The 3 day Pictoplasma Conference (April 12 - 14) at the heart of the Festival is packed with inspiring lectures and eye-candy ANIMATION SCREENINGS at the Babylon, with further ARTIST PRESENTATIONS and hands-on WORKSHOPS at the Character Lab.
The diverse line-up of participating artists covers a wide range of media and disciplines, such as illustration, game design, installation, urban and fine art, offering the chance to learn from (and rub shoulders with) some of today’s most innovative and influential artists and illustrators, cutting-edge graphic, toy, game or fashion designers and leading animation filmmakers.
The diverse line-up of participating artists covers a wide range of media and disciplines, such as illustration, game design, installation, urban and fine art, offering the chance to learn from (and rub shoulders with) some of today’s most innovative and influential artists and illustrators, cutting-edge graphic, toy, game or fashion designers and leading animation filmmakers.
For full access to all of the Conference’s events attendees require to have registered online > here.
Gary Baseman crosses many lines of art as a painter, illustrator, video and performance artist, animator, TV/movie producer, curator, and toy designer. He created the three-time Emmy and BAFTA award-winning animation series, “Teacher’s Pet,” earning him credit as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Entertainment named by Entertainment Weekly Magazine. The Los Angeles Times has described his art as “adorably perverse,” humorously playful and dark, childlike but often with adult themes. His fine art has been displayed in galleries and museums in Brazil, Germany, Israel, Italy, Russia, and all over the United States.
Gemma Correll has qualifications in basic first aid, grade 5 flute and a first class degree in Illustration from the Norwich School of Art and Design (UK). These skills have enabled her to forge a career in freelance cartooning and illustration (and also help you out if you break your finger or something). She divides her time between commissioned work and working on personal projects. She also devotes a large proportion of her time to updating her pugs’ blog. Gemma’s work is narrative-based with a strong emphasis on wordplay, humor, observational journalism and cats.
Mark Gmehling worked his way through Cinema 4d for the last 10 years while gradually specializing in character design, animation and rigging. After studying art, graphic design and marketing, he went on to serve the advertising industry for a while, before he cut the ropes to work as a self-employed illustrator. Mark’s visual style updates 80ies Graffiti with contemporary “Plastic Bling”. He continues to teach design and digital illustration two days a week, while his elaborate 3D renderings of urban characters with a unique contortionistic quality are being exhibited throughout Europe and the US.
Born in Zaanstad, a commuter town close to Amsterdam, Femke Hiemstra grew up living nearby fields where she would roam the dredged ditches in search of stone pipe heads or animal skeletons, building tree houses and studying her father’s comics collection from the 60’s. A few years ago she gave up being a full time illustrator to become a full time artist. At her home studio in Amsterdam she creates mixed media paintings and black and white graphite drawings. Preferring vintage objects such as boxes and wrappers as her canvas, she creates imaginary products with magical properties, surrealistic works that invite the viewer to enter the world that lies inside.
Florentijn Hofman is famed for his integrating, intriguing and interactive installations. He shifts with great joy between performative public interventions and fine art sculpture, always with a strong desire to amaze. His work for urban landscapes in the form of giant animals and children’s toys challenge the function and purpose of public space: A 13-meter high Yellow Rabbit for the Openart biennale in Sweden explored the notion of scale and perspective by providing a new focal point in the open square, while his Fat Monkey placed a comically over-sized sculpture cladded with thousands of iconic flip flops in the heart of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Born 2005 as an art collective, the idea of the 9 founding members was to create one, imaginary artist named “Jeanspezial”. Combining their various talents, the resulting persona was able to move seamlessly between drawing, sculpture, graffiti and etching at a furious rate, allowing each work to be signed with the same name.
Equally inspired by renaissance masters and current pop culture, Jeanspezial describes their work as a mix of Jérôme Boch meeting Spongebob, shaking hands with Matt Groening and drinking tea with Picasso and Mona Lisa.
Equally inspired by renaissance masters and current pop culture, Jeanspezial describes their work as a mix of Jérôme Boch meeting Spongebob, shaking hands with Matt Groening and drinking tea with Picasso and Mona Lisa.
