We recently sat down with Karol Wystalski, otherwise known by his moniker Kvetcch to chat about art in the digital era.

Since 2023, Kvetcch has been posting AI generated creations to some 3,000 followers on Instagram, blending surreal landscapes with warped portraiture and neon splashes of color. His artworks (which he humbly describes as pictures) evoke David Hockney with a sinister edge, Edward Hopper in a parallel, distorted universe. They span many genres and themes but they all have one thing in common; a clearly visible love for the peculiar which imbues each piece with a sense of humor, an irreverent point of view. 

We were curious to hear how he got started and what he hopes to do next, as well as get his take on the current digital landscape and emerging technologies. We met in the morning over video call, a few hours before his shift at his full time job. As his Warsaw apartment flickers into view, we find a chatty subject who is more than happy to delve into each topic, his passion and enthusiasm for the creative process shining through.

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—How did you first become interested in AI Art?

That's a big word, art! But yeah, I started making pictures from AI after I listened to a podcast with one of the music producers from Poland. His name is Wojtek Urbanski. He's actually from a band called RYSY, and they were talking about generating music with AI. For me music is super important, so I decided to give it a try. But at that time the pictures were way more advanced than the music. So, I started to do the pictures. I think it’s been about a year now. Music was the goal but it never happened.

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—Well look, you can always come back to it and even since you first looked into it I imagine the technology has advanced so much. So can you talk us through your creative process a little bit. What are the first steps you take?

I feel like in my life in general, anything I do is just all over the place! I try to be consistent and have some kind of style, but I don't really think it’s there yet. I try to pick some themes, and then try to post for example, nine pictures around that theme and then I switch. But also inspiration comes from a lot of places. Sometimes music, sometimes stuff that I see on the Internet. So yeah it’s very different, it all depends. But for now I’m just trying to be more consistent.

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—Do you find yourself returning to any specific themes in your work?

Not really specifically. I like nature more than portraits because I feel like everyone is doing portraits, but a lot of my new stuff is portraits! So it's quite funny because I used to joke with my friend that I hate portraits. But I think if you check my Instagram right now, most of the things are actually portrait style with, like, some various aspects. 

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—And what tools do you use at the moment?

So my base is Midjourney. I try to switch and experiment with different versions. But I mostly use 5.2 and 6. Then I use Photoshop quite often. I actually never had any experience with it before. But when I started making AI pictures, I learned Photoshop at the same time. Oh, there is quite a cool tool that is quite expensive, but I still use it from time to time. It's called Magnific.AI. That’s super nice for, like, details and for upscaling the pictures. I try to test new tools frequently and can also recommend HeyGen for face animation. There's also another picture tool which I want to explore. It's called LeiaPix. It’s quite good because you can animate any photo. So it's like, you know, changing the perspective a bit to make it move.

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—So you do a mix of manual and AI generated stuff. Like you'll generate something with AI and then use Photoshop to edit it yourself?

Yeah, for all the pictures that I post, actually, I use Photoshop just because I really like some textures that you can get from it. And yeah, I think it's also because every picture can be generated by anyone and people can screenshot my pictures and use them. I don't really care because it doesn't make any difference and I cannot control it. But yeah, if I'm gonna add some texture and edit things in Photoshop, then it’s a bit more personal.

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—What advice would you give to anyone who wants to start producing art or images with AI?

People should try not to care about the followers and likes that they get. Because at the end of the day it’s probably going to be a very small account. It's quite hard to get attention from people these days because the attention span is way smaller than it used to be! If you like it, just do it. Life is short in the end. But yeah, with that, I would say that people should be also consistent because I was just checking my account and the people that I follow from the last year or whatever, and I follow so many accounts that have stopped posting. So it’s a mixture of, if you like it do it and then if you’re doing it just try to be consistent with it. It doesn't need to be every day but just give yourself some kind of goal. Don't give up after two months just because not that many people are liking your stuff.

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—Yeah, you need to be doing it for yourself. Because it brings you pleasure and joy, not for anybody else. And if you are creating something that you like, somebody else will like it, you know?

