Stephan Vasement

@stephanvasement ∙ Published December 2, 2022

[AI Art Weekly] Hey Stephan, what’s your background and how did you get into AI art?

AI was introduced to me by friends who are collectors of generative art. It was early summer when MidJourney was still invite-only. We were just enjoying the process itself, coming up with prompts, paintings and collections. It didn’t seem to me back then, that AI art would grow to the scale it is now. 

I studied to be a screenwriter in my youth and then worked in the animation business. We created what are called explainer videos. We wrote the script, made the storyboard, drew and animated it ourselves. As a result, we created a small cartoon advertisement. Often we had to invent some metaphors to explain not the most obvious things which was very stimulating for our imagination.

At the same time I did a lot of street photography. Two or three times a week I would go out and walk the streets from dusk till dawn, looking for interesting subjects – sometimes walking up to 20 Kilometers a day.

[AI Art Weekly] Do you have a specific project you’re currently working on? What is it?

Right now all my attention is on the “In Dreams” collection. In it I’ve finally been able to combine my love for photography and a certain artistic aesthetic. With it I try to combine photorealism and dream logic. I like AI because I can use it to give simple subjects an artificial feel and to build up interesting stories. Aesthetically, the collection is built on my favourite directors and photographers: Andrei Tarkovsky, Peter Greenaway, Georgi Pinkhassov, Nan Goldin, Joel Meyerowitz, Louis Barragan and others.

[AI Art Weekly] What does your workflow look like?

I use Midjourney. Since it’s discord-based, I have no problem using it almost anywhere I go. 

Usually I try to relax and not think about creating anything. I observe the world, watch movies, read books, listen to music. At some point an idea comes to mind and I start experimenting with it. The initial idea sometimes changes a lot and my intention takes a new path after seeing the first results. For instance, I may see some random object in an image and then consciously add new words to the evolving prompt.

Sometimes I can do five pieces in an evening that I’m happy with, sometimes I won’t prompt a whole week at all. I also use DALL-E if I need to correct some details or add something else to the piece.

[AI Art Weekly] What is your favourite prompt when creating art?

Right now I’m mostly exploring the world of film photography. I create photorealistic interiors in which I add new objects to create an interesting sense and atmosphere of mystery.

Words like 35mm for film type, soft light for color settings and sometimes film itself all work great. kodak pro gold is another good example.

[AI Art Weekly] How do you imagine AI (art) will be impacting society in the near future?

I think we haven’t realized the place of AI in our lives yet. AI art is going the same way as photography, only much faster. But for me personally, the future seems very unpredictable as of right now.

[AI Art Weekly] Who is your favourite artist?

In AI art I especially like those artists who stick to their style no matter what. @StLaurentJr and @marc are two examples. Both have a striking style, their work cannot be confused with anyone else and inspire me very much. I know there can be a very strong temptation to start doing something popular for collectors, especially when sales are down. And with AI, it’s very easy to do that.

[AI Art Weekly] Anything else you would like to share?

I just released my new work called “The Introvert”. It is the first of a trilogy dedicated to certain colors.

This piece was created when I was exploring how AI could draw snow without having an original plan in mind until at some point I started to think back to my childhood.

Back then I would leave for school early in the morning and had to walk through a fairly snowy area in the dark. People wandered around sleepily and storefronts were already lit. I remembered the feeling of loneliness that overtook me at the time. I wanted to express it and I came up with a basic idea, which seems very simple, but at the same time feels close to many people: “The tree and the bar merged into one figure, which loomed menacingly over the helpless introvert.” What I did not expect was that out of a thousand variations I would suddenly find this one. In this image came the depth that I look for in art.