Illustrator Interview: Tin Javier, 2025 Alcala Prize Winner

Tin Javier, 2025 PBBY–Alcala Grand Prize winner for her illustrations in Three Thimbles, is the blog's featured illustrator of the month. In this interview, she shares how she approached the project as both a challenge and a chance to grow. She pushed herself to render diverse characters, research historical settings with depth, and capture untold details that magnify Patricia Sy Gomez’s story. For Tin, illustration is more than technical skill. It is an act of care, imagination, and research, meant to honor the author’s vision and inspire young readers to see beyond the text.

Congratulations! How did you feel when you learned you had won            the Alcala Grand Prize for your work in “Three Thimbles?”

I didn’t really think I would win because the reason I made the illustrations was to challenge myself in making characters with different ethnicities. And I wanted to also learn how to make houses because this was one of my weaknesses to do - the setting of the story because in picture books, we are always conscious of having to allot spaces for texts. So I took this opportunity to not think of anything and show how most likely I would like to render my illustrations.

What drew you to Patricia Sy Gomez’s story, and how did you begin translating her words into visual form?

The words were already so beautiful and detailed, so for me, my goal is to magnify the untold parts of the story. When I was a child, I wasn’t really allowed to go anywhere so I grew up with Nat Geo magazines, hand-me-down encyclopedias, etc. I always try to remember everything I can ‘cause the moment will go away. And now as an illustrator, I always think that there might be a child or a reader that wants to reimagine the time period or the place so this is what motivated me to add more to the details that were not told in the text.

Your illustrations carry both delicacy and strength. Can you share your process for choosing the color palette, style, and details that would best serve the story?

For the color palette I researched and watched movies and early videos of Hong Kong during the British occupation - the Chinese natives’ clothing, architecture and the street view. I wanted to reimagine the characters from a provincial Philippines landing up in a foreign country and things they must have seen as kids. Since that time, there were also Chinese sellers of vipers and pipes. I added it here in this busy street. I also tried to have a separation between the social status of the Chinese people i.e. the Chinese landlord versus the men pulling the rickshaw, Chinese children that were begging in the streets. 

In my submission, I also focused on several things I need to be able to do. These are the whole body look of all the characters plus “spice characters” (unmentioned characters in the story), British setting (which was on the first illustration), a Filipino setting, and emotional scene which was seen on the black and white page, and also the cover that has to reflect Filipino and a historical story but at the same time not giving away the main characters. I even put the Chinese lattice for the brown background so that despite having to see the flag, it will also show that it was happening in Hong Kong.  Most of the elements I have put here were researched from either museum sites or online auction sites that may offer legit time period pieces. I wanted to reflect the hard work in research of Patricia to match with the illustrations.

What was the most challenging scene or spread to illustrate, and how did you overcome that challenge?

Almost all were challenging to do. I wanted to have goals for every illustration I submitted. First illustration: The Cover, for me, has to be an eye-catching artwork that is historically close to what most likely were used. Considering not to give away the “three thimbles” but making sure they were at the correct character holding which is which. For the cover, I wanted to reflect some of the chapters in the story that I will not be able to submit and hoping the judges will see most likely how I would execute other chapters if ever it turned out to be a book. The second illustration is the Chapter 1 page. I wanted the viewer to see that from a Filipino theme then how come it landed on an Ongpin-looking setting. I have this thing I practice that my first spreads are my maximalist page. In ordinary picture books, texts here are luckily put in short sentences or lesser details, and authors usually let the artist do the talking here. The first spread for me is the one that will hopefully keep the reader (child) holding my book, and I applied it here. I wanted them not only to read but observe what else was happening like the busy street, the possible sound of people rushing, the foreign language which I shown in the signages with actual Chinese characters and actual meaning (thanks to Google translate and Google lens translating the reference photos and I was able to know what were the establishments in a British-occupied HK. 

I wanted to see the hardships of the native people too, that even there, there was a caste that if they were well-to-do when they were in the Philippines, they are now average people in Hong Kong as exiled individuals. I wanted to help the child readers of the details you would actually only know in documentaries or historical movies. Also the viper seller represents the unique Chinese exotic food that must have surprised the characters and so are the type of long pipes used for smoking which are negative to some so I tried to still show this in a child-friendly way. 

For the black and white scene, I know from the last Alcala entry I had (2021), I also submitted crying characters for a theme. I was considering putting the scene of Juan Luna and Emilio Aguinaldo (Chapter 3), or with Josephine Bracket, but this scene where the wake of Adora (Ch. 16) gave me a chance to introduce the Filipino setting, an emotional scene and some more spice characters (these are the people they left in the Philippines i.e. the nun, their relatives, their home…). And also, it is not common to be able to draw a wake or a funeral in a historical book so that’s why I chose this one.

What advice would you give to aspiring Filipino illustrators who dream of illustrating children’s books, especially those who hope to see their work recognized on a national stage?

Honestly, I don’t aim to be recognized on the national stage. I’d rather have the message be recognized. Though yes, I do create illustrations to help envision someone else’s idea (the author for me is the initial maker of the story), for me I am just a medium to be able to share in a more understandable way the vision of the author. Maybe what I would say is this, for someone who wants to pursue a children’s book illustration, think like a child. Imagine what you wished to have seen (like if you were the main character or the narrator of the story), aside from the text, think outside the box. With AI hovering around and its supporters, so are the “okay na to” thinking of submitting works just because the readers are “kids”. Kids are very smart, so whatever we present to them it will never matter if you had an award or not cause kids will always look for the message and the pictures. 

Push to give your 100% in every process. Not only are these stories picture books for kids but we should be able to have growth as well. Maybe through the art process, maybe on the research, maybe on the composition, the aesthetic (maybe you want to shift or challenge yourself with a new art style). Use every spread to teach you too - to reconnect by playing with characters, setting, etc. Your every book will contribute to young readers' reignite passion to become creative through words, storytelling and even drawing. And all these works will be recognized, and all your hard work and efforts will be seen.

Thank you, Tin for this interview!

With Three Thimbles, Tin Javier shows how research, creativity, and sensitivity come together to create illustrations that enrich Philippine children’s literature.