The scout calendar has been the joy of illustrators for several years. For the artist who is lucky enough to produce the 13 creations that constitute it, it is a golden contract. Great visibility – roughly 70,000 copies in French-speaking Canada –, creative freedom, and financial conditions that are among the best among illustrators. Félix Girard also signs the 2024 calendar.
But for 2025, the Scout Association of Canada wanted to give all “people with creative skills the chance to apply”. She first chose Marteen Trepaniez, an artist with Mi’kmaq roots who widely uses artificial intelligence (AI). Outcry among illustrators. Until pushing back the association on Friday.
“Following the controversy surrounding AI, [l’Association des scouts du Canada a] chose not to use this tool for the creation of our next illustrations. We will not continue our partnership with the illustrator who was chosen,” announced the scout movement after a week of debate on social networks.
Many comments — including several by illustrators — welcomed the decision.
Earlier this week, more people pointed out the extensive use of AI in Mr. Trepaniez’s work, were outraged by it and even doubted his artistic career. “His Facebook page has only existed since mid-December, and there are no works on Google when you search for his name,” said illustrator Alex S. Girard, for example. (The Phylacteribles), under a publication that the association has since deleted.
Assisted creation, generated creation
“To create my illustrations, I follow a multi-step process that integrates both technology and artistic skills, generally taking 10 to 20 hours per image,” Mr. Trepaniez explained Friday on his Facebook page.
He says first make a sketch or take a photo, then use AI to generate an initial illustrated image. The following interventions are done using graphic editing applications such as Photoshop, Procreate and Illustrator. Hovering over the photos on his Facebook page, you can clearly see the difference between his handmade paintings and the AI-reworked illustrations.
“It’s really difficult for me to believe that there is artistic work there,” explains the cartoonist and illustrator Jean-Paul Eid (The little astronaut, The bottom of the hole). His images strangely resemble those of Marcel Marlier, you know, the books Martine, For the young ? »
Mr. Eid continues: “There may be programming work there, an ability to say the right words to the AI so that it generates these images. But there is clearly no control over the drawing. For me, it’s not art. »
Illustration Québec’s AI committee intervened to raise awareness and educate scouts about the use of AI and its consequences, explains André Martel, illustrator and member of this committee, which has existed for a year. This is confirmed by Vincent Duval, CEO of the Association of Scouts of Canada. “We were reassured by Mr. Trepaniez’s approach. The controversy, the mobilization of illustrators, surprised us. But we are a movement, the scouts; we are always ready to learn. »
“We will continue discussions to guide our use of AI, to find out how to do it in an ethical way. We also understand that people see us as standard bearers of certain values. This is a high esteem. We saw this week that it came with great demands, sometimes surprising,” maintains Mr. Duval.
Change the way you do things
“This year we wanted to change the way we make the calendar, to open up to emerging creators, who work with different tools,” explains Vincent Duval. After an internal survey of a dozen files without the creator’s name or CV, the Scout Association’s choice fell on Marteen Trepaniez.
“We have had a long-standing relationship of trust with professional illustrators,” recalls Mr. Duval, “who had a knee-jerk reaction. »
Could the loss of a precious contract, by its opening to non-professionals, be a reason for the vivacity of this reaction? Would the Scout Association have benefited from asking more artistically seasoned eyes to participate in the survey? One thing is certain, there will be a 2025 scout calendar, confirms Mr. Duval. “We’ll see next week how we turn out. And if we can maintain our desire to explore new avenues. »
Marteen Trepaniez declined the interview request from Duty.