For the first time, and for obvious reasons, 2020 forced the festival to go online – a smashing success, with 100,000 views.

This year, Pictoplasma welcomes all character design pioneers, creatives and enthusiasts for a very special double-whopper hybrid edition – a 4-day summer conference in Berlin in August and a 2-day global online fest in September. Combined, this special edition will present an unparalleled line-up of more than 40+ onstage and remote artist lectures from all corners of the world, plus an immersive programme of workshops, panels and animation screenings, all taking place both IRL and online.

Make sure to register at conference.pictoplasma.com!

The Berlin Conference

Among the artists speaking at Pictoplasma Berlin are YUK FUN (UK), Okuda San Miguel (ES), Loulou João (BE), Alex Jenkins (UK) Felix Colgrave (AUS) and Ýrúrarí (IS). Between them many disciplines are represented, including textiles, animation, filmmaking and illustration.

The Online Festival

Three weeks after the conference, the Pictoplasma Online Fest will broadcast the artist lectures of the Berlin event plus many new additional and exclusive remote talks and presentations, studio visits and artist films, live workshops and panels and animation screenings, all streamed on a condensed weekend via two parallel channels.

SPECIAL FOCUS: Diversity, Visibility and Representation

This year’s edition will take a deeper look at how character design is being used to enhance diversity, reclaim visibility and fight for representation. Many of the artists use their voice to speak for equality, support minorities, propagate an inclusive attitude or encourage political activism. The festival will take a look at the formal principles that strengthen widespread divisions versus those that help to overcome separation and create communities.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: #CharacterFlags of Pictopia

Pictoplasma invites all international artists, illustrators, and designers to join the #CharacterFlags challenge and turn their character into an iconic, graphical representation of itself!

A jury will select approx. 30 designs from the submitted artworks to be lovingly produced as real-world flags, hailing visitors as a representation of today’s diverse character nations at the Berlin Festival in August.

Deadline to submit is June 10, 2021 – more information on how to enter here.

REGISTRATION

Participation in the 4-day Pictoplasma Conference (August 26 – 29) requires prior online registration, which is open from May 1 for a very reduced number of attendees. This registration also includes access to the online fest in September.

For all those not joining the conference in Berlin, the registration to the online event in September will be available at an Early Bird rate for the first 500.

All information on the registration is available here.