in action in the grand state of Texas!

Gimel, a self-taught caricature and cartoon artist of Copperas Cove, TX;  has been teaching a “Sketching/Cartooning” class every Wednesday since December 2009.
With 6 young students ages 9-14, he gives them 3 rules to adhere to in the class:
1. Never say, “I can’t.”

2. If they have a question, they must draw while asking it.

3. Practice, practice, practice.

Gimel only has his students for 4 days out of the month before his class ends and a different course starts with  a different instructor. Because of this limited interaction, their homework is to draw a picture everyday until he sees them again. So in all, they owe him 7 pictures every Wednesday.
Adhering to the philosophy that the teacher shouldn’t demand of his students what he will not do himself, Gimel also has to present seven pictures every Wednesday to his students!

Below are a few questions I asked Gimel about the class:

1. How did the classes start?

I use to work at a frame shop on Ft. Hood and one day I went in just to see my old co-workers. Assuming that I saw everyone I wanted to see, I thought of a friend that would have hung me by my toe nails if I didn’t say hello. After meeting her, she then begins to inform me that she was praying that I would come in that day.
She continues to tell me that the Ft. Hood Youth Center had a program that involved children being exposed to the arts (pottery, knitting, painting, wood work, etc.) and asked if I could teach a drawing class that had lost their teacher, so I agreed.

Gimel Peterman- Photo Courtesy of Fort Hood Sentinel

2. How long have the classes been going on?

I just started in December (2009) and hope to be extended every month.

3. Where do the students come from?

These are the children of Ft. Hood soldiers, ages 9-14

4. Where do you get the ideas for the lesson plans or curriculum?

The #1 rule of anything you teach is to teach what you do, not what you think works.
I am my own guinea pig when it comes to teaching. Other than that, I’ll be directing them down undiscovered territory. My ideas are birthed from my own hang-ups, frustrations, victories, set-backs, rituals, and accomplishments.

5. Is this your first time teaching or have you done it before?

I had a drawing class in 2007, but it flickered out because I was working from 11am-7pm, then teaching from 7pm-8pm twice a week…it was too much and I was burning myself out on both ends, so it died.

6. What is your favorite feature of the class?

My favorite feature of the class is that I teach a class on taking the complex things of life and simplify and re-interpret them through the art of cartooning…to children; you can’t get any simpler or funnier than that. Children are my audience, so I adjust and conform.

7. What do you see as the biggest need of the class?

Believe it or not the biggest need of the class is not drawing, but for the class to be patiently led out of a complex mind into a simple on. These kids can really draw, but their emotions get into the way; as young as they are, they take themselves too seriously. So I encourage them to love what they do no matter what it looks like and to have fun and from this love…discipline is easily welcomed.

8. What are your future plans for this class?

Good question. My plan for my classes is for (the students) to not only step outside of the box, but to utterly destroy it when it comes to creativity. All they know is what they have been fed from the pop culture assuming it to be “acceptable.” Their minds have been locked into the minds of others; they have yet to realize what God has endowed them with. So for however long I have them, my desire is to challenge them to go beyond what they know. If I can do this…the planet will see art like never before; they’re smarter than we give them credit for.

To see more of Gimel’s work and to see  the article on him in the Fort Hood Sentinel, be sure to visit these sites:

His Blog: www.ArtisticSarcasm.com

The Article: www.forthoodsentinel.com

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