cartooning from a “professional” cartoonist and marveled that someone could actually make a living in Hawaii as a cartoonist. All of us local cartoonists who were lucky enough to learn from Dave really are indebted to him; not only for what he taught us directly, but also for how he represented Hawaii and cartooning to the community and the world. He’s really the Goodwill Ambassador of Cartooning! I also remember when I was growing up how fortunate I was to be around at the time to join the House of Cartoons (Hawaii’s own version of CAPS) with such greats as Dave Thorne, Don Dougherty, Dennis Fujitake, Todd Kurosawa, and Gary Kato to name a few. That was a special time for cartooning in Hawaii! UJ: You studied cartooning. but obviously have a flair Artists L to R: Roy Chang; Michael Cannon; Kevin Muranaka, Carl Maeda; Phil Yeh; Jon J. for design. What’s your true passion? Murakami; Amy Tokuda; Jared Matsushige; Gary Kato; Sterling Kawahara; Devon Oishi. AL: Hmmmmmmm...that’s an interesting question. I’ve one of the great tourist spots for snorkeling on Oahu. I know from my own past adventures in Hawaii that the islands of Maui, Kauai, and the big island always loved of Hawaii all have magnificent sites of their own and far less people than drawing. I have books Oahu. While I have painted murals on these other islands and also enjoyed many the rich exotic beauty each had to offer, the great majority of my friends filled with little all live on Oahu. It should be said that although there obviously is a lot of drawings and cartoons, but development on this island, there is also some very nice scenery, too. Our mural painting event at the Windward Mall on the other side of I guess at one the island was a chance to really see the local people. Dave Thorne lives point in my on this side of the island and he came out, as well as Gary Kato, Michael life I needed Cannon, Jared Matsushige, Kevin Muranaka, Amy Tokuda, Roy Chang, to make a Jon J. Murakami, and Devin Oishi. The event was wonderful, as all our decision where mural events in Hawaii have been for the last 20+ years. There is so much I was going natural talent on these islands! Two of the artists who could not make it to to focus my the Windward Mall were my old friends Alan Low and Dennis Fujitake. I efforts to try to decided to profile Alan, Gary and Dennis in this piece. For the record, I have make a living. enjoyed verbally sparring with both Dennis and Alan over the years. They do A quick back not fit into the stereotypes of either Japanese or Chinese men, nor shy artists story: In my in general. They both have quick wits and are never afraid to speak up, at senior year in high school, I least where I am concerned! had signed up for a class called “Career Explorations.” This was a special Uncle Jam: Can you class that you had to actually apply for and not everyone was accepted. It please provide us with was a vocational type of class where they placed students into actual working a brief bio. situations in fields in which they had expressed interest. Remember, this was Alan Low: I was born the school that President Obama also graduated from, so you can imagine the and raised in Hawaii. I attended the same high school (Punahou) as President Barack Obama, but obviously one of them made a wiser career choice (I’m not saying who). I attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa where I received top honors as Design Student of the Year and in 1986, I achieved a BFA in Graphic Design. Upon graduating, I worked at the largest design firm in the state at the time. In 1992, I founded Synergy Design, an award-winning, multidisciplined graphic design studio, with two other partners. In 2002 I decided to finally branch out on my own as Alan Low Design. I currently sit on the Board of Directors of the Honolulu Chapter of AIGA, the professional association for design and regularly teach classes in design fundamentals at Pacific New Media, the Outreach College at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. My wife Gail and I have an eleven-year-old son, Brandon. UJ: When we spoke to Dave Thorne in the last issue, the Yoda of Hawaiian cartoonists, he mentioned that you were his student? Is this another “big fish” story? AL: Oh, yes, I fondly remember taking Dave Thorne’s class at the University when I was still in middle school! I remember how excited I was to learn
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Uncle Jam Quarterly, Volume 38, #100 Winter 2011