Human Made

"Hello to you, dear visitor of my website!

If you are here, it means you are interested in my drawings, and I thank you for that, or that you would like to know more about this HUMAN MADE symbol.

Charlie Adam has been my real name since I was born in 1975. It is not a brand, it is just me.
I was recently confirmed not to be a robot (I recognized every square showing a bridge!), and I work by hand, even if it is often on a computer, since 1998.
I am saying this because these days, when looking at an artistic creation, it is becoming less and less obvious to know whether there is a human being behind it holding a pencil, dictating a prompt, or an algorithm!

But here, you can be guaranteed that everything you see has been drawn with the sweat of my brow, but above all with joy.

We could get into the growing debate about the quality of work produced by AI, about the authenticity of artworks that are above all an amalgam of billions of pieces of data scraped online, or wonder whether human creation itself is ultimately a condensation of all our accumulated influences and information, our education, our culture, our references. Who can still claim to invent anything purely new, from nothing that has not already been imagined, painted, written, sculpted, sung or played?
All creatives inspire one another, or draw from previous generations, often without realizing it, sometimes openly. That is the game!

We could argue that all non-human creations end up looking alike, and that it is the personal style of each designer, artist or illustrator that makes the difference and makes them truly unique.

We could suggest that, like an organic food producer, we should highlight the “handmade” aspect as a label of higher quality and ethics, respecting nature, the value of craft and human relationships.

I could list a thousand good reasons to prefer working with real artists rather than algorithms, to prefer speaking with an employee in a shop rather than using a self-checkout machine.

I am regularly asked why I do not make use of this incredible tool that delivers astonishing results in record time and at lower cost, to make my life easier, but my answer is very simple: the truth is, I love drawing!

I enjoy taking on the challenge, whenever a new commission comes in, sometimes a complex one, of seeing whether I can answer it myself, without cheating, with my own skills, which have their limits, but limits I like to see pushed back year after year...

Just as a dancer loves to dance, a musician loves to play their instruments, a restaurant chef loves to cook, a mason loves to build a house... I love creating, daydreaming, brainstorming, searching for ideas, talking with my clients to imagine new things I had not yet thought of.

In short, the little extra thing that gives human creation its priceless value is passion, love for a beautiful gesture, a touch of humour, imperfection, and the satisfaction of work delivered after long efforts.

That is why I used a red heart to symbolize it.
A heart that beats, lives, feels, and passionately LOVES what it has always done.

I will therefore leave Artificial Intelligence to all those who do not like drawing, writing, searching for their own ideas, or for whom none of this brings any pleasure.

Thank you to all of you who follow me and help me make a living from my passion, for almost 30 years now!

Charlie Adam. Human since 1975! "