"

A fragment of "Black Gem" track — an NFT visualizer blending avant-garde techwear, dark Japanese aesthetics, and custom AI soundscapes. 🖤 https://nftshowroom.com/gallery/kobusu_crypto-nymphs_black-gem-avant-garde-aesthetics

👁️ Let me know in the comments: do you vibe with this snippet, and should I drop the full version of the track?

Minted as NFT art at NFTShowRoom.

On My Journey, 18 Years in Design, and Reflections on AI Art

Hey everyone! I wanted to share a bit of my background and some thoughts on why I ended up here and what I’m currently building.

Behind me, I’ve got nearly 18 years of experience in design. I’ve worked across numerous companies and covered almost every corner of print and digital design: starting at a small shop specializing in high-end silk-screened business cards, moving on to ad agencies making simple promotional graphics, and eventually doing magazine layouts, outdoor advertising, brand identity, websites... At a certain point, I just walked away. I burned out completely. Doing work purely tailored to clients' utilitarian demands eventually turns into a drag, you know?

After that came years in crypto (successful ones, though that’s a story for another post), and in parallel, I felt that itch to get back into pure creativity. I’ve loved drawing since my school days—I’ve always been drawn to art, style, and creative expression. But there was a catch: the huge gap between the cool ideas in my head and the imperfection of what I could render by hand... Realizing how much time and effort it would take to master manual drawing—for someone like me who's a bit addicted to fast dopamine—felt like pure torture pu-pu-pu 😅.

And that’s precisely where AI opened up as a tool for me.

🎨 "It’s Just Pressing a Button": My Take on AI Art
Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of debates and jabs along the lines of: “Creating something with AI is so easy.”

If we’re talking about hitting a button to get a random first result—sure, hard to argue with that. But when you’re trying to create something original, non-generic, something that strictly aligns with your concept and actually delivers aesthetic satisfaction—the game changes completely. ✨

For me, it’s hundreds of iterations, second-guessing, tweaking prompts, mixing different models, and constantly refining until I hit that exact result. It’s tedious work that requires vision, taste, and genuine effort from the creator.

The same goes for claims about "unoriginality" or AI just copying other artists' styles. In my prompts, I do reference artists whose work resonates with me and fits a specific idea. But it’s never direct copying—it’s about subtle, targeted influence on different aspects of the final visual.

Here’s a real snippet from one of my prompts, lets naimes be mistery ???:

INFLUENCE HIERARCHY — GUIDANCE ONLY

Primary 30% [???] — architectural silhouettes, disciplined drapery, negative space.

Secondary 20% [???] — sculptural textile engineering, modular organic structures.

Technical 20% [???] — engineered tailoring, origami construction, precision panels.

So not only is the output generation unpredictable, but the combination of these influences is completely unique and far from straightforward. 🧬

🎬 I think a great analogy here is a film director. Everyone understands that a director doesn't sew the costumes or operate every camera by hand, but it’s their vision and direction that turn all those separate elements into a final piece of art.

If you look at it from a slightly more mystical angle... 👁️ Beauty, meaning, and "soul" can hide anywhere. They exist in a chaotic brushstroke, a quick sketch by a master, or a canvas someone spent three years working on. And they can just as easily exist in an AI generation—provided it’s not just a lazy, default template prompt. The real question isn't what tool was used, but who, why, and what they are trying to bring into existence. Let’s explore the Library of Babel together. 👁️

🌐 Platforms, My "Kaleidoscope", & New Horizons
Right now, I share my work here on Hive and mint NFTs on NFTShowRoom (such a great platform—even though crypto and NFTs are going through a rough patch, I still believe in a bright future for it, plus it’s just genuinely fun).

I’ve also been experimenting with social media: one Instagram account got bugged or banned right as it was gaining momentum, another one is taking its time to take off, and I launched TikTok @kobusu7 with modest results so far—but I’m not giving up! Now I’ve finally made my way to YouTube @kobusu7, so let's see how that goes.

Knowing myself, my content is a bit of an aesthetic kaleidoscope (I know algorithms love hyper-focused niches, but I’d rather create what I genuinely enjoy):
🌸 High Fashion & Avant-Garde

🏙️ Urbanism, Futurism & Retro Vibes

⛩️ Japanese Aesthetics, Anime & Samurai Action

🍃 The Beauty of Nature, People & Especially Female Grace 🥺

🖤 Abstracts & Flawless Forms

🎶 Music & Immediate Plans

I won't dive too deep into the stories from my wild party years, but vibes like techno, speed garage, afro house, cumbia, deep house, and lounge are deeply rooted in me. So these days, I'm also producing AI music! In fact, my immediate plan is to release a full 3-4 minute music video—featuring visuals generated via Grok set to my own custom AI track!🚀

Don't judge too harshly—I just want to create and connect with an audience that finds this interesting. I believe in you guys!

What are your thoughts on this mix and approach to creation? Would love to read your thoughts in the comments below! 👇