Nathan Jurevicius has worked as a freelance illustrator and artist for many international companies and publications. His most acclaimed project to date is Scarygirl, which has developed an underground following of fans through its online comic, limited edition vinyl toys, designer products and travelling art shows.
His 2009 released Scarygirl online game produced with Passion Pictures Australia ha s surpassed 1 million players, while reviewers have hailed the project as possibly “the best indie browser game ever created”.
Only recently has Raymond Lemstra started to focus fully on drawing, having previously worked as a motion designer and as part of a performance group. In his drawings the Dutch artist references the iconic quality of indigenous art, with other influences ranging from the aesthetics of the Neue Sachlichkeit and Bauhaus to Magical Realism. Lemstra is interested in the abstraction inherent in these art forms, and the distortion resulting from selective emphasis on the head and face. His work rekindles a childlike sense of wonder within contained fantasy worlds where furry creatures blend with minimalist totemic masks and exquisite retro futurism.
In a lengthy and elaborate process, US artist Joshua Ben Longo makes soft sculptures from materials such as felt and cashmere, fusing the art and craft of character design with ideas of desire and curiosity in inappropriate social settings. His monstrous beings are always eyeless so as not to distract the viewer’s attention from the corporeal dimension. Teeth and anuses are their main distinctive features, at once fascinating and repellent. Joshua’s work has been exhibited internationally and featured in numerous publications. He currently works at Pratt Institute teaching 3-D design, drawing, and as a design consultant to the fashion and home industries.
Grant Orchard is a Bafta and Oscar nominated animation director and designer who lives and works in London. He joined STUDIO AKA in 1997, and soon gained attention for his idiosyncratic design and his ability to approach projects from many different angles. He has created many an eye-catching spot for clients as diverse as Compaq, Skype, Barclays and Orange. He has won two prestigious D&AD awards and recently won at Sundance for his recent film ‘A Morning Stroll.’ Alongside that he has, in his own words, ‘ moved a whole bunch of small shapes around.’ As his hugely successful Love Sport series testifies.
Pleix is a French collective of graphic designers, 3D artists, musicians and video creators. They work on the limits, contradictions and accidents that show the fragility of the digital world. Hybrids of animals, humans and objects, flying dogs and futuristic visions are some of the recurring motifs. Pleix puts a strong emphasis on working collaborative and complementary, both in technical and creative regards. Sound, image and editing are of equal importance. The group doesn’t communicate their individual names for the work, but sign all different projects as PLEIX.
Julia Pott is an animator and illustrator based in London and New York. Following a BA in Animation and Illustration at Kingston University in 2007, Julia went on to direct animations for clients such as Bat for Lashes, Etsy, Malibu Rum, The Decemberists and Toyota before completing an MA in Animation at the Royal College of Art in 2011.
She is also part of the animation collective Treat Studios. Her animation shorts “My First Crush”, “Howard” and “Belly” have raised quite some attention and lead her to be signed by Hornet Inc for commercial representation.
She is also part of the animation collective Treat Studios. Her animation shorts “My First Crush”, “Howard” and “Belly” have raised quite some attention and lead her to be signed by Hornet Inc for commercial representation.
In 2001 designer and street artist Tomi Dieguez teamed up with former MTV producer Patricio Verdi Brusati to found Punga, a one-in-a-kind design studio in Buenos Aires. In a little room in Palermo, Buenos Aires, with a bit of technology that had just started to become affordable and accessible, they set off to build what was soon labelled as one of the most innovative animation studios world-wide. In 2004 Dieguez developed his first global campaign that opened the doors to clients such as Sony, Diesel, Coca-Cola, Nokia or Nike. Today, with work ranging from local record covers to global tv branding, Punga found a wide output to express its unique colorful vision.
Andy Rementer is a creative person based in Philadelphia, where he graduated from The University of the Arts in 2004. From 2005 to 2007 he worked for Fabrica, the Benetton research centre, while living in Treviso in northern Italy. He currently divides his time between drawing and animating, with an overwhelming output of comics, zines, illustrations and artwork for gallery shows.