Yeah that's true. And sometimes it just takes time. Not everyone will discover you straight away, right? So the fact that only 50 people follow you today, it doesn't mean that it won’t change next year or whatever. 

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—Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. I know we already touched on this slightly when we spoke about Photoshop but I wanted to ask your thoughts on the ethics behind replicating and modifying other people’s work? It’s so easy now with advancing technology.

I think authenticity is super hard these days. At the end of the day we are using models that were trained on somebody else’s work. And it’s a big discussion, whether people should be compensated because I believe they should be. But that’s way above me and anyone else because at the end of the day it's the big companies that earn the profits from those people. So I just do stuff I like and focus on the things I can control. If anyone is using my stuff, it’s fine. It would be cool if they reached out to me first but if you decide to put things on the internet, you have no power in what people will do with them. 

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—That's the thing, it’s just etiquette. You hope that somebody would be polite enough to reach out, but yeah, I mean, what can you do really? And, yeah, in terms of that, I suppose it opens up a wider question in general about our data, which is the most valuable commodity probably on earth. And so many companies are profiting off of all of this information that we've put on the Internet.

Yeah, yeah. But it is what it is. I'm not gonna change it for sure. No power over that. But if people are doing good stuff, even if somebody will copy that, then it shouldn't matter. Because they're gonna make more good stuff, you know? I just hope that if somebody copies some other person's stuff, they can learn something, and maybe they will do some new stuff in the future. Because learning is also copying.

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—Definitely. And if you think about it, there's nothing that's truly original. You know, everything has taken inspiration from something else.

Exactly. Everything is just one very big remix of what was in the past.

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—Yeah. And how do you feel about the role of AI artists in this digital era? Do you feel like there's any responsibilities that come with that?

It's a tough one for me because, first of all, I don't think of myself as an artist. I just create some pictures that I like. Of course I think people should be responsible but it's a tricky one, to be honest. People say so much about, like, you know, data being generated from other people and people not getting paid. But I'm not gonna give any solution for that because in the end, I'm a customer and it’s the big companies actually making profit. But yeah, I also think that in that very big debate, the thing which is missing is the environment. Because at the end of the day, all those big data centers are costing energy. Nobody actually says that one. 

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—Definitely.

But I’m totally against  putting the responsibility on some single person. I believe that governments have to take responsibility. 

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—I completely agree, it needs to be a systematic change. You can't blame individuals for using what's in front of them. The whole system needs to change.

Of course, as a customer, we can protest and it makes a small impact and every small impact is important. But then, if you're not gonna take care of the super big important stuff, then it becomes pointless.

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—Do you feel that AI transforms our way of thinking?

I think it does. I was speaking with a friend of mine about the music on TikTok right now. And back in the day, Pink Floyd and those great big bands were making songs that were 15 minutes. The music was super long. But then that changed and now people are doing super short tracks. And even if you don't like it, technology changed the way because customers are expecting that stuff now. So, yeah, even if you are not actively using AI, others will do it. And because of that, things are gonna change. 

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—Yeah, for sure. So moving forward, are there any kinds of directions you’d like to take or themes that you'd like to explore in your work?

I think videos are a big one. Yeah, the video is gonna be massive. Yeah, I think Sora in general is gonna be a massive one. Right now, I'm not doing that much of the videos. But I should probably do it. And I really admire people who do super creative stuff with the AI video that we have right now because it's not perfect for sure.

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—Yeah, like, using after effects to animate it and stuff.

Very amazing stuff. Yeah, it's gonna be a big one in the near future. I would love to make some videos in the future and also explore cars. I have a few drafts ready which were never published, and I follow a few creators focused on cars which I love. But the end goal for me would be to try to work with musicians and maybe add album covers to my prompts. 

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—Cool. Nice. What's one AI tool that hasn't been invented that you'd like to see?

Not AI related but time travel would be cool to see.

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—Lastly, what’s one question you never get asked but wish you did?

‘What’s a song that you currently have on repeat?’. It would definitely be ‘Don’t Understand’ by Post Malone. I love his last album and I think he seems like a super genuine person. 

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