Jalal Luqman’s name is known today both locally and internationally. But his journey to becoming the UAE’s first digital artist in the 1990s was not a walk in the park. Although his passion for computers and art showed at a very young age, reality forced him to make other professional choices first. After a dramatic event in his personal life that turned him from wealthy to poor overnight, while he was studying business in the USA, he managed to finance and complete his degree by doing blue-collar jobs - while secretly following art classes in the evening.

Jalal’s art is sometimes qualified as dark, and has gone through different phases, using a large variety of media.

A few weeks ago he published his first novel: The Armagondas – Volume 1, an epic fantasy graphic novel.

During this interview, Jalal Luqman goes back to this long journey and remembers life as a child, when his father worked as one of the first lawyers in the country.

Episode 03 Webpage: http://emiratistories.com/03-jalal-luqman

Music: Getting Older, by Martjin de Boer - featuring Javolenus