His work has been featured through a variety of sources including MTV, Urban Outfitters, Nylon Magazine, Warner Brothers, The New York Times, and Creative Review. He has exhibited his work in group and solo shows throughout America, Europe and Australia.
His work has been featured through a variety of sources including MTV, Urban Outfitters, Nylon Magazine, Warner Brothers, The New York Times, and Creative Review. He has exhibited his work in group and solo shows throughout America, Europe and Australia.
Sauerkids is made up by Mark Moget and Taco Sipma, an artist duo based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Besides their day jobs as graphic designers at design agency Enchilada, they are devoted to their label “Sauerkids”, serving as the perfect outlet for their non-client based work.
Their character based art has been shown in several international art exhibitions and projects.
Although they’ve been accused of “being on medication”, their work is probably better described as a mash-up of innocent childhood imagery with the mental confusion of everyday life.
Besides their day jobs as graphic designers at design agency Enchilada, they are devoted to their label “Sauerkids”, serving as the perfect outlet for their non-client based work.
Their character based art has been shown in several international art exhibitions and projects.
Although they’ve been accused of “being on medication”, their work is probably better described as a mash-up of innocent childhood imagery with the mental confusion of everyday life.
Founded in 2000 by a bunch of hungry design addicts, Sehsucht has come to leave its mark as a top-notch quality label in the field of animations and graphics.
With an ongoing drive and excitement they direct and produce cutting-edge digital content for international clients from the creative industries, soon making them one of Germanys most prolific creators of outstanding digital visuals. After working for Psyop in New York for several years, and with a background in graphic design, fine arts and VJing, Mate Steinforth joined Sehsucht in 2009 as Creative Director. Among countless international high profiled awards, Sehsucht are proud of being awarded with Silver and Golden Cannes Lions.
With an ongoing drive and excitement they direct and produce cutting-edge digital content for international clients from the creative industries, soon making them one of Germanys most prolific creators of outstanding digital visuals. After working for Psyop in New York for several years, and with a background in graphic design, fine arts and VJing, Mate Steinforth joined Sehsucht in 2009 as Creative Director. Among countless international high profiled awards, Sehsucht are proud of being awarded with Silver and Golden Cannes Lions.
Joel Trussell is known for his music videos for M. Ward, Kid606, Jason Forrest and Morcheeba. He also directed television segments for Yo Gabba Gabba and commercials for clients such as Esurance and Nicorette. His work has extended out into print illustration and solo gallery shows exhibiting his paintings.
Although his style varies, he himself sums it up as “one scoop appeal, one scoop disturbance, a dash of irreverence topped with a few modest WTF sprinkles”. Most recently he finished directing the animated series Electric City written by and starring Tom Hanks..
Although his style varies, he himself sums it up as “one scoop appeal, one scoop disturbance, a dash of irreverence topped with a few modest WTF sprinkles”. Most recently he finished directing the animated series Electric City written by and starring Tom Hanks..
Henning Wagenbreth is one of today’s most respected visual artists working in Germany. After studying at the East Berlin Art Academy, he turned his focus to Illustration, with a strong interest in graphics and typography, while understanding manual and industrial printing techniques as essential part of the creative process.
Internationally recognized for his unique, comic inspired style and numerous artworks for posters, books and magazines, he spreads his character artwork on anything from a tiny stamp to an oversized poster, on commercial work or his own art projects alike.
Internationally recognized for his unique, comic inspired style and numerous artworks for posters, books and magazines, he spreads his character artwork on anything from a tiny stamp to an oversized poster, on commercial work or his own art projects alike.
BABYLON
ROSA-LUXEMBURG STR. 30
10178 BERLIN
Once more the historic film theatre in the heart of Berlin invites international visitors to indulge in an extended weekend of illuminating screenings, artist talks, exclusive presentations and inspiring interdisciplinary exchange.
The classy cinema offers state of the art projection and sound, a beautiful interior, Germany’s oldest functioning cinema organ, additional breakout zones and generous lounges.
GETTING THERE:
U-Bahn: Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz
S-Bahn: Alexanderplatz
Tram: M8, M2, N54
Bus: 148, 240, N48
