Leslie Ho is a designer, artist, DJ, and self-proclaimed generalist. “I just like to create things.” Leslie, currently in her final semester in her MFA at The ArtCenter College of Design, joined the Kaiber team as a Design Intern last June. Leslie played a massive role in the recent Kaiber x Nüsense event, producing most of the visuals for each artist.
Leslie’s connection to several members of the Kaiber team goes all the way back to middle school. She speaks highly of Co-Founder and CTO Eric Gao, “I partially got into Art and Design because [Eric] would ask me to create art and visuals for his album covers and music. I probably wouldn’t be down this path if Eric didn’t ask me to make art for him,” she reflects. “It’s important to have those people who believe in and challenge you.”
Eric Gao(Oksami)'s Music Video "Wavelength". Art Produced by Leslie.
She laughed when asked about what it’s like to work with someone she’s been friends with for so long. “Eric and I have worked together over the years, so I knew we would get work done. It also helps that I don’t report to him.”
This past Saturday, Kaiber held an event in DTLA that merged our love for music and AI visuals in collaboration with Nüsense, an LA-based Artist Collective. Leslie produced the visuals for each artist, with the exception of Color.case, who produced his own. “I would spend a couple hours each day for two weeks generating with Kaiber. It was important to me to produce high-quality visuals and tell a story throughout each set. I would play with colors, tone, and subject matter.” The number of visuals that made the final cut? 85.
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Tips for Prompting in Kaiber
Leslie believes it is best to start as simple as possible when prompting. “It can be hard to fine-tune a super complex prompt because you don’t know which elements make your output further from your end goal. I start simple, then add one detail at a time.”
Most visuals were created using Kaiber’s Motion image upload tool, which allowed her to stay within the themes and visuals set for each artist. “Each artist came to the table with visuals in mind, and even though I didn’t know the music they would be playing, I could just lean into their inspirational images.”
Finding Inspiration
DJ Lilo + Joona
The event featured six sets, including Leslie’s own, where she DJed alongside her boyfriend Richard (Joona). The Kaiber-produced visuals for her set were heavily influenced by the recent obsession with chrome, which comes through clearly in her prompts. The keywords “chrome”, “metal”, and descriptive words and verbs such as “shimmering", "reflective”, and “shining” brought her vision to life.
Robotaki
Robotaki's visuals are a vibrant tapestry where cities and people emerge from a symphony of paint strokes. Each hair strand and skyscraper is meticulously crafted with dripping, swirling pastels. Leslie, the creative mind behind this aesthetic, employed keywords like "paint strokes," "painterly," and "vivid colors" to bring this artistic vision to life. In the pursuit of achieving the desired painterly aspect, she strategically weighted keywords like "brushstrokes," adding depth and dynamism to the visual narrative.
Joe the DJ
Drawing inspiration from the chunky graphics and low-poly aesthetic of retro video games like "Street Fighter," this set's visuals transported the audience into a nostalgic realm. Featuring characters with Street Fighter builds, blocky/pixelated architecture, and warping textures, the atmosphere exuded a vibrant blend of old-school gaming vibes. Utilizing keywords such as "ps1 graphics," "retro video-game," "old-school," and "3D Polygons," the visuals skillfully crafted an illusionary experience, as if from a beloved video game of the '90s that never actually existed.
Nüsense
In curating Nüsense's set, Leslie drew inspiration from images encapsulating the cyberpunk, neon-drenched, and Synthwave aesthetics. This visual theme, somewhat commonplace in the Generative AI Community, beautifully merges futuristic ideals with art. The inspiration images were rich in keywords such as "cyberpunk," "flashing lights," "neon lights," and "futuristic," shaping a dynamic and visually compelling experience that wrapped up the night as the last set.
“I had a lot of fun creating distinct visuals for each artist. It was a really cool experience getting to see Kaiber visuals on a much larger screen— they were truly stunning.”
When asked about the blend of the stage setup and the visuals, Leslie expressed her appreciation for Cody Douglass, a senior software engineer at Kaiber. “The stage setup and production were all due to Cody and his production company, Bassyndicate. We only had pictures of the venue to go off of, and they really made it work.”
Alongside the stage were larger-than-life cranes rimmed with LEDs, that seemed to glow from the inside. "It was a passion-project for Steve [Burstyn] and Geoff [Sanhueza], who had been wanting to construct something for a long time. They were taller than me!"
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This was the first of Kaiber’s live events, and Leslie reflects the desire of the rest of the Kaiber team. “I would love to do more in-person events, making Kaiber’s name synonymous with live music and known in the music community. I can’t wait to see where we go next.”
You can follow Leslie’s art account at https://www.instagram.com/lilo__bee/.
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