Digital Creator Spotlight: @splargdotcom – Splarging the Mind of a Modern Master of Irreverent Art and Humor The Fakenings, May 3, 2024May 5, 2024 For anyone that’s been exploring the world of alternative AI art and humor for some time, @splargdotcom needs no introduction. But for the uninitiated, when you go to his X profile, the first thing you’ll see is a baby being flushed down the toilet! After the initial shock and cringe wears off, then maybe you tell yourself, “It’s fake! It’s okay to laugh!” Maybe! If you make it past that initial ‘WTF’ moment, you’ve passed the Splarg initiation! Dig a bit deeper on his page, and you’ll probably see multiple people barfing, an amazingly inappropriate re-imaging or two of the 9/11 tragedy, and all kinds of mockery of humanity and pop culture with a fresh take you haven’t seen before. And tons of puns! There’s something to offend everyone, and it’s some funny stuff! It’s crass, it’s rude. It’s funny, it’s surreal, and it’s so refreshingly original! He’s got some serious street cred in the AI art community on X… when I mentioned Splarg, @thedigiguru quickly noted, “That guy is the original ai shitposter!” But who is @splargdotcom and what drives him to splarging? Let’s find out the truth as we explore the unfiltered mind of @splargdotcom! Splarg was gracious enough to be my guest in a world-first interview by @TheFakenings, for the inaugural edition of “Digital Creator Spotlight”. His answers to all interview questions have been included unedited. “That guy is the original ai shitposter!” – @thedigiguru What does “Splarg” mean? Is it a noun, a verb, or a state of being? “When I started off using generative ai I wanted a place to post shit so I created a twitter account. That account was @frankzafka and it started off quite serious and philosophical, but slowly descended to the jokes that i am now known for. Splarg was an idea i had for a drink. Like moloko plus. They were adverts between posts. Drink splarg. And it was a running joke because boy do i like running jokes. Eventually twitter made me delete too many posts for various reasons and i deleted that account out of protest. I created http://splarg.com as a place to continue posting. No-one came lol so i came back to twittter/x and rebranded. Splargdotcom was born. Splarg is whatever you want it to be. That’s what i like about it…“ Why “Frank Zafka”? “I am a big fan of franz kafka. I liked the username. Coming up with that shit just annoys me.“ Tell us about your art/creative background. How did you find your artistic style? “I am a scientist by training with no art background at all. I hated art at school (my dad is a graphic designer). I did love creative writing and was always very good at english though. I have however always had thoughts and ideas in my head that I have been trying to release. As for my artistic style. I am a big fan of Kubrick and I love movies. Most of the time I want my stuff to look real, weird and shocking…“ You mentioned being inspired by Kubrick and a love for movies. How has film influenced your artistic style over time? Which films do you love the most? “My favourite film is 2001. It is sublime. I get chills the moment the music starts. Film certainly does influence me. Reservoir dogs. Eraserhead. Tree of Life. Citizen Kane. Anything by Hitchcock. A lot of the time I want my pictures to look quite natural though. Cinema veritas I suppose.“ Who or what inspires your unique brand of humor/comedy and creativity? “I fucking love comedy. Please watch The Shivering Truth. Best thing ever. I am a massive Larry David fan. Curb is one of the best. Damn that show is funny. When Larry is fucking the Palestinian protester: fuck me Larry fuck me like the jews fuck the palestinians. Classic. South park. Those guys are a big inspiration. Book of Mormon is great. Chris Morris: brass eye, four lions. Nathan Barley. Monkey Dust. I am not an animal. Adult swim stuff: the brak show, sealab, frisky dingo, morel orel. Classic British comedy like Fawlty towers, Carry on movies. There is stuff i don’t like tho: I hate stand up comedy. Cept Bill Hicks.