Last Thursday, the cartoonist Jean-Paul Eid, author of the magnificent Little astronaut (La Pastèque, 2021) sounded the alarm and communicated on social networks its dismay at the use, by the Salon du livre de l’Outaouais (SLO), of artificial intelligence (AI) for a poster aimed at promoting the Desjardins Youth Tour, which allows schools to receive writers. “The entire community of illustrators is horrified by [c]e choice,” he wrote. The situation did not fail to arouse astonishment and anger; from an organization aiming to celebrate and honor creators, we expect better.
The management of the SLO, whose posters have until now always highlighted the original works of illustrators, reacted quickly. If the most recent is an exception, “it was not our request, nor a desire on our part. We learn this morning […] that the technique used for the 2025 poster was a mix of illustrations which were generated by artificial intelligence, retouched and adapted by the graphic designer. In solidarity, the team declared that this type of tool would now be ruled out and “that a clear guideline would be given to external suppliers (graphic designer and illustrator)”.
The Montreal Book Fair (SLM) team was also questioned, this time by illustrator Pascal Blanchet, to find out if it used AI in the poster for the event which will be held this year from November 27 to 1er December at the Palais des Congrès. At the time of writing, the SLM had not yet given its response.
We will also remember the unfortunate case of the novel Elias and Justine, by Samuel Larochelle, whose cover page was generated by artificial intelligence, once again in the context of a channel where the provenance of the images was lost along the way. If I were an illustrator, all this would start to seriously worry me.
“It’s difficult to come up with a firm position in the face of AI because, currently, we are faced with the unknown,” notes Pascal Blanchet. The problem comes from advertising agencies, the bread and butter of illustrators. Rather than hiring an external illustrator, which they usually do, they prefer to put the entire money in their pockets by dropping one link in the chain. » The salon teams are neither aware nor ill-intentioned, they do not know what they have in their hands, they are more victims of the situation than anything else. It gets tricky when we talk about organizations and events whose objective is to celebrate culture. “AI doesn’t create anything, it pumps our images,” laments the illustrator. This machine feeds on our work without giving us anything in return and depriving us of contracts. It doesn’t make any sense. We cannot escape it, but there will have to be regulation and payment of copyright to illustrators and artists. »
Pascal Blanchet has a very assertive personal signature; we recognize his works by their precise and clean lines, the angles with which he traces the faces, and his palette of bold colors. There is something timeless and almost iconic in his work that pleases the eye. We owe him the most recent posters for the Montreal International Jazz Festival, several books published in La Pastèque, Marguerite’s Christmas, of India Desjardins, among others. He collaborates with The New Yorkerhas won numerous awards, including the Bédélys Québec. Pascal believes that illustrators who have a distinct personal style are likely to fare better than those who have a more commercial style. “AI is already very present in the city, on posters, almost everywhere around us… The images it generates are ugly, empty and cold, without human affect to animate them. They were generated by a machine, and it shows. Drawing is interesting: it is a physical gesture, a work of the body. »
What are we going to do if, over time, fed by our best ideas, AI becomes so refined that it manages to produce work that gives us a real aesthetic thrill? I am thinking, for example, of this short story competition in China, during which a test was carried out by a literature professor, with the complicity of the president of the competition organizing committee. A short story generated by AI, then reworked by human hands, was submitted to the members of the jury and won a prize… The day when a song, a work of visual art or a literary text designed by an AI will reach to get emotional, how will I react? Pascal Blanchet is not so much afraid that AI will overtake us, rather that it will drag us down and stupidize us. “To what extent will the images around us become standardized? What visual universe are we going to live in? That’s what worries me most. »
Are there any particular situations or contexts in which this illustrator might consider using AI? “Perhaps the only reason I would do it would be if I reached my own technical limits, drawing a crowd of 250 people for example. What does it say about us collectively that, to save money and save time, we agree to no longer express ourselves by entrusting that to a machine? When we don’t create, we don’t think. Know-how will be lost… We wonder what we have to gain, but what will we lose? It’s worth looking into that too. »
For my part, what I would like is to be informed when I am in the presence of works generated by AI. A bit like foods that contain GMOs or even cigarettes… If we decide to consume them, it must at least be with full knowledge of the facts and be able to position ourselves, decide to do it or not. For example, we could refuse to listen to a song generated by a machine, because it conflicts with our values. One thing is certain, we must quickly regulate the uses of illustrations in free circulation, provide ourselves with guidelines, clear parameters and a way of fairly remunerating creators. Because right now, we’re in the middle of the Wild West.