In children's books, visuals play a crucial role in captivating young minds and sparking their imaginations. This is the reason why illustrators are considered as the unsung heroes of these books as they breathe life into stories, making them engaging for young readers.

In the Philippines, one name stands out among the top children's book illustrators – Beth Parrocha. A Fine Arts graduate from the University of the Philippines Diliman, she has been illustrating children's books since 1984, contributing her unique artistic vision to numerous beloved stories.

Parrocha is also a founding member of Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK), the Philippines' first and only organization dedicated to children's illustration. This platform has not only nurtured her talent but also allowed her to collaborate with other talented artists and grow within the industry.

Among her accolades, Parrocha has been honored with prestigious awards such as the National Children's Book Awards (2018) for "Habulan" and the first AFCC Asian Children's Book Awards Singapore (2017). In 2021, her work reached international acclaim when her book "Tiny Feet, Tiny Shoes, and The Pencil Who Would Not Write" clinched the top spot in the International Indie Children's Book Cover Award in Los Angeles, California.

But her artistic journey is not just about accolades but about her passion for storytelling through visuals.

In an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, Parrocha shared, "I really like stories that speak, like editorial cartoons. In one look, you can guess what the story is all about. I'm interested in pictures where you can ask, 'What's happening? Why is he running? Why is water splashing on his face?' That's where my interest lies. It just so happened that children's picture books focus on pictures that speak, which even non-readers can understand."

"As a child, I'm very imaginative. My mind wandered everywhere, even when I was little, just a toddler. I remember that. Then I started making small books when I was in Grade 4. I would staple pieces of paper together to create my own books," she added.

The beginning

According to Parrocha, her career test results before entering college recommended that she pursue industrial engineering. However, she opted for Fine Arts because she felt that she wasn't good at Math.

"I chose Fine Arts because the only math subject was Math 11. I looked for the least or no math subjects in UP, but everything had math. At least in Fine Arts and Physical Therapy, there was only one Math subject. Between Physical Therapy and Fine Arts, of course, I chose Fine Arts," Parrocha said.

"Then, when I decided to pursue Fine Arts, I thought about what my strong points really were. One of my thesis projects was about children's merchandise, and my mini-thesis focused on picture books. That's where my interest lies—in pictures that tell stories," she continued adding that her first job as an illustrator happened even before graduating college working on children's coloring and activity books.

With over 70 projects under her belt, Parrocha mentioned the importance of books to have their own voice.

She explained, "There's such a thing in the art world as an artist's voice. As a watercolorist, I have my own voice. It simply means I have a style. But as a picture book illustrator, I try to vary my style because as an artist who paints in watercolor, it's okay for me to have my own voice. But when it comes to books, I prefer the books to have their own voice."

"If you're familiar with some of my works like 'Oh Mateo!' series and 'Ang Pambihirang Buhok ni Raquel,' they are characters from picture books. I don't want Raquel's face to be Mateo's face, and I don't want Mateo's appearance to resemble that of another book. Of course, each book, each character, has its own life, its own environment. So I don't want them to be interchangeable, which could happen if there's only one style for all. As a painter personally, I have one style. But as a children's book illustrator, I try to change it up," she added.

Making characters alive

Parrocha's creative process is meticulous, starting with the development of characters that feel alive in her mind.

She explained, "First, you receive the manuscript. Once you have it, you need to develop your character. As you develop the story inside your head — the pictures, how they would look — you also need to bring your character to life. You should know what their favorite food is, what their favorite color is; you should have a complete image of them in your head."

"How will you introduce them to your readers as alive? Of course, you should be the first one to see them come to life so you can convince your readers that they are real, that they are alive, so you can capture their attention. They should feel absolutely real to you first," she added.

Parrocha also understands the importance of captivating her young audience, whose limited vocabulary requires illustrations that tell a story on their own in order to pave the way for a lifelong love of reading.

"Your target audience, 3-year-olds, are incredibly picky. They are very vocal and they ask a lot of questions. If you can't answer all their questions, you'll have a hard time, so your character's personality needs to be fully developed. Whatever they ask, you should be able to answer through your pictures to convince them," she said.

"They have a very limited vocabulary, so the goal is to make it readable for non-readers. With just one glance at your picture, they should know what's happening. As I grew into the industry, I also grew in the concept that, as much as possible, there should be minimal text in picture books because your readers don't have a large vocabulary. This is their time as soon-to-be readers," she continued.

