Vintage Book Challenge with J.P. Roberts: Illustrating Where the Wild Things Are
Right now at Illo we’re doing a fun internal challenge where each of our agents pick a book we loved as a child, then we ask illustrators we represent to recreate the book’s illustrations in their style (while providing a bit of background on the book and why we love it so).
For this one, I asked J.P. Roberts to re-imagine the unforgettable classic Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. I felt that J.P.’s use of texture and glowing lighting would really emphasize the mystery and whimsy of Sendak’s wild adventure— and J.P. absolutely delivered with these warm, fun illustrations!
Here, J.P. redrew his own character design for main character Max, and imagined a more friendly and sensitive relationship between Max and the Wild Things. The artist is asked to use their own style and creative direction, simply inspired by the original title, and they can work with any specifications they feel fits the subject best.
J.P. Roberts is an illustrator from a small rural town in Northwest Florida. J.P. is a primarily self taught artist, but attended the Savannah College of Art & Design for computer art and animation. Throughout his career, he has illustrated projects for a wide variety of clients including Cricket Media, Friesen Press Publishers, and numerous advertising agencies. Through these ad agencies, J.P. won a number of Addy awards for his illustration, animation, and design work.
The book I chose was the famous Where the Wild Things Are, written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. It was originally published in 1963 by Harper & Row, and has since sold over 19 million copies worldwide. It has also been adapted several times, including a live action feature film adaptation in 2009. American author Maurice Sendak was born in 1928 and passed in 2012 after a long career creating beloved titles including In the Night Kitchen and Outside Over There. He won the Caldecott Medal in 1964 for Where the Wild Things Are.
In case you haven’t read it yet, here is what it's all about....
The story focuses on a young boy named Max who, after dressing in his wolf suit, wreaks such havoc through his household that he is sent to bed without his supper. Max's bedroom undergoes a mysterious transformation into a jungle environment, and he winds up sailing to an island inhabited by monsters, simply called the Wild Things. The Wild Things try to scare Max, but to no avail. After stopping and intimidating the creatures, Max is hailed as the king of the Wild Things and enjoys a playful romp with his subjects. Finally, he stops them and sends them to bed without their supper. However, to the Wild Things' dismay, he starts to feel lonely and decides to abdicate and return home. The creatures do not want him to go and throw themselves into fits of rage as Max calmly sails away home. Upon returning to his bedroom, Max discovers a hot supper waiting for him.
Sendak mentioned in interviews that his books like Where the Wild Things Are were based on “a brief, inadvertent moment in a child's life” where their parent’s backs are turned and children have to navigate the world (including the scary parts) on their own. I personally was inspired by this title as a child when I saw how Max’s own room transformed into this imaginative landscape for a thrilling adventure.
Please take a good look at J.P. Roberts' illustrations of Max and the Wild Things, compared to the original spreads.
Feel free to get in touch with us with suggestions of your favorite childhood books! We’d love to inspire more Illo artists. If you’d like more info, please contact: [email protected].
At illo agency, we pride ourselves in representing a collation of global illustrators, distinctly diverse in creativity and uniquely celebrated by like-minded clients across a range of commercial markets.