Cartoonist looks at life outside the 'Bento Box'

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Book Editor

Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

However, she's back this weekend on a tour promoting her second children's book produced in partnership with Island-born writer Kevin Sullivan. This one's called "Auntie Lulu's Zoo, A Fun Sing-Along Hawaiian Animal Counting Book" (Hawaya, $9.95). Their first collaboration, "The Best Hawaiian Style Mother Goose Ever," is in its sixth printing.

We caught up with Deb this week, just before she hopped a plane to the Islands:

Q. What do you miss the most about Hawai'i?

AOKI

Q. What's it like doing social commentary about Hawai'i — cartooning — without living here?

A. It's difficult. A lot of the work I do comes from observing people and overhearing conversations, (so) I have to pick the brains of my relatives and friends. A lot now comes from my Hawai'i friends who live here. Like, you go to an Island friend's house and, 'Wow, you buy lots of paper towels, too, for no good reason.' It's something I noticed when I left Hawai'i the first time: Your observations are so much more acute. It's easier to find the humor or see the differences in things either you didn't really notice or that kind of irritated you — "Oh, Mom!" When you're away you realize, "Oh, that's kind of cute."

Q. I read in the press kit that it took two years to complete "Auntie Lulu's Zoo," during which time you and Kevin only met once, and weren't even on the same continent during one period (he was in Japan teaching English). He wrote the words, and you painted the water colors and scanned and faxed them. How'd that work?

A. It actually worked pretty well. He couldn't come to my house and knock on my door and say, "Are you finished yet?" He wrote the book, then he sent this little booklet from Japan, little half-sheets he'd drawn with stick figures, and he'd scribble, "The wallaby is bouncing," or "The snails go zoom zoom." We went back and forth a lot. I wanted the snails to be on mopeds zipping around in Manoa Valley like UH students, and he said "Noooooo." Luckily, we weren't in a hurry.

Q. What's the difference between the "grown-up" work you do — you have pieces in galleries, including a sculpture in the "From Bento to Mixed Plate" show now at Maui Arts and Culture Center — and drawing for children?

A. That's extremely tricky. You have to turn off the cynicism, your desire to put in something just a little bit subversive. It's fun to go back to that. A lot of my friends have kids now, and that's helped me reconnect with what makes a kid laugh, what makes a kid smile — and that in turn makes an adult smile. With the serious artwork, you really have to think about it: What does this signify, the composition, all these elements. With kids' work, it's just, "Is it colorful enough? Is it too busy?" It's joyful, it's active, it's simpler.

Q. What's next for you?

A. I'm trying to get back into my artwork. When you move around, it's kind of hard to make a space for yourself. I have to sit down and make a mess again — that's what it takes.

Book signings with Deb Aoki

• Noon tomorrow: Borders, Waikele
• 2 p.m. tomorrow: Borders, Ward Centre
• 11 a.m. Sunday (with reading): Barnes & Noble, Kahala
• Noon Feb. 14: Borders, Kahului, Maui (with reading)