thedrifter
02-25-09, 06:40 AM
Posted on Wed, Feb. 25, 2009
Peach student-soldier uses art skills to depict combat scenes
By Jake Jacobs
FORT VALLEY — Hans Perez, 18, a senior at Peach County High, has strong direction in his art, his ROTC and his future.
The Byron resident already is an accomplished artist with pencil and a cadet lieutenant commander in the Naval ROTC, and will spend the summer in Parris Island, S.C., as a Marine recruit.
“From day one, he was gung-ho,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Marvin Bert, ROTC instructor at Peach County High who’s had Perez in the corps for the past four years. “He loved the program, knew a lot about it when he came in, but still asked a lot of questions.”
Perez was born in the Philippines and came to the United States nine years ago. His mother, Christine Yuzamas, came to Byron with her husband, who was in the Air Force.
“I’m living the dream,” said Perez, who will be in the Marines in a delayed entry program after graduation.
His enlistment is a testament to his patriotism, said Bert.
“He definitely generates respect, both as an officer and as a person,” Bert said. “He has a presence about him and has a lot of potential.”
Perez has distinguished himself in ROTC, working his way up the ranks and excelling at drill, color guard, athletic and academic teams, orienteering and the air rifle team, Bert said.
“He’s one of my best friends and got me interested in ROTC,” said fellow cadet Benjamin Rincon of Fort Valley, who’s known Perez since the ninth grade. “When he says he wants to do something, you know he’s got it planned already. He leads with conviction and compassion.”
Those attributes are evident in his artwork: accurately detailed drawings of soldiers through the millennia, from Spartans at Thermopylae to today’s troops in the Mideast.
He’s mainly self-taught, and said he’s been drawing as long as he can remember.
“I just started doodling, and they developed into better doodles,” Perez said with a hint of self-deprecation.
But he is serious about his work, taking great pains to be as detailed — and accurate — as he can.
“He’s got an eye for detail,” said art teacher Joel Respess, who’s teaching him for the second time. “He’s developed a natural talent to a great degree.”
“I saw him one time watching a war movie,” said Rincon, “and he had the pause function on a lot, closely studying scenes. He takes it all in.”
Perez said he does drawings many times from memory. Military matters are the focus of his work now, and have been since about the time of 9/11, he said. Before that, he was into dinosaurs.
“My stepfather was in the Air Force for about four years, and he really triggered my interest,” Perez said.
“I gathered my ideas from video games, and old and new war movies. But I want to be accurate. For instance, in a recent World War II movie I saw a Vietnam-era tank.”
Books, including textbooks, are a source of ideas.
“Like if I’m looking for an answer in a history book, sometimes I’ll come across a picture that distracts me and I’ll start sketching,” he said. “But I’ve got a good memory, and history is my favorite subject.”
He has plans, after going through basic training and fulfilling other requirements, to attend college and study history to be a teacher.
His artwork does draw one’s attention (pardon the pun).
“I think that the military, in war, can show people at their best and worst,” Perez said.
One of his drawings about the 1944 D-Day landing at Normandy shows the struggle to make it ashore, and the bodies of those who didn’t make it. Another drawing has soldiers at rest, fatigue visible on their faces. Medics tend to the wounded, and one soldier sits, looking at a picture of a loved one.
“I want people to see what I see in these drawings,” the young artist said. “I want people to see the human side to war, too.”
His sense of history is evident in one drawing from the Korean War which shows an integrated combat brigade, the first time in modern warfare the U.S. had that. Another has a Native American in a World War II group of Marines.
“The drawings show us as we evolved, pretty much,” Perez said. “The details are as accurate as I can make them. Pencil is better suited for the details, because using paint would just be blurry.”
His instructors agree he’s the kind of student they enjoy having.
“You just really sit back and watch with a student like him,” said Respess.
More than an outlet for his creativity, drawing serves another function, the young man sheepishly admits.
“Sometimes if I feel drowsy in class I’ll start to draw,” he said. “It works, it keeps me from dozing off.”
