The 26-year-old freelancer told FMT Lifestyle the experience of landing the book cover deal last November has been surreal yet exciting as she’s a fan of the teenage Greek demigod and his Olympian adventures.
“At one point, I wasn’t sure if I could even accept the job because I already had a lot of jobs. But also, it felt like it’s a bit too difficult to pass on this opportunity,” shared the artist who has a diploma in illustration, movie and game art.
Having devoured the Percy Jackson novels since she was 14, you can say Khadijah had an added advantage when it came to designing the book covers. She said it was also helpful that her art director provided sketches for each of the books.
“I just had to reimagine them in a more dynamic way. And because he already provided me with something, I didn’t have to come up with too many concepts,” Khadijah, who has more than 30 book covers under her belt, recounted.
According to her, the public’s response has been positive thus far.
“People are also shocked that the one illustrating the books now is a Malaysian. I think they didn’t expect that.
“And international followers are very excited for the covers and a lot of people are trying to hunt the covers down because it’s a UK edition,” the soft-spoken Khadijah enthused.
Although she did not get the chance to meet or talk with Riordan himself throughout the designing period, she revealed that his wife Becky had been a great encouragement, keeping tabs on her via social media.
Khadijah had previously illustrated the cover for Riordan’s “The Daughter of the Deep” and “The Sun and the Star” before she struck the Percy Jackson deal.
Her repertoire also includes book covers for Dhonielle Clayton’s “The Marvellers” series, MT Khan’s “Nura and the Immortal Palace” and George Jreije’s “Shad Hadid and the Alchemists of Alexandria”.
Khadijah has also worked on concept art for films and games, as well as illustrated an album cover for K-pop’s AleXa.
Khadijah, the second among four siblings, was introduced to art at nine years old. She fondly recalled the times when her parents used to take her to art workshops organised by publisher Karangkraf.
“I think it was a good first exposure to art as I started off doing simple batik paintings. I got to visit a lot of artist huts with my family as well, and that exposed me even more to the different kinds of medium people used to paint,” she reminisced.
She also dabbled in comic and manga illustrations when she was in secondary school before finding her artistic voice during her time at the One Academy.
Influenced by fashion, photography and alternative music, Khadijah described her style as “realistic but also graphic. It can be quite dark sometimes. It has a bit of an edge”.
It comes as no surprise then that songs by American crossover thrash band “Power Trip” were her soundtrack of choice when working on the “Percy Jackson” series.
In fact, she hopes to reimagine book covers for Stephen King classics such as “It”, “The Shining” and “Carrie” to fulfil her proclivities for horror-themed illustrations. So, what would a Khadijah Khatib “It” cover look like?
“The balloon has to be there … all the kids would have to be there. Also the clown himself. I would do a collage kind of style. More like a retro-looking cover like the “Stranger Things” poster,” Khadijah shared.
For aspiring artists and illustrators hoping to make their big break, Khadijah said getting represented by a literary agency is important.
“Also, just embracing your own art style. I feel like a lot of illustrators now are lost on … what direction they are going in.
“They should just embrace whatever they like … because I think it will really show in their artwork,” she concluded.