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.
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.
