New Yorker cartoonist Eric Teitelbaum has been doing art classes for 9-to-16-year-olds in California. That is so cool. Teitelbaum, with his brother Bill, draws Bottom Liners and co-created the latest version of the Pink Panther strip.

"Kids love to be exposed to special insights," said Teitelbaum, as he spoke recently of the multiple skills involved in drawing facial expressions and speech balloons and developing clever dialogue to fill the balloons.

He has lectured on cartooning, comedy writing and arts marketing at colleges and universities across the country. A class he gave for youths at a school in San Bernardino came to the attention of Cal State San Marcos officials.

"At the end of the class," he said, "the most amazing thing is they want to sit around and keep working."
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"A lot of kids have a certain visual acumen that could be expressed in the creative arts," he said.... That could include working in advertising as well as other fields besides cartooning. But first young people "need to be exposed to these kinds of opportunities."