“ You mentioned “Fawlty Towers”…Is there a bit of Monty Python influencing some of your work too? “That’s funny because I never liked Monty Python growing up. Though I am a big fan of Life of Brian. Fawlty Towers is perfect though. Basil Fawlty is one of the great comedy characters. I love Tony Hancock too. And Victor Meldrew. There is something of the cantankerous bastard which I aspire to be…“ How many puns do you think you’ve come up with over the years? “What can I say I’m a punny guy. Seriously though this is like a fucking full time job. I spend a lot of time thinking up things that are funny. I always wanted to be part of a double act and it feels like me and the generative ai are working together. I’ve generated millions of pictures through stablediffusion. I would say over 30K with dall-e 1/2/3. Something like 50k with midjourney before I stopped using it. Not all of it/was funny…“ Your profile describes your content as “meanness misanthropy and mirth”. What is it like building a brand out of “mean” humor in 2024? “Is that what I’m doing? I just do what i do. Am i mean lol? Or do I just shit on everything? My favourite part of the bible is ecclesiastes: vanity vanity all is vanity. Everything is in vane. Remember my works ye mighty… But seriously I do splarg for fun mostly. If someone wanted to pay me for it then okay but it’s a hobby, a place for me to vent. I had 2k followers on the old [twitter account].” Given the potential for censorship and bans in the current anti-free speech climate, how do you decide where to draw the line in your content? Has your approach changed over time? “For me there is no line. If it’s funny it’s funny. As long as it’s not inciting violence or breaking any major laws i’m fine with it. My approach hasn’t changed but dall-e has got more restricted over time. There was a time when macabre adding to my prompts got me some amazing pictures. That time is long gone. Free speech means the right to make a joke. Others are free not to find it funny. Take the hamaster. Makes me laff. If you think it’s trivialising global politics then fuck you. It’s a mother fucking hamster.“ Have you ever gotten suspended, banned, canceled, or otherwise punished for a post? “My old account @frankzafka used to get banned a bit. I’ve had a few posts on splarg removed by twitter/x. Usually it relates to gore. I had some mountain goat lyrics banned on my old account: i hope you die, i hope we both die. Silly shit really. And the great dick run got my account flagged. But who the fuck cares man. If you don’t want to see silly shit don’t follow me…“ “They told me they had been deeply traumatised by it. Love it“– @splargdotcom Which posts have gotten you the most unfollows versus follows? “I dunno really. I don’t pay that much attention to the likes etc. I know it’s the tamest stuff that people like. If I find it funny or shocking or surprising I post it… I know people don’t like my favourite stuff much. Jfk shooting himself. I had a reddit account and the misanthropy subreddit banned me for the baby being flushed down the toilet. They told me they had been deeply traumatised by it. Love it.” How do you handle criticism or negative feedback about your work? Does it impact your creative process? “I don’t care. If people don’t like my stuff that’s up to them. There are a few “leading lights” of the ai community that have me blocked. So i return the favour lol. But other than that if you don’t like it you don’t like it.“ Can you share your favorite topics to post about? “My favourite things are: twin towers king kong. Nasty baby shit. Starving people defo. Jesus always makes me laugh. I guess it’s the offensive shit. Sometimes it’s the randomness too. Things that surprise me.“ What are the top 2-5 creations you’re most proud of? “Favourite things are:Jackie shooting JFK.Baby being flushed down a toilet [pinned tweet]King Kong twin towers.“ Did you create or share art (digital or otherwise) before this type of tech was available? “Very rarely. I used to write a blog many years ago and did the occasional photoshop or meme. It was fairly popular back in the day. This is a an old one: https://x.com/splargdotcom/status/1654900896927567872 I made some friends from it, one of whom became part of the ai art community.“ How does being part of the AI art community influence your creative process? Have you done any notable collaborations with fellow artists in the digital art space? “It’s nice being part of a community that’s full of naturally supportive people all doing their own thing. Certainly when I returned to twitter some of the OG people – @thedigiguru, @HoHoHo420Santa @AI_Cursed welcomed me back and got behind me. I think it’s harder now than when I started with my old account. Lots more people I suppose.