Graphic Designer | AI Artist

pegekama

A I C O N S

A curated AI art series in reel format

• Instagram
• Message
• CV
• Email

Click to see full reel on instagram.

• Back HOME

• Back HOME

Q & A

On curated AI art, digital memorials, and the power of the reel

The turning point for me was witnessing the quantum leap AI has made – especially in terms of lifelike, realistic character generation. I started out experimenting with fictional people, just to test the waters. But soon I felt compelled to try recreating a real, deceased public figure – more or less as a reality check to see how far the tech could go. Romy Schneider was the first. It was a gut feeling, really – and the result blew me away. After that, I naturally moved on to a few icons from my youth: Ian Curtis from Joy Division, Freddie Mercury, Kurt Cobain … and also the German singer Alexandra, who I adored as a child. After just a handful of portraits, I knew I wanted to turn this into a proper series, complete with a title, logo, and a clear concept.To this day, AICONS keeps me inspired. It’s always a joy to see these cultural figures brought back to life – captured at the peak of their creative power, timeless and vividly present. And I think the momentum speaks for itself: in a remarkably short time, AICONS has grown into a highly curated art project with over 70 portrait series and a steadily growing following. Altogether, I’ve created more than 400 reels so far – not out of pressure, but out of genuine creative drive. Once I began, I just couldn’t stop.Over time, AICONS also became something more personal: as a mother of two kids, I’ve often found myself wanting to bridge the gap between generations. Many of the people I portray are no longer visible in today’s media landscape – their influence fading, their stories untold. AICONS became a way for me to share these icons with my children and others their age – not in a dusty, historical sense, but in a format that’s emotionally rich and visually alive. A living tribute, both backwards and forwards.One key motivation behind my work is also to dispel the diffuse fear that still surrounds AI-based content. I want to show that AI is not just about automation or surface-level aesthetics – it can evoke deep emotional responses, and it can portray emotional states with remarkable nuance. Some viewers have even commented that certain portraits brought them to tears – especially the Romy Schneider reel, which touched people in a very personal way. And in a separate series, I’ve explored close-up portraits that embody emotions like grief, anger, or joy – not based on real people, but on emotional archetypes. I’m fascinated by how convincingly AI can now render these inner states. That said, I’m constantly refining the process – my goal is always to create portraits that feel natural and believable, as if they weren’t made by AI at all.

Curation happens on several levels in AICONS.
Visually, my entire Instagram profile follows a consistent grid concept: each post is built around a 9-tile layout – eight image tiles surrounding a central title tile. All eight images are carefully selected to form a coherent visual series in terms of style and color palette. This demands a strong sense of composition and restraint. Many images, even highly successful ones, don’t make it into the final series if they don’t fit the overall harmony. With more than 25 years of experience as a graphic designer – and countless hours spent researching visuals and stock photography – I’ve developed a trained eye that now guides my selection process.The second layer of curation lies in the reels themselves. Each 9-tile series is brought to life through a short video, typically around 90 seconds long, accompanied by emotionally resonant music. I arrange the image flow in sync with the rhythm and atmosphere of the track. Especially with musical icons, I try to use their original songs, whenever possible in a modern remix version. Growing up during the heyday of MTV and VIVA, music videos were part of my visual DNA – and that definitely influences how I approach these edits.But curation also has an ethical dimension: I choose the figures I portray with care and respect. AICONS is not about spectacle or provocation – it’s about honoring these individuals with dignity, and offering a small but meaningful tribute to their legacy.

For one, I want to create a kind of visual and acoustic tribute – using modern tools to make their impact tangible again. Many of these icons have faded from public memory, even though they shaped culture or society in meaningful ways. With AICONS, I aim to bring them back into view – not in a museum-like fashion, but vividly and with emotional resonance.There’s also a very practical consideration: the depiction of living individuals is protected by personality rights in many countries. Without their explicit consent, it's generally not allowed to use their likeness or publish AI-generated images of them. For deceased public figures, the legal boundaries are typically less restrictive – especially when the portrayal is respectful and non-defamatory. That’s why AICONS focuses primarily on late icons – with only a few rare exceptions, where a specific cultural moment or iconic phase is the real subject of the tribute.

That’s a complex question because I live in two worlds: on one hand, I’m a traditional graphic designer who sees herself as part of a “threatened species” – on the other, I actively use and shape the creative potential of AI. Not just on Instagram, but also professionally. In my work for a book design agency in Freiburg, I’ve been overseeing AI-driven projects for almost two years now – especially the design of book covers.
One example that caused a stir across the German publishing scene was the redesign of the Skogland series by Kirsten Boie. The covers were created under my art direction using AI. After their release, the backlash was intense – especially from illustrators who saw their livelihoods at risk. The media picked up the controversy (including Spiegel Online), and in response, the publisher publicly stated that they would no longer commission any AI-based designs.
One comment from that time really stuck with me: someone accused us of being “blind” – saying we were sawing off the very branch we were sitting on. That summed up my own unease quite well. The design industry is undergoing a radical transformation – a revolution, really – and no one yet knows where the journey will lead. But I’ve decided to grab the “AI beast” by the horns and explore what it’s capable of, where its limits are, and how I can work with it creatively without simply surrendering to it.That’s why, besides the AICONS, I post a wide range of AI experiments on my profile. Whatever inspires me thematically, I throw into the mix with AI – not as copy-and-paste content, but as a curated and compositional process. I see my role as an AI artist in a very design-focused way: I develop the concept, guide the AI with intention, carefully select, refine, combine, discard, and re-compose. It’s not traditional illustration, but it’s certainly not automated art either.
Even in classic graphic design, I’ve always worked with content from different sources – texts, photos, illustrations – and brought them together into a coherent visual whole. In that sense, working with AI is a natural extension of my toolbox. I used to search for images in stock libraries – now I can generate exactly what I need. Still, it takes a trained eye to make the right decisions – aesthetically, contextually, and ethically.
What’s clear is: my profession is changing. And I want to help shape that change, not just watch it happen.

• Back HOME

• Back HOME

pegekama

Graphic Designer | AI Artist
Freiburg im Breisgau
[email protected]
instagram.com/pegekama

About

I’m a graphic designer with a focus on book design – and the creator of AICONS, a non-commercial AI art project that honors cultural icons through visual and acoustic tributes. With 25+ years of professional experience in visual design, I combine classical craft with cutting-edge AI tools to explore the space between memory and innovation.

AICONS – The Project

Since spring 2025, I’ve been publishing AICONS on Instagram: AI-generated tributes to historical personalities, paired with carefully curated visual and emotional atmospheres.

Experience (Selection)

Highlights

Contact

mail: [email protected]
instagram: @pegekama

• Back HOME