Beaulah
P. Taguiwalo
Beaulah, her hometown Jaro in Iloilo, and her
children's books. Below right is The
Christmas Fireflies
by Girl Valencia, judged Best Book in Children's Literature for 2004 by the
Manila Critics Circle.
Beaulah Pedregosa Taguiwalo is the illustrator and book designer of Sampaguita, a story
written by Maria Elena Paterno (Cacho Publishing House, 1991) and of Junior Starfish and
the Rainbow, written by Alfred A. Yuson and Mirava Yuson (Bookmark, 1995). She also
did the book design, cover art and some inside illustrations for Kuwentong Kalikasan Katha
Ng Kabataan (RCBC, 1999), a fully illustrated anthology of prizewinning nature stories
written by children. Her most recent children's books are Grace Chong's Ragamuffin (Ayala
Museum, 2004) and Girl Valencia's The Christmas Fireflies (Papertree Publishing, 2004)
which was judged Best Book in Children's Literature for 2004 by the Manila Critics Circle.
Born in Jaro, Iloilo City in the Visayan region of the Philippines, Beaulah has always loved
reading and drawing ever since she was a child. When she was eleven years old, she left
home to study in Manila and has lived and worked there ever since. Maybe because words
and pictures were a staple in her diet, she managed to survive as a scholar in a special
science high school merely by continuing to read voraciously and drawing whenever and
wherever she could. When she got into college however, she decided to once and for all
overcome her fear of numbers, and she eventually ended up with a Math degree.
Certain that she will continue to draw and read no matter what, Beaulah started working by
teaching high school and later college Mathematics. She could hardly believe it when she
got hired as an art assistant in a design studio, where she was actually paid to draw and
even accidentally became sole illustrator of her first coffeetable book. She then moved on to
writing and editing an in-house newsletter for an investment house before transferring to a
business magazine where she had all of 8 glorious years trying her hand as an illustrator,
layout artist, art director, and eventually production and manufacturing manager. When she
finally and eagerly joined the ranks of the self-employed in 1989, she was not exactly ill
equipped to find and initiate book projects on her own and carry them to completion.
Altogether, Beaulah's published work includes corporate communications material,
magazines, coffee table books, IEC (Information, Education and Communication) materials
for national health projects, monographs on health issues and economics, and children's
books. Her illustration styles are black-and-white pen-and-ink line art, pen and multi-colored
ink pointilism, colored pencil, paper collage, and computer aided digital art. She considers
design and production as inseparable so for all of her book projects, she is usually involved
from start to finish -- concept, execution, final delivery of printed copies. She does the book
design, creates the cover art and inside illustrations, takes care of all aspects of pre-press
production, edits and rewrites if allowed, takes on supervision of printing if necessary,
considers it a perk rather than more work to canvass and choose paper, typesetters,
color separators..
Precisely because work is no longer 9 to 5 and workdays and weekends have become self-
defined, Beaulah has managed to take on some volunteer work -- all of them enjoyable and
extremely rewarding. She is an active founding member of Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan, the
first and only association of children's illustrators in the Philippines. She served as sectoral
representative for illustrators and Chairman for two terms of the Philippine Board on Books
for Young People (PBBY), the Philippine section of the International Board on Books for
Young People (IBBY) based in Basel, Switzerland. She is also a member of the Society of
Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), where she has been serving as Regional
Advisor for the Philippines and South Asia since 2001. In 2004, she took over as editor of
Expression OnLine, the SCBWI international online newsletter.
In addition, Beaulah co-edits the newsletter of the Manila Women's Forum and contributes
a page devoted to women's issues. Recently, she also started administering a merit award
for excellence in black-and-white pen-and-ink line art illustration. She also signed up for
training as a docent in Ayala Museum, a state-of-the-art cultural institution committed to
preserving, interpreting, and promoting awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the
cultural history of the Philippines. She also volunteers her time at a community service center
catering to the needs of the local and international community in the Philippines.
Beaulah is married to her former high school classmate Mario, who works as a consultant.
They have three sons, and together they spend most of their time reading and writing, only
stopping now and then to eat small portions of food at all hours and to step outside for some
fresh air. Backed by 25 years of experience in magazine and book design and production,
Beaulah is well prepared and perfectly willing to do everything that is required in the making
of a book. Watch out for more webpages showing Beaulah's art and other publications.
For matters related to her illustrations, book design and production, Beaulah may be reached
by email at [email protected] or [email protected] or by mobile phone at
0917-787-4956. As SCBWI Regional Advisor for the Philippines and Asia Pacific, she may
also be contacted at [email protected] As editor of Expression OnLine, the SCBWI
international online newsletter, she may be reached at [email protected]
Meet other SCBWI members in Asia at www.geocities.com/scbwiphilasia
____________________________________________________________________________________
Copyright 2002 by scbwiphilasia and the individual writers, illustrators, and contributors.
Please do not copy without permission. To contact us email [email protected]
