Jill Arwen Posadas is the illustrator of HALU-HALO ESPESYAL. It is her first children’s book, written by Yvette Fereol and published in 2006 by Adarna House, the Philippines’ first and largest children’s book publisher.

Jill graduated with a degree in Communication Arts from the Center of Research and Communication (CRC), now known as the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P). She went on to the University of the Philippines in Diliman to finish a second degree, in Fine Arts. Encouraged by her grandmother, Jill joined Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan, the Philippines’s first and only association of children’s illustrators.

We sat down with Jill last Monday August 10 at McCafe in Greenbelt 1, Makati. She was the featured guest for our monthly Booktalk on Children’s Literature, hosted by our organization the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

How did Jill get to illustrate her first children’s book?

“It all started with the Barlaya Workshop,” said Jill. She and other aspiring children’s illustrators applied to attend the workshop conducted by Adarna House, the first and largest children’s book pulisher in the Philippines. They were asked to submit “audition pieces” based on THE CAT PAINTER, and whoever did the best at the workshop got to illustrate the book. It was, in effect a “Show Us What You Can Do” workshop.

The end result was, Jill was invited again by Adarna shortly after that. This time, she was asked to “audition” for a specific story. The story was HALU-HALO ESPESYAL. For those who are not familiar with this favorite Filipino dessert, “halu-halo” is made of ube, shaved ice, langka, nata de coco, green and red gulaman, bananas and red and black beans -- all piled into a tall glass shaped like an inverted cone, and topped with a matchbox-size slice of sweet custard called leche flan. Jill understood: without a doubt, food was a major star in the book.

There were two other illustrators who auditioned as well, said Jill. She remembered feeling a bit daunted by the style and skill of another illustrator who was very good at rendering highly realistic illustrations of food. Compared to that, Jill was afraid her illustration style did not stand a chance. But then, Adarna subjected all their illustrations to a test with a focus group of young children, in much the same way that advertising agencies pretest their ads on their target audience. To Jill's surprise and delight, her illustrations were the ones that the kids liked best.

That’s when the real work began, says Jill. She was given barely a month to finish the illustrations: all twenty-two spreads for the book. Adarna had a set number of spreads and had chopped up the text accordingly. They also specified what they wanted to see in each spread, and Jill made the thumbnails. Once the thumbnails were approved, Jill did the final art in her chosen medium, which was pen and ink and watercolor.

Jill said it was a real challenge finish the twenty-two spreads in barely a month. Not to mention the research that she had to do: What, for example, does an aluminum hand-held ice shaver really look like? (So as not to lose more time, the publisher's rep working with Jill took pity on her and roughly sketched the ice shaver for her.)

That's not all. Jill also had to redo her rendering of the "turon" -- slices of banana rolled up in thin rice wrapping, sprinkled with red sugar, and then deep fried. Jill was asked to show the "turon" as if they had been bitten open, with the banana filling clearly showing. Otherwise, Jill admitted, the unopened "turon" was indistinguisable from "lumpia" or fried spring rolls. "But this is watercolor," Jill recalls whining. Fortunately, she did not have to do the whole spread from scratch. The spread was corrected, overnight, as requested.

Make no mistake though. Jill was not complaining, even though she averaged only three or four hours of sleep at night while working on her first book. Despite her shock and horror at the tight deadline, and her love-hate description of the travails of working with watercolor, Jill was just like most children’s illustrators: she was thrilled to the bone to be actually working on her first children’s book.

Jill showed us three pieces of her book’s original art, which she brought framed and bubble wrapped. We could see that she made the art same-size. That only meant one thing: Jill drew all the teeny tiny details in the pictures with the steady hand of a brain surgeon and the mind-numbing concentration of a watch repairman. But, that did not in any way dull the sense of fun and playfulness that showed through in the finished art. Take the spiral squiggles, for example, that are less than half and inch in diameter and only about four points thick, rendered in rainbow colored hues. “And look at all those pots and pans hanging on the kitchen wall!” we exclaimed. “That’s exactly the way our kitchen at home looks like!” Jill crowed.

Finally, we asked Jill to show us more of her other artwork. We pored over two of her portfolios: she had monsters -- mermaids, centaurs, dragons, tikbalangs and others. Some were done in oil, some in acrylic with Cray-Pas oil pastels, but most of them were in her favorite medium, watercolor. We thought that there several pieces in there that were pregnant with a story. Jill agreed that all she has to do is create the pieces before and after and there you have it -- a story told in pictures. For a start, or as an end in itself.



