Eric Latimer’s face lights up, becoming animated as he scrolls through his Instagram feed, analyzing the meaning behind various mixed media sketches.

For visual arts teacher Eric Latimer, art is not only his job, but a lifelong passion.  

“It just became a habit. The artist Marcel Duchamp said, ‘Art is a habit-forming drug,’ and that always kind of stuck with me.” Latimer said.

Latimer has been drawing since he was a little kid and was inspired by Tintin, the European comics written by Hergé.

“It wasn’t like I sat down and made a plan like let’s now do this, but it just happened. Naturally, I was just influenced by it,” Latimer said.

Latimer uses art as a way to share his thoughts and ideas on paper.

“I’ll have these images in my mind. I’m like ‘ok, try to now share it, get it out of my mind, put it onto a surface.’ There’s not always a perfect match, but there’s something that’s there that I feel just needs to come out,” Latimer said.

According to visual arts teacher Donna Sartanowicz, Latimer creates both serious comics and one panel comics.

“He has a really good sense of humor. That’s where it comes out. He has a funny view of life, and he draws all the time. He draws different little characters,” Sartanowicz said.

Latimer uses a combination of classic approaches and modern techniques when creating his sketches.

“I lean more towards a hybrid type of style, where it starts off the traditional methods: paper, drawings, ink.” Latimer said. “Then I’ll scan it, I’ll bring it into the computer; that’s when I will add a lot of color,”

Latimer is able to share his artistic experience in the classes he teaches, both at the high school and at the Amos A. Lawrence School.

“He has a lot of good advice and good experience. He’s also willing to listen to you share your ideas and add on it,” Tatyana Danahy-Moore, one of his Art Studio students, said.

Sartanowicz finds Latimer fun and easy to work with.

“He has a great sense of humor. He is super easy to work with, he’s very thoughtful. He listens well, considers what other people have to bring to the table,” Sartanowicz said.

In his classes, which include Art Studio, Animation I, Animation II and Digital Design Studio, Latimer tries to help students help themselves by encouraging them, but also questioning their work.

“My job really is to perpetually give them suggestions and ideas and ask yourself, ‘Is it truly finished? Is this the best you could make it now? Is this your best work?’” Latimer said. “I feel like once you’re done with school, unless you take classes, you’re not going to have an opportunity to have a judge and your peers to give you feedback. You have to internalize that judge. I think, in part, that’s what I’m doing.”

Making sure that every student feels welcome and included is also an essential part of Latimer’s classes.

“He’s very approachable, his really bad, sarcastic jokes are awesome. He’s really supportive as a teacher, and he really makes everybody feel like they have something to contribute. You don’t have to be an ‘artist’ in this class to be able to produce art,” Danahy-Moore said.

Latimer’s love of art is a substantial part of both his daily life and his identity.

“I think the artist part just sort of happened naturally,” Latimer said. “It’s just sort of who I am.”