In Search of
by Kehkashan Khalid
Ever since the covid pandemic, I felt my art inching towards digital illustration– a medium kinder to moms of little ones who can’t leave tubes of paint lying around the apartment. I made black and white fantasy maps and illustrator drawings representing short stories, but my heart kept hoping I’d get the chance to make a full color speculative fiction cover art the likes of which I’d seen on the cover of magazines like Clarkesworld and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. I dabbled in it privately, developing a small toolkit, but I didn’t really think I’d ever have the time (ontop of work and writing and tasavvur editorial duties) to develop a portfolio that recommended me as a SFF magazine cover artist.
And then an unexpected opportunity opened up. We were lagging a little as a team here at Tasavvur as the demands of life pulled us away from our beloved magazine. And, as this issue came together, we realized we hadn’t shortlisted a cover artist. So, with a week left to the deadline, and no intention of ever supporting AI over real artists, the team suggested I give it a go.
The brief was ‘science-fiction themed art’, but if you know me, you know I always gravitate more towards science fantasy. Enter an epic (I hope) landscape with magical lava rocks, distant mountains, and shooting stars. And who has landed to explore it but a lost sentient droid, in search of…. something. I’ll leave that up to your imagination.
To me, science fiction is all about exploration, so I wanted to pepper questions throughout the painting. Where are we? Is this earth or a distant planet? Is there magic? Will the droid find other signs of sentient life? What is he feeling as he looks up at the stars?
In short, this was a dream-come-true opportunity and I’m really glad that my first cover art attempt began with this magazine–our passion project.