- By Beaulah Pedregosa Taguiwalo, 2009 Aug 13 (The author is a book designer and children’s illustrator. She is an SCBWI member and Regional Advisor for the Philippine chapter.)

For the past year, we have had the pleasure of having some “regulars” at our booktalks: Sylvia and Vivienne, very lively and very opinionated ladies who have attended nearly every one of our meetings.

Last Monday it was a joy to meet four new people. Four people who had heard of us through the wonders of e-mail passed on from one to another until it reached a person whose interests were on the same page as ours.

And so we began.

I had actually brought a book with me, but I chose one from the pile of books which Beaulah takes with her, seemingly, everywhere we go. From McCafe in Makati to UP Visayas in Iloilo, this lady seems to take a stash of books with her everywhere.

The book I chose was THE KING WHO RAINED, written and illustrated by Fred Gwynne. This was book which took common expressions and paired them with illustrations that interpreted each one visually in a very literal fashion. The storyteller is a young girl who is essentially telling us of some of the silly things her parents say. Thus when her father says some “boars” are coming over, she imagines pigs around their kitchen table. It is a nonsensical book which is simply a lot of fun. Beaulah pointed out that it is part of the Stories to Go Series, books designed for travel with young children. We all agred that after reading such a book, parents could actually play a game with their children where common phrases or figures of speech can be reinterpreted in a literal manner.

I was followed by Jules who chose the book EVERY KID’S GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING PARENTS. Jules is a mother who works with In Touch Community Services. She liked the book because she felt that when a child reads it, he or she would gain a better understanding of their parents. However, while she liked to concepts, she disagreed with some of the contents. We noted that the book was published in 1987. Perhaps, if the book were reissued, it would be more politically correct and would address more current issues. We noted that Jules could actually take on the task of writing a similar book with more humor.

Jeff, a proofreader, freelance writer, and former pre-school teacher was next. The book he chose was ANG PRINSESANG MAHABA ANG ILONG, Christine Bellen’s re-telling of Severino Reyes’ story. He is not a big fan of Severino Reyes. In this particular instance, Jeff said he felt that the story had nuances which children may not understand. He strongly feels that children’s stories should be easily understood. We noted that this book was perhaps meant more for young adults, and not for very young children. Beaulah pointed out though, that both she and I feel very strongly against classifying books. Books are meant for whoever picks them up and enjoys them.

In the middle of all this discussion, we all agreed that writing for children is not easy at all, as many people think. In fact, it is very difficult to do.

Rye, a poet and a teacher at a school catering to call center wannabees came next. He picked Charlotte Zolotov’s THE HATING BOOK. Jeff liked the book because it dealt with a difficult topic in a very light, very humorous manner. He felt that there are some fairly emotional topics which should be dealt with in a manner which children and young people can understand. This was such a book.

Aida, a teacher and a traveler, was next. She was our first guest ever who (a) came all the way from Davao, and (b) came to the Booktalk straight from the airport. The book she chose was COUNTDOWN TO KINDERGARTEN by Alison McGhee. The book deals with the anxieties of a child about to go to school for the fist time. The book looks at this experience from the point of view of the child. All the mothers around the table agreed that the first day of school was traumatic not only for the child, but also for the mother.

As always, Beaulah was the last to speak. Her book was the Caldecott winning wordless picture book FLOTSAM, by David Wiesner. As we oohd and ahhd over the beauty and cleverness of the book, Beaulah told us that this was one of her dream projects: a book that she would really love to make. However, she told us that a publisher once said in a that wordless picture books are difficult to sell. Why? Because for parents and teachers, they mean more work, more explanations.

We ended the Booktalk in the most enjoyable way possible. Aida and Jules had both brought manuscripts for critiquing. We read them, shared our comments, and parted in great amity. I, for one, look forward to seeing both Aida’s and Jules’ stories published one day soon.

Join us in our next Booktalk!



- By Dominique Garde Torres, 2008 Oct 18 (The author is a mother, performance arts production manager and an award-winning scriptwriter. She is an SCBWI member and Assistant Regional Advisor for the Philippine chapter.)