Meet Beth Parrocha, the artist behind some of your favorite children’s books

TAWI-TAWI, Philippines – “The best way to lure a child into the world of books is by showing them pictures,” Beth Parrocha, a Filipina graphic designer and picture book illustrator, shared.

Parrocha is the award-winning illustrator of many children’s books such as Tiny Feet, Tiny Shoes and Ako ay May Kiki.

In her four decades in the field, she has mastered the tricks of illustrating storybooks for the youngest audiences. 

“Colorful, attractive pictures hook the child’s imagination, which opens a door to make them enjoy reading a book visually,” she added.

Parrocha’s belief in the power of visual storytelling has strengthened over time, along with the evolution of her styles and skills. But it all stems from her own creative beginnings as a young girl surrounded by art.

A creative in the making

Parrocha shared in an interview with Rappler that she grew up with a sister who loved to sketch. Her discarded drafts were young Beth’s treasures; she was always excited to pick them up and trace the existing lines with a pencil.

She also used to cut bond paper and staple them together to create a mini book. Looking back at the memory, Parrocha said that it was probably innate in her to make her own books.

At school, she was often the class creative who was responsible for stage designs and decorations. Soon enough, when it was time to pursue college, Parrocha found herself applying for a Fine Arts degree at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

“My knowledge and skills in illustration were very basic, and it was in college when I realized I was more into editorial arts because it focuses on telling stories visually. I fell in love with this art form, which developed my art to be more emotive.” 

Her career as an illustrator started early, even before she graduated. She already illustrated children’s books and coloring books for a small publishing group as young as 19 years old. She then hopped onto illustrating for Fine Arts International Greeting Cards, as well as being a visualizer for J. Walter Thompson Advertising Company before she finally decided to freelance.

“It was a nice experience for me to work for those companies because they taught me about developing my discipline as an artist,” Parrocha said.

Artists have varying timeframes on the turnaround time for finishing a certain work, but Parrocha notes that building discipline is a good skill to have in the field.

Freelancing into success

People in the creative industry, especially early-career ones, do not earn the most in the Philippines. Parrocha admits that it was the same for her when she started freelancing.

“It was difficult because I only earned P1,000 a month, but at the same time, I was happy because I was then allowed to focus more on exploring my style,” she said.

At the time, she was still living with her parents, so the situation worked for her even though she had no commissions at times.

“One of my first few books was The Boy Who Ate Stars. I was so excited working on it and felt like it was my first and last book so I used a different medium for each spread of the book: color pencil, watercolor, and oil pastel.”

As a budding children’s book illustrator who was starting to get bigger projects, she always had a fear that it might be her last book. 

“I was a thirsty spirit who was excited to see how different media would look like when printed,” she said

At 28, in June 1991, she, along with other artists, founded Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK), the Philippine’s first and only organization of artists dedicated to children’s illustrations.

When Parrocha felt ready to level up her career, she knocked on bigger doors to see the opportunities offered by big publishers. She first got an opportunity — illustrating two children’s books — from Adarna Books, established by national artist Virgilio Almario.

She created the illustrations for Papel de Liha by Ompong Remigio and Ang Pambihirang Buhok ni Raquel by Luis Gatmaitan.

According to Parrocha, these were some of the books that received much attention to detail because she was able to allocate all her attention to a single book at a time. “They were my spoiled babies,” she joked.

However, she was still paid quite low being a freelance artist. To her, part of what she gets from it is the joy of doing something she loves, so she might as well enjoy the whole process of the job.

As a staunch supporter of reading, she also believes that her work as an illustrator greatly impacts how a child will feel towards a book when they’re older.

“When I draw, I savor what the writer is telling in the story because my visuals will share a huge part on how the story will be told,” she said.

Parrocha tries to innovate in her artwork, usually thinking of ways to tell the story without exactly showing what is already written in the book.

For instance, she never showed that Raquel in Ang Pambihirang Buhok ni Raquel was bald and sick with cancer in her illustrations, instead, she just showed her feet, indicating that she has fallen and her wig was removed.

“It’s still a children’s book, so I don’t want to traumatize or shock them with the illustrations. What’s important to me is that I’ve invited them to the world of books, and hopefully, when they open the book at an older age, they would realize and understand the deeper story that the book is telling.”

Papel de Liha was her first award-winning children’s book illustration, winning the Manila Critic’s Circle National Book Awards for Book Design in 1997.

In the next years, Parrocha saw herself get more and more projects, as well as awards.

There was Tiny Feet, Tiny Shoes by Adeline Foo, which won the Asian Festival of Children’s Content Asian Children’s Book Award in 2017, and The Pencil Who Would Not Write by Mary Ann Ordinario which won first place in the International Indie Children’s Book Cover Award, among others.

She is also an awardee for the 7th National Children’s Book Awards Best Reads 2020-2021 for BULUL with Mary Ann Ordinario and Ako ay May Kiki with Glenda Oris.

Inspiring kids and kids at heart

Parrocha couldn’t be any happier with these recognitions, but to her, the most satisfying part of her work is seeing how her work touched lives: those kids who grew up reading her works and appreciating her art.

“A friend of mine has seen a young man on a train with a tattoo of Raquel from Ang Pambihirang Buhok ni Raquel. There were two guys who commissioned me for a book illustration who turned out to read my books as kids and even told me I was their favorite illustrator,” she shared.

“I sit at home working, not knowing the reach of my work. It always warms my heart, especially when it’s adults who come to me saying they grew up with my picture books,” Parrocha added.

As someone who does her passion for her job, she always thought that she was doing it all for herself.

Now with an expertise and a prominent name in the field, Parrocha has found different kinds of challenges. She always thinks about a new medium that she can use in her artworks, as well as translating interesting plot points into visual stories.

“I try to look deep into the story and find something in it that will entertain the child. I ask myself, how would I invite the kid in me to open this book?” she said, explaining a part of her work process.

She shared that she knows her work will be well-received by young audiences if “the kid in me is satisfied.” Little did she know that many kids and kids at heart love her work as much as she does. – Rappler.com