IAmFrenchStudio is an art director and an “AI visual explorer,” already recognized on Instagram for his creative visuals. His style is sometimes dark, sometimes advertising. His work is detailed, precise and aesthetic. He invites us to travel through his singular universes.

In the following interview, Julien talks about his artistic background and what drives him. Through his path, we understand that he is not done inspiring us.

An AI Visual Explorer

Could you introduce yourself? What is your profession and your artistic background?

My name’s Julien. I grew up in the Paris region and in Paris. I’m currently an art director at an agency, still in Paris. I’ve been working in digital creative professions for a bit more than 15 years. I also am an “AI visual explorer” on Instagram under the handle IAmFrenchStudio.

Originally, I wasn’t headed toward an artistic path at all. Even so, as far back as I can remember, I’ve always loved drawing and imagining stories. I used to redraw the heroes from my favorite animes and mangas, like a lot of kids do. A bit later, when I was about 12, a friend and I would spend hours talking, writing, and drawing a comic book set in space. It was a kind of kids’ version of Albator, admittedly of questionable quality but with real joy in the making of it. That’s actually when the urge to create and write worlds started for me.

Still, despite genuine artistic leanings, I went down a scientific path: a science-track baccalaureate (bac S), then a math-focused prep class. But I have to admit the work, especially in prep class, wasn’t really there. I spent more time drawing than actually diving into my studies. That’s when I got into Photoshop. I went through tutorial after tutorial to learn how to make avatar and banner sets. They were meant to dress up users’ posts on the Ogame forum, a browser-based space-conquest game. Everyone had their own dedicated thread, their gallery on the forum. There, they’d post their creations, banners, and all kinds of images.

It was genuinely enjoyable and exciting looking back. I spent hours on it, having fun, creating, failing, starting over… Was it, in some way, a way of running from studies that didn’t suit me? Probably. In any case, as you might expect, I didn’t get into an engineering school that satisfied me. I knew full well I’d only gone down that path out of a kind of obligation rather than real personal desire. So I decided to enroll in a graphic design and visual communication program in Paris.

I can honestly say the change was a relief, because it was exactly what I needed. In my previous studies, I felt boxed in and forced onto a path. Here, things finally felt like they flowed naturally. Almost obvious. After long delaying what came naturally to me, I was finally, simply, in the right place. I was able to thrive in an environment where I felt I belonged. I met people who became friends, and I learned my craft as an art director.

I love my job, and even with time passing I never get tired of it. Every day, I face clients’ communication challenges. I build consistent visual territories. I try to hit the mark, to get the right image that speaks and has impact… I feel like I’m constantly confronting new things, new challenges. This is very stimulating and motivating for me on a daily basis.

How an AI visual explorer works: tools and method

How long have you been using generative AI? Do you use it professionally?

My first contact with AI goes back to late 2024. I was curious to discover the tool. So I took a training course, telling myself it could only be an advantage for the rest of my career. It was a new available tool that seemed essential to learn. That’s when I discovered Midjourney, and Luma on the video side. That’s when I became aware of the tool’s potential and the creative possibilities it offered.

That said, I didn’t jump in right away. For close to a year, I kept following the news and developments of the different models. I built myself a kind of benchmark. I also watched a whole bunch of YouTube videos, month after month. I was still on the fence. I wanted to use this tool to tell stories and depict worlds that had been sitting in the back of my mind.

It was ultimately only in November 2025 that I really got into generative AI properly and started sharing my explorations. It turned out to be the right moment. At the same time, at work, I started being asked more and more often to use generative AI.

Today I use it almost daily. Both for my job and for my personal projects, I invest quite a bit of time exploring, experimenting and researching. It’s always incredibly enriching to explore, test, and also see what the community is doing and sharing.

Which AI tools do you use the most?

For all the work I share and my explorations, Nano Banana Pro remains the tool I naturally turn to. I feel like it’s the model that best meets my needs for image creation. I’ve also started using Seedream 5.0 Pro for certain specific tests. Still, Nano Banana Pro remains my go-to model. I’m not at all stuck on the idea of switching to other models. It’s simply that I don’t feel the need to.

As for making videos, I mainly work with Kling 2.5/3.0, Seedance 2.0, and 2.5. Lastly, for the final upscale, whether for images or videos, I use Topaz.

Do you have a particular method? Any settings, workflows or habits that people wouldn’t necessarily expect?

I don’t have a precise method for creating images. Often, I start from a simple idea that seems interesting or even just fun to me, and I have a rough sense of where I want to go. Sometimes I feel my way forward pretty freely and build things up as I go. I iterate, I tweak, and I let myself be surprised by the strange surprises AI occasionally offers. I twist it all until I land on something that feels right to me.

Still, the method stays fairly simple: I start writing. I list terms, ideas, colors. I sketch out a direction, and I refine it. Then I move into the actual image creation phase. With every test, I adjust, I tweak, I switch over to Photoshop, then go back to Nano Banana Pro again. It’s pretty instinctive, not to say messy, and I like to take my time. I step back a bit and then come back to it, sometimes with drastic additions or changes.

