The detail would likely take a human weeks. And I doubt a "mostly liberal art community" could come up with something this good, detailed and sharp, this quickly.
This was my thought as well. Especially, since the caption on X reads like an AI query:
Inspired by the visual language of old Ray Bradbury and Stephen King paperbacks, Justin Metz created this illustration, which may be the first cover without a headline or typography in The Atlantic’s 167-year history.
AI Art?
The detail would likely take a human weeks. And I doubt a "mostly liberal art community" could come up with something this good, detailed and sharp, this quickly.
This was my thought as well. Especially, since the caption on X reads like an AI query:
https://x.com/TheAtlantic/status/1833105626962055554
Ai was definitely used in some capacity. You can start with a rough sketch then use ai to add all the detail. All the illustrators are using it now.
Like you said it would take weeks to create an image like this using traditional methods, and Ai can do it in a day.