The mind behind the canvas: An interview with Mimic

We're thrilled to present an intimate chat with an extraordinary artist: Mimic. He navigates the creative process with a unique perspective, drawing from experiences with schizophrenia and transforming them into captivating visual narratives. His journey from traditional to AI art is an inspiring story of resilience, curiosity, and innovation.

Hi Mimic, thank you so much for the time you are gifting to us, we love you art and we are so curious about your journey as an artist… How did it all start?

I have been drawing and creating art since I was a child. I used to make models of guns, airplanes, and similar items. It was more of a hobby. Honestly, I wasn't very good at it. However, things changed when I was in my teens. I was diagnosed with schizophrenia, a mental illness. It was a challenging time for me as I was experiencing things I had never encountered before. Also, living in a rural area, even my family was unaware of what was happening. I used to see things that weren't there and had severe psychopathic auditory hallucinations that were unbearable. Then, I began drawing my hallucinations and decided to depict them in a way that others could see, to help them understand what I was going through. That was the point when I started creating art again.

That sounds like a particularly challenging time in your life. It's impressive how you used your art as a means to navigate through those experiences. Your work is incredibly unique. Could you tell us a bit more about your style and what you aim to express through your art?

To be honest, I can't really describe what I create. I just start on a piece and add everything in it so that I can relate to it. Most people, or almost all of them, can't understand what I really create. It's more of an expression rather than art. There are elements, faces, lines, curves, etc., that I use to depict what I am really feeling. To be frank, I am not that great an artist who can draw mountains, portraits, human figures, etc. I just try to create such so they can be understood a little.

Also, I am really inspired by great artists like Salvador Dali and Hieronymus Bosch.

How do you stay inspired and motivated to create?

If you are truly an artist, then you don't need motivation to draw. Art is made for a purpose and a reason. There are things in your life that you will do even in the worst of times, and still, there will be no emotions. You create something and just think about it. No happiness or remorse. It just happens. When I make art, I am not aware that I am making art. I just want to tell people things that cannot be described through words. For that, I do every possible thing to make it happen. I love to experiment with art. There is always something new when you try to explore your boundaries.

Can you tell us about the transition from hand-drawn art to AI art? What inspired this change?

Speaking about art, I am technically a nerd and love the digital space. I love things that people call devices. I love how software works, and their base is just some ordinary binary numbers that are either yes or no. When I first entered this space, I tried to make hand-drawn art, which I had done physically. I loved drawing art digitally. At the same time, I used to experiment a lot with AI too. I used to go on these websites where you get some free credits to make AI art, and I would experiment with those until I ran out of credits. At that point in time, I was severely attracted towards AI and stuff. For me, AI art is something that is remarkable for what people have achieved in this digital space of innovation. At first, it was hard because the art I was making with AI did not look even a bit like what I used to draw. With time, I was able to solve that problem too after generating 10k images in a span of three months on mid-journey. I think I have crossed the 30~40k images mark if we count on all platforms. And after that, I have moved solely into AI art.

Do you think AI provides more or less control over the final artwork?

AI art has its pros and cons. Basically, it depends on the prompt you are providing to the model. It includes many things like texture, elements, etc., and there is sometimes disfigurement too that we don't want. I am not much of an AI art pioneer, but what I can tell you is that after being stuck on AI for too long, you will ultimately find your way. You can merge images with AI, you can generate them with a prompt. When you merge images, you have more control over the final piece than using a prompt. When I started using AI, my images used to look just average, like yes, they have been made with AI, but when you give it more time and experiments, you will find that you are gaining much control over the final work that you want.

It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on how the process of creating AI art compares to traditional art.

According to me, in traditional art, you have all control over your art. You can make whatever you want. There are no limits. You can use different things to draw and different mediums too. On the other hand, AI is somewhat different. You put up something, and the results you get could be 20% of what you wanted or even more than what you had already in mind. Sometimes the final work is out of the box, even you did not think about it. Totally new and mesmerizing. It's all about odds. When you start getting control over the final outcome, things get a little crazier. Most of the times there is trash, but then you find a gem, something you did not have in mind but at some point in your life, you have thought about it.

How do you decide on the base images for your AI artwork?

I have not drawn much art. Like I have less than 30~40 works that I have hand made, and I think only a percentage of them are minted. So I use them as my base image. There is no certain criteria for what base image I choose. It's just I know the outcomes from every base image. This is the result of hardcore experimenting with AI. I know outcomes of most of the base works I made, and the rest I do is just take an image and merge it with AI. I love to play with AI. Sometimes you try different prompts, and suddenly you get the image you can vibe with. Then I randomly merge it with my base works and see what the results are. The success ratio is 10% because most of the times, you get distorted images.

The use of color and detail in your work is striking. Can you tell us more about how they contribute to the deeper meanings of your art?

I don't know if I should say this, but as a mentally different identity, my relations with colors are somewhat different. I used to feel colors and hear sounds related to them. I used to have mood swings based on the color of my surroundings. I love a saturated high contrast palette. I think the retro style depicts the gloomy nature of my works, and as a techie, I added the essence of tech. I can't say much more. I find it too confusing 😂

As you continue to explore AI in your work, do you see it becoming a regular part of your workflow or is it mainly for experimentation?

Well, that's an easy one. We humans are evolving and advancing. Early humans had caves and plants to make art, so they used those. We have AI and other digital stuff, so we'll create history using those only. Experimentation leads to results. Results are what we need. The need is to show our art using the medium.

How do you envision the role of blockchain technology in the future of art? For me, blockchains are like the advanced version of caves in which our ancestors used to draw stuff thousands of years ago. With blockchain, you can preserve your artwork forever on a decentralized network that is accessible to everyone on this planet. I think blockchain technology has helped to give the spotlight to many of the great artistic minds of our time. This has become possible due to the internet. I think that has made art accessible to every human sitting in various corners of the world. I can also talk about the intergalactic properties too, but I think that's enough 😂

What do you hope viewers take away from your art?

A glimpse into the realms of my psychotic mind. It's not as dark out there as people think.

What's next for you as an artist? Any exciting projects on the horizon?

For now, I am trying to do new stuff with AI. I am trying to get to a point where people will recognize my art. As for projects, I am currently working on some cool surreal works but haven't really thought about minting, but will get to that point soon.

Wow, what an incredible journey you've shared with us, Mimic. Your unique perspective and the transformative power of your art are truly inspiring. We can't wait to see where your creativity leads you next.

And to all our readers, keep exploring, stay curious, and remember that art is all around us. Thanks for joining us on this fascinating exploration of art and technology.

If you want to explore other Mimic artworks, visit his Linktree here.