FRANCOIS VAILLANCOURT: ART FROM THE SOUL

Savannah goes to Quebec to talk to Francois Vaillancourt about his wonderful art.

This week’s artist spotlight is one of the most talented artists of our time—Francois Vaillancourt. He’s worked with Joe Hill, Stephen Graham Jones, and Philip Fracassi, just to name a few all-stars in his repertoire. Without further ado, here’s what Francois had to say about A.I. and art.

Tell me about your personal experience in the field of cover design?

I have been doing covers for years now, and I have worked with all kinds of authors and publishers, from rare limited deluxe editions for Stephen King to first time self-published authors and everything in between. I have also given lectures and workshops on illustration, and participated in a number of round-table discussions in Canada, the U.S. and Germany.

Are you a traditional cover artist, or do you consider yourself a graphic designer?

I’m much more an artist than a graphic designer. I can do design, but it’s not my forte. I was trained as a classical artist and the design aspect came later during my years in advertising before committing fully and solely on illustration.

What originally drew you to the field?

It was my passion for the visual representation of the imagination that led me to this career. I love being able to take a description in a book and translate the author’s vision as faithfully as possible. It’s also great to be able to work with writers I’ve admired for years.

What have you seen since the rise of AI? How has it affected you personally and the field as a whole?

I’ve seen some authors take advantage of what they believe to be the democratization of the illustrator’s profession to create mediocre covers themselves.

They are of poor quality for two main reasons. The first is that algorithms always end up giving a result that’s too smooth and soulless, with visual elements that are easily identified as AI. The second is that the AI can only rely on what is given to it as an indication, and is not capable of imagining for itself.

Despite initial fears, the impact seems to have been negligible, at least for the illustrators I spoke to. What’s more, many publishing houses refuse to accept images created with AI, which protects the work of real artists. What’s more, the authors or publishers who use these images would probably not have been able to afford the services of an illustrator.

How has the advent of AI impacted your income?

No impact at all.

What steps do you use to prevent the accidental use of AI elements? How do you verify the integrity of your elements?

When I’m looking for images on which to base my work, I make sure to specify in the filters that I don’t want any references containing AI-generated images. It’s a shame to see image banks offering their own AI generators on their sites, to the detriment of photographers’ work.

What should the general public know about AI as a whole, and AI elements?

I think the general public has a pretty good understanding of how AI works and what it means in terms of stealing intellectual property, as well as degrading artists’ work. The problem is that the public often uses AI as a form of amusement, and this helps to normalize the process and erase the stigma attached to it.

In what ways do you combat AI’s intrusion into art?

The only way to combat this intrusion is by continuing to produce original images, above all through a human interpretation of the stories I have to illustrate.

What should the public look for when attempting to verify art?

There are several details that can be used to detect an AI-generated image. In addition to the number of fingers or toes (which everyone knows), there are signs such as teeth, text that’s just a squiggle because the AI can’t interpret it, light sources or shadows that don’t correspond to the light sources in the image, overly blurry background with way too much depth of field, and much more. It’s also possible to use image searches (Google Reverse Image Search or TinEye) to find out where an image comes from.

Savannah R. Fischer is the permanently exhausted pigeon in charge of two well-loved chaos gremlins. When not with her family, she can usually be found in her cave, wrapped in an oversized blanket and dreaming of spinach puffs. She wants to show her gremlins that they can do hard things, even when it’s scary, like pulling the wrong lever and ending up in a pit of alligators. No llamas were harmed in the making of her works of horror.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.