Over the years, we've used many different approaches for pairing visuals with the written word at San Antonio Review. As of a few years ago, we were relying on editors to choose stock photography for each piece. This approach was starting to feel stale and generic. Even if you don't know you are looking at stock art, you know you are looking at stock art.
As much as we would like to pair imagery with artwork that is submitted by contributors, we both do not receive enough art submissions compared to the volume of written submissions nor do we always have something that is relevant for the written work we want to publish.
We wanted to give each written work an accompanying image that would bring it to life. Our goal is for the images to reflect both the authors and us at San Antonio Review - a little cheeky, a little weird, but always heartfelt.
And yes, some of this artwork is GenAI-assisted. I wouldn't have been able to continue to create all the pieces I do if it weren't. My process is part Adobe Stock, part generated image assets, part my artwork, and a lot of compositing.
A Few Pieces from SAR
