FL Wildlife Inspires St. Pete Artist's Take On 'Where The Wild Things Are'

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Artist Brian Kostar was struck by inspiration when invited to design a book cover for a literary-themed art show two years ago.

The prompt set into motion a series of Florida-influenced alternate book covers for classic children’s literature, he told Patch — “Where the Boardwalk Ends,” “The Unforgiving Tree,” “The Very Hungry Sandworm.”

Each piece sold before it could even appear in the show, so he kept creating new pieces, one after another, ultimately leading to the design that helped launch his first children’s book: “Where the Florida Wild Things Live.”

That piece made it to the exhibit, where it also sold, but was a turning point for Kostar, leading to a collaboration with Central Florida author Amanda McAllister, who creates under the name Alice Absolutely, he said.

The pair worked together to turn the single-panel art piece into an entire picture book that’s based on Maurice Sendak’s arguably most popular title and embraces Florida’s unique wildlife.

McAllister handled the book’s text, Kostar said. “I gave her total control of the story.”

Then, he built the visual side around her draft, using references to the original book's style while adding Florida-specific imagery.

“So I think we used, like in total, 18 reference images from the book, and did it my style, Florida style, and then I came up with 10 original images,” Kostar said.

The project fits in with his long-running interest in Florida wildlife and conservation, and includes links to and information about nonprofit organizations that do work in that area.

“So we're hoping maybe we'll inspire people to get involved,” he said.

Kostar and McAllister will do a reading of “Where the Wild Things Live” during the Second Saturday Artwalk this weekend at Floridarama, 5 to 6 p.m. He’ll also appear at the June 21 Queerlastic Book Fair at St. Petersburg City Theatre.

Looking ahead, Kostar said his first publishing experience, while a learning experience, opened up new possibilities for his work, including illustrating more children’s books in the future.

“It’s been really eye opening. I just realized that I don't have to be stuck in just doing one thing,” he said.

See Also:

• FL Holocaust Museum Offers Free Admission During Kanye West’s Tampa Concerts
• Sunshine City Paint Lounge, Art Studio Opening Soon In St. Pete's Edge District
• Queer Athletes Celebrated In New Children's Book By FL Author
• FL Entrepreneur’s UFO Sightings Lead To His Opening A Beachside Alien Artifacts Museum
• Can 500,000 ‘Bootleg’ T-Shirts Reopen Haslam’s? One St. Pete Artist Is Trying