About Pictoplasma

Pictoplasma is the world’s leading platform for contemporary character design and art. The project pushes forward interdisciplinary discussion, development and promotion of a new breed of visual vocabulary – from illustration to animation, game to interactive design, urban to graphic arts. The brainchild of Peter Thaler and Lars Denicke was founded in 1999 to investigate possibilities and limitations of current character representation. Pictoplasma holds an annual festival and conference in Berlin, a second conference in New York, offers programs for further education, undertakes research into anthropomorphic design, curates museum exhibitions, and consults brands and companies on all their character needs. The focus is on how artistic and minimalist design can evoke maximal empathy – and help create meaningful interaction beyond the constrictions of language and cultural connotations.

PICTOPLASMA ONLINE

With a fast-growing global community, the Pictoplasma project is a vivid network of thousands of illustrators, artists, designers and character pioneers from around the world. Pictoplasma.com is an online extension of the offline encounters at Pictoplasma's real-world events, such as the annual conferences, festival or academy programmes. It enables international artists and creators to stay in touch with old friends, meet new ones, inspire each other, collaborate, experiment, find potential clients and show character!

PICTOPLASMA CONFERENCE & FESTIVAL

Since its inception in 2004, each spring Pictoplasma transforms Berlin into an international meeting point for a diverse scene of artists and creatives, trailblazing the face of tomorrow’s visual culture. The central conference brings together 900 key players on a global scale and features 20+ lectures by forward-thinking creatives. The accompanying animation screenings showcase cutting edge short films, with most of the filmmakers present in Q&A rounds. The character lab offers hands-on workshops, immersive media demos, panels and networking.

A second annual conference takes place later each year in New York, attracting 500+ professional attendees and acting as a unique place for the US scene to network.

PICTOPLASMA ACADEMY

As the educational counterpart to the conference, the Pictoplasma Academy invites a selected group of international graduate students and young professionals to kick-start their careers as character designers in close collaboration with industry leading artists, filmmakers and producers. The intensive masterclasses, short courses and summer schools are supervised and led by a team of internationally acclaimed artists and professionals, who pass on their skills in insightful lectures and hands-on workshops right across the media spectrum.

PICTOPLASMA PUBLISHING

Showcasing the latest developments and tendencies in contemporary character design and enjoying cult status among collectors and fans, Pictoplasma Publishing’s source books, limited editions and periodical magazines for designers, illustrators, connoisseurs and the creatively curious are distributed worldwide, with total sales adding up to more than 150,000 copies over the past decade.