Contact writer Jake Jacobs at 923-6199, extension 305.
Ellie
Peach student-soldier uses art skills to depict combat scenes
By Jake Jacobs
FORT VALLEY — Hans Perez, 18, a senior at Peach County High, has strong direction in his art, his ROTC and his future.
The Byron resident already is an accomplished artist with pencil and a cadet lieutenant commander in the Naval ROTC, and will spend the summer in Parris Island, S.C., as a Marine recruit.
“From day one, he was gung-ho,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Marvin Bert, ROTC instructor at Peach County High who’s had Perez in the corps for the past four years. “He loved the program, knew a lot about it when he came in, but still asked a lot of questions.”
Perez was born in the Philippines and came to the United States nine years ago. His mother, Christine Yuzamas, came to Byron with her husband, who was in the Air Force.
“I’m living the dream,” said Perez, who will be in the Marines in a delayed entry program after graduation.
His enlistment is a testament to his patriotism, said Bert.
“He definitely generates respect, both as an officer and as a person,” Bert said. “He has a presence about him and has a lot of potential.”
Perez has distinguished himself in ROTC, working his way up the ranks and excelling at drill, color guard, athletic and academic teams, orienteering and the air rifle team, Bert said.
“He’s one of my best friends and got me interested in ROTC,” said fellow cadet Benjamin Rincon of Fort Valley, who’s known Perez since the ninth grade. “When he says he wants to do something, you know he’s got it planned already. He leads with conviction and compassion.”
Those attributes are evident in his artwork: accurately detailed drawings of soldiers through the millennia, from Spartans at Thermopylae to today’s troops in the Mideast.
He’s mainly self-taught, and said he’s been drawing as long as he can remember.
“I just started doodling, and they developed into better doodles,” Perez said with a hint of self-deprecation.
But he is serious about his work, taking great pains to be as detailed — and accurate — as he can.
“He’s got an eye for detail,” said art teacher Joel Respess, who’s teaching him for the second time. “He’s developed a natural talent to a great degree.”
“I saw him one time watching a war movie,” said Rincon, “and he had the pause function on a lot, closely studying scenes. He takes it all in.”
Perez said he does drawings many times from memory. Military matters are the focus of his work now, and have been since about the time of 9/11, he said. Before that, he was into dinosaurs.
“My stepfather was in the Air Force for about four years, and he really triggered my interest,” Perez said.
“I gathered my ideas from video games, and old and new war movies. But I want to be accurate. For instance, in a recent World War II movie I saw a Vietnam-era tank.”
Books, including textbooks, are a source of ideas.
“Like if I’m looking for an answer in a history book, sometimes I’ll come across a picture that distracts me and I’ll start sketching,” he said. “But I’ve got a good memory, and history is my favorite subject.”
He has plans, after going through basic training and fulfilling other requirements, to attend college and study history to be a teacher.
His artwork does draw one’s attention (pardon the pun).
“I think that the military, in war, can show people at their best and worst,” Perez said.
One of his drawings about the 1944 D-Day landing at Normandy shows the struggle to make it ashore, and the bodies of those who didn’t make it. Another drawing has soldiers at rest, fatigue visible on their faces. Medics tend to the wounded, and one soldier sits, looking at a picture of a loved one.
“I want people to see what I see in these drawings,” the young artist said. “I want people to see the human side to war, too.”
His sense of history is evident in one drawing from the Korean War which shows an integrated combat brigade, the first time in modern warfare the U.S. had that. Another has a Native American in a World War II group of Marines.
“The drawings show us as we evolved, pretty much,” Perez said. “The details are as accurate as I can make them. Pencil is better suited for the details, because using paint would just be blurry.”
His instructors agree he’s the kind of student they enjoy having.
“You just really sit back and watch with a student like him,” said Respess.
More than an outlet for his creativity, drawing serves another function, the young man sheepishly admits.
“Sometimes if I feel drowsy in class I’ll start to draw,” he said. “It works, it keeps me from dozing off.”
Contact writer Jake Jacobs at 923-6199, extension 305.
Ellie