"These are the books parents and caretakers read to them. And since they're just starting out, how do you grab and pull them into the world of books? They have to be entertained first before they ask what they learned from the book. More than anything, how do they enjoy the experience with books so eventually, without them knowing it, the pictures decrease little by little, and the text increases. And because you've developed their imaginative skills, the story comes alive in their imagination with longer texts. In the beginning, you allure them with pictures, eventually, little by little, the pictures move into their minds until it's all words. Build their interest first," Parrocha added.

In connection, Parrocha also mentioned that what influenced her are words—with imagination at play.

"I like thick books like "Lord of the Rings," science fiction such as "Dune," or C.S. Lewis'. That's why my works are whimsical too because the ones I enjoy reading are whimsical as well. There's something magical about them, like when you open a box and there's a world inside or something," she said.

"If you know "Ang Pambihirang Buhok ni Raquel," the story is just about a child being surprised by her cousin's unusual hair. That's it. But in the picture book I created, the unusual hair sometimes becomes a landing site for aliens. Whenever she sees her cousin, her hair looks different every time. There's a part where it's full of donuts, another part looks like a spiderweb—I just played around with it. Because what we're basically developing here is the child's imagination," Parrocha added.

Philippine Book Festival

One of Parrocha's recent endeavors includes crafting the key visual for the Philippine Book Festival 2024, one of the flagship programs of the National Book Development Board (NBDB).

Happening from April 25 to 28 at the World Trade Center, this event will bring together publishers, authors, artists, educators and readers from around the country to celebrate the best of Philippine content.

Inspired by the theme of exploration and discovery, Beth's illustration invites viewers to journey into a world of endless possibilities. She drew from the four major elements — fire, earth, air, and water — to create a sense of play and wonder for the kids who will be going to the fair.

Asked about the message behind the key visual illustration, Parrocha shared, "Supposedly, there's a girl on an island. She's gazing into the distance, looking around, but beside her is a tree with plenty of possible friends ready to join her on her journey. In front of her is the ocean with many waiting as well, but she's focused on the distance."

"So the message is why don't you look around first at your environment and surroundings? Like us, when we see imported books, we consider them special, but we don't realize that we have our own surroundings right here, which, if we look at them, are just as exciting and engaging," she added.

The 2nd Philippine Book Festival will feature 160 exhibitors from all over Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao and will have over 100 events, workshops, talks, exhibits, and performances.

The four realms of the PBF will also be back: Kid Lit, a land just for children, Komiks, which puts the spotlight on Pinoy komiks, Booktopia, home of fiction and non-fiction titles, and Aral Aklat, which is devoted to textbooks and educational materials. There will be a Creators Lab, Main Stage, and Kids-at-Play that highlight exciting talks, activities, and workshops more specific to the interests of readers and fans of those genres.

They will also be bringing the bestselling author Gwy Saludes back to the PBF main stage with an exclusive meet-and-greet and book signing session;historian and bestselling author Ambeth Ocampo for a book signing session and National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts, Ricky Lee, will present "Trip to Quiapo," another book signing session and talk featuring the master storyteller who will be speaking about his scriptwriting practice and his writing life.

Apart from those, the Philippine Book Festival is also bringing back the Rare Book Collection by the National Library of the Philippines, which will feature a new and bigger selection of rare manuscripts and facsimiles that we have curated with the NLP; the Book Bar–a library of award-winning Philippine-authored books; Cosplay Filipiniana, a cosplay competition where fans can portray their beloved Philippine literary characters; and Guhit Pambata, an exhibit highlighting the creations of some of our best children's book illustrators.

Going to the Philippine Book Festival means to help the book industry. While there are foreign books that can easily be accessed, it is important to read stories of Filipino authors and with languages.

And just like Parrocha's illustration for the festival, it reminds everyone to cherish and appreciate the wonders that local authors and artists make.

To aspiring visual illustrators, Parrocha offers this advice, "You have to be deeply passionate about what you're getting into because creating children's books is not an easy process. The monetary rewards are not that substantial either. So you need to view the love for it, the joy you get from the process, as part of the payment. You don't enter this industry because you want to make a lot of money, because you won't. You enter it because you fall in love with the process of making pictures that speak even without words."