“ @thedigiguru was curious: “Is King Charles into Sword Play”? “🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮 as a republican I fucking hate the royals. Google how much they’re worth…#notmyking“ Who are your top 3 favorite creators on X and what do you like about them? “Oh god this is difficult. Creators: @kurupuri0his stuff is just amazing. Mental af. @DIofthebeholderone of the most mysterious people in the ai art game. I’ve been following them forever and don’t know anything about them. Love their style. @thicketleechcos she’s my gf init ha. But honestly there are so many people in the ai art community that I follow and appreciate their art and their support. This list could be much much longer“ How long have you been working with generative AI art, and what was your motivation for using this medium? “Think it was June 2022 that I used my first ai art model. Craiyon. I’m big into tech, bit of a geek really and i was fascinated. Once I started it was like crack cocaine. I’ve not stopped since. My motivation was that it got the ideas from my head out into the real world. You lucky guys…“ What are your favorite AI art and digital creation tools? “I primarily use dall-e 3. It’s so fucking good. I love it so much I pay for it too. Every day I hit a hard limit of creating too many pictures and have to wait like a crack addict for the next hit. For videos I’m using stablediffusion video and a bit of modelscope. I run those locally on a pc I bought to generate“ Are there any specific AI tools or advancements you’re excited about exploring in the future? “I can’t wait for sora and other ai video tools to get better. We are right at the beginning of text2video and that’s going to be amazing. Lots of opportunities to develop jokes and make people and myself laugh.“ Are there new artistic territories or mediums you’re interested in delving into in the future? “I wouldn’t mind making an actual graphic book from some of my best work. In the same way I need to update http://splarg.com really. Take out the shit jokes and put up my best work. There are not enough hours in the day.“ “He is generous and kind, and has a wonderful mind“– @thicketleech What is the real person behind Splarg like? “Ha. People would be surprised that I am a much nicer person IRL with @thicketleech: “He is generous and kind, and has a wonderful mind.” How does his art and humor fit into his real self? What kind of overlap? Is Splarg a completely separate alter-ego? @thicketleech: “I think his art and humour fits into his real self; it’s a way to express thoughts about life and the world through the tool of dark humour.” What message or impact do you hope your creations have on viewers? “I want people to not take themselves and life too seriously. Memento mori. None of us lasts for ever. Be happy don’t worry. But also don’t be sanctimonious. A lot of the starving african ones are about us in the west forgetting those in need. Realise that none of us are perfect. I actually help people for a living. Fuck me right.“ What recommendations would you give someone who is just starting out with AI art? Humor? Social Media? “Do it for fun. But there are many more successful accounts out there doing wonderful jobs. I’m not here for likes really. But it’s fun making the jokes and making connections. A lot of the time I treat it like performance art.“ What can we expect next from Splarg? Any upcoming projects or themes you’re excited to explore? “Splarg is plodding along. I think that coming up with ideas is the hardest bit really and i’ve not got much in the pipeline beyond more of the same. Perhaps when sora or something like it comes along I can work more on my longform video stuff. Maybe.“ Anything you want to share with the growing AI art community on X? “Just thanks for all the support from those people day in and day out that like and interact. Some massive accounts. Some tiny accounts. I pay attention to the likes and shit and it’s nice to know there are some sensible people in the world!“ Thank you for Splarging! This article could not have been possible without @splargdotcom providing such unprecedented access, so a big thanks and cheers to Splarg! Special thanks also to @thicketleech and @thedigiguru for their comments. Still Splarging for more Splarg? We’ve got a live follow-up talk coming soon on X Spaces, hosted by @TheFakenings, with Splarg himself, and who knows – another other legendary guest from the AI art community on X might even drop in! Follow @splargdotcom (of course!) and @TheFakenings for updates. Articles Digital Creator Spotlight @splargdotcom#DiCspotlightAI artAI Art CommunityAI ArtistsAI photosArticleComedyDigital Creator SpotlightHumorInterviewIrreverentPunsSatireSplargX
Outstanding. I wasn’t expecting much. The people who have tried this didn’t put nearly the effort you put into this. You got to Splarg to talk. Great interview.