Photo By Sandra Wilson | Spc. Edward Lopez displays his collection of war game figures hand-painted by himself...... read more read more
[Editor’s Note: In this series, we are shining a light on our workforce in and around the Benelux. This Spotlight is on Spc. Edward Lopez, a patrol unit Military Police with U.S. Army Garrison Benelux in Brunssum, who pursues a variety of artistic endeavors during his time off work and shares his talent with others.]
BRUNSSUM, Netherlands – With magnifying lenses over his eyes and a tiny paint brush in hand, Spc. Edward Lopez painstakingly completes the colorful detail of his latest war game figure. Applying his artistic skills in miniature painting is not the only avenue for his creativity outside of work. When not painting, he could be found sketching characters, creating artistic works to accompany games, or designing pieces for colleagues.
“I go through cycles with hobbies. I’ll do [one] for a couple months at a time,” said Lopez explaining how he hyper-focuses for a period then he sets the project aside and moves onto something different.
During his duty day at the Brunssum Military Police station, Lopez goes about the routine business of active patrolling and security checks. While work typically remains in the ordinary, Lopez’s hobbies add color and variety after hours. His exposure to art of all kinds began as a child with his parents who coincidentally met in a college art class. They always encouraged creative exploration in the home and readily offered art supplies.
While his mom was a graphic designer and dabbled in mosaic glass and welding, his dad primarily sketched his favorite subjects. Lopez found his current passion in miniature painting of war game figures. He then marks the base of each figure with the name of one of his coworkers. His wife of nearly two years has joined in his hobbies and enjoyed learning the war game. In turn, she has shared her favorites—journaling and scrapbooking—with him.
At times, Lopez finds artistic inspiration with characters from podcast audio dramas that he listens to. As the narrative unfolds, he begins to create a visual character to go along with the storyline.
“It’s nice to have a face to the name even if it’s a cartoon,” he said, as he scrolled through his artwork on his tablet. He went on to explain the pivotal role animation played in his childhood and how it has manifested in his endeavors.
“Animation has influenced me a lot growing up and it still does. Some of my favorite movies are still cartoons,” said Lopez. “I prefer stories that are not … rooted in reality. Some people are very much the opposite.”
Someday he hopes to attend an art and design college to further hone his skills and to help materialize one of his dreams of making an animated version of the live-action movie The Princess Bride.
“It’s already the perfect movie, but it could be even better if it was animated, because you can exaggerate things,” he said. “When you take that peek behind the curtain of animation, it’s very enlightening.”
Participating in the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons for more than ten years has also utilized his talent as he creates map designs for the game. When inspired, he revisits a comic that he wrote as a teen to continue to develop the characters and story line. Lopez has also offered his artwork for a T-shirt design and as a gift for a departing colleague.
This summer, Lopez plans to join the month-long online Art Fight event, a platform developed in 2007, that provides a way to celebrate art in a competitive way. The previous year’s competition brought more than 400,000 participants to the game. Though the interaction offers a fun way to share art, the ultimate goal is to appreciate talent and creativity across the event.
| Date Taken: | 07.22.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.22.2025 05:46 |
| Story ID: | 543466 |
| Location: | BRUNSSUM, NL |
| Web Views: | 18 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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