With these personal creations, I have the luxury of only answering to myself. So I don’t want to turn it into a personal obligation to finish quickly or to feel obliged to meet deadlines. In the end, I think I get to enjoy the journey itself that each creative process offers me.

For video creation, it’s much the same. Once I have my precise storyboard, I move on to generation. That said, it has happened that, starting from a single image I’d made, I felt the urge to extend that world further and give it more strength through video. I find that almost even more satisfying, because in my case it’s more spontaneous, creatively. An image that wasn’t originally meant to go any further speaks to me so much that I feel a kind of need to open wide the door to the world it hints at. I think that’s one of the things I like best: letting myself be surprised and getting a little carried away, alone in front of my screen.

Inspiration: where the ideas come from

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

Artists, art movements, images, emotions? What feeds your visual universe? How do you organize your visual research? Do you use websites, portfolios or specific tools as references or to discover new things? Are there artists who don’t use AI who influence your work?

It’s hard to say. I get ideas that sometimes pop into my head and distract me from my everyday life by twisting a situation, a place… For example, I tend to often imagine the Paris subway differently from how it actually is. I think that’s maybe why some of my work takes place in the metro.

Anyway, I keep a list on my phone of all these ideas. It keeps growing with new things regularly. But as I said before, I don’t rush to act on them either. For some, I let them sit for a while and only come back to them when I feel like it. If I push myself too hard to “produce,” I feel like I lose the pleasure I’m looking for in the first place. I end up losing a natural approach.

I’ve always loved pop culture, video games, and manga. I fell into it in the ’90s and it shaped my eye a lot. Growing up, I discovered Kentarō Miura’s artworks, Junji Ito’s work, and the dark aesthetic of Bloodborne (among others). Even if it’s not necessarily always visible in what I make, I really appreciate those dark, tortured worlds. Beyond that, film, literature, tabletop role-playing worlds, etc. Anything can serve as inspiration and feed my imagination.

I browse Instagram a lot. Every day I discover new visuals and new inspiring works there. I have a multitude of collections where I save posts I like, on whatever subject. I feel like it works pretty well, and I can find what I’m looking for again if I need to.

Do you have an anecdote about an idea that came from an unexpected source?

I don’t remember a specific anecdote. But as I said, I often tend to imagine and repurpose everyday situations or elements. It’s something I want to keep digging into in the future.

On the other hand, I’m working on and trying to make progress on a video project, ideally a series of videos. It’s based on a tabletop role-playing campaign I took part in with friends over several years. Our game master had us write up each session. So I have the whole thing recorded in writing: 2 or 3 years of campaign. It was my first contact with tabletop role-playing, and it was an incredible experience. Being able to tell the story I lived through is a really exciting challenge. I want to share what I felt while trying to do justice to the story my friend created. I don’t know how long it will take and if I’ll get the time to focus on it. But I’m keeping it in the back of my mind!

Advice for anyone starting out in AI art

What advice would you give to someone starting out today?

If I had to give advice to someone just starting out, it would be not to be afraid of getting it wrong. I wanted to get it right straight from the start. It came from a desire to do well, and maybe also from a misplaced fear of comparing myself to other creators. I feel like that’s part of the process, and nobody wakes up one morning already fully matured and complete in their craft. The small failures, the doubts, and all the little bumps along the way are part of the journey.

This brings me to another piece of advice that actually feels even more important than the first. Don’t hesitate to turn to the AI community, and don’t stay in your corner if you don’t feel the need to. I personally found a supportive and welcoming community where you can simply exchange ideas and work, whether on Instagram or other dedicated platforms. There’s a healthy energy within that community. I’m curious to see how it will evolve over time.

If you had to start over, what is the first thing you would do differently?

I don’t think I’d change anything. Not at this point, anyway. I feel like I’m still at the very beginning, that I’ve barely started. The path covered so far is so small that it doesn’t yet call for looking back. I don’t know yet where I’m heading to, but I’ll do the post-mortem a bit further down the road. 😀

Are there mistakes you would be willing to share?

I think there was a point where I paid too much attention to the platforms’ metrics. There’s an obvious thrill to seeing a post perform well. But it opens onto a counterproductive loop. I start anticipating which post will perform and why. I feel pressured to post to keep the algorithm fed and to maintain attention. I end up spending more time on it. I add extra questions for myself that end up smothering spontaneity and enjoyment. Now, even though I stay attentive to the platforms’ rules and signals, I try to give them less room so as not to let them clutter my mind.

I don’t think there’s any secret ingredient to growing your presence: consistency and engagement. As much as possible, posting regularly doesn’t hurt, as long as it doesn’t reduce creativity and inspiration. Beyond that, engaging with the community seems to me to genuinely help. That means reacting to posts that we genuinely like or that move us, and resharing what we love. All of this helps build an audience with real engagement, real exchange.

Is there a piece of advice you wish you had received earlier?

I’d say: don’t get frustrated about not getting what you want right away, even after spending a huge amount of time on a prompt. Early on, I tended to stay locked onto my model and had a hard time stepping away from it. Don’t be afraid to take the image and edit it by hand. That actually often enriches the final result far more. Most of the work happens somewhere other than in the prompt.