ACADEMY
MASTERCLASS
2025

BERLIN

25 April — 4 May 2025

* participation fee 1.360,00€ = includes full ticket to the 21st Pictoplasma Berlin Conference and Festival

Coming Spring 2025, Pictoplasma admits a limited group of participants selected upon application for a unique 10-day intensive Character Development Course, including the full-on immersive experience of the upcoming 21st Pictoplasma Conference and Festival.

Supervised by Academy professors Rilla Alexander and Nathan Jurevicius, daily hands-on workshops and exercises challenge participants to bring their artistic character skills to the next level, discover new ideas, battle procrastination, understand a diverse range of techniques and media, work out and highlight the visual essence of their creation and refine its narrational and conceptual framework.

Additionally, acclaimed international artists and professionals join the group to give inspiring incentives, act as mentors and additional critics to presentations by participants, and offer insight on aspects such as copyright, licensing, promotion and production.

Essential part of the experience is the lively exchange in the group, with further cultural programs and excursions in the evenings, all leading to the ’embedded’ participation in the Pictoplasma Conference and Festival, including all lectures, screenings, further workshops, and plenty of opportunities to network with industry professionals.

DEADLINE TO APPLY IS February 1, 2025

PARTICIPATION INCLUDES:

10 INTENSE DAYS IN BERLIN WITH THE FOCUS ON DEVELOPING YOUR OWN CHARACTERS UNDER PROFESSIONAL GUIDANCE DURING DAILY WORKSHOPS, LECTURES, PANELS AND EXCURSIONS!

INCLUDES A FULL TICKET FOR THE 21. PICTOPLASMA BERLIN CONFERENCE, WITH ACCESS TO ALL LECTURES, PANELS, SCREENINGS, WORKSHOPS, EXHIBITIONS, ART HAPPENINGS AND PARTIES.

ACADEMY TUTORS & TEACHERS:

Rilla Alexander

FROM SKETCH TO CHARACTER

Author, illustrator, designer and picture book maker Rilla Alexander helps participants re-fine their characters hiding in a pile of pencil lines and work out their main graphical value via expression, posing and silhouette.

Nathan Jurevicius

A CHARACTER’S CORE

Artist, illustrator, author and toy designer Nathan works with the participants on defining the essence of their characters, while minimising it to the max and preparing it to remain appealingly unique throughout different media, techniques and styles.

Philip Hunt / Studio Aka

NARRATION & VISUAL STORYTELLING

Director and Creative Director of London-based STUDIO AKA, Philip helps participants to define their characters’ attributes, adding biography and depth, to enable strong stories and memorable encounters.

DAY 1 – 4

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, BIOGRAPHY, VOLUME, WORLDS & BIBLE

Rilla Alexander & Nathan Jurevicius

Rilla Alexander and Nathan Jurevicius introduce you to concepts on how to refine the visual essence of your characters while exploring their main graphical value. These intense four days will be a back and forth of presentations and drawing exercises, constant individual feedback and group discussions.

DAY 5

CHARACTER DRIVEN STORY TELLING AND NARRATION

Philip Hunt / Studio AKA

Phil Hunt throws you in the lion’s cage of story-telling: discuss your storyboard sketches, pitch your concepts and get help to refine your very own narration. The sessions are extended by practical exercises on visual storytelling, and how to set up your characters’ attributes to enable strong stories and memorable encounters.

DAY 6

COPYRIGHT, MARKETS, SELF-PROMOTION

Rilla Alexander & Nathan Jurevicius

Rilla and Nathan share valuable insight on aspects such as copyright, trademark, media law, licensing, promotion and production.

DAY 7 – 9

DAILY CONFERENCE RECAP AND MENTORING

Rilla Alexander & Nathan Jurevicius, daily changing mentors

As a group, you will start each day of the conference by meeting up with your main professors, Rilla and Nathan, and discussing on what to expect from the day and how to benefit most from the programe and workshops.

DAY 10

On the final Sunday following the conference, you will join once again in the group for an overall recap of the experience and discussion on how to move on. The challenge lies in how to keep the energy and experience alive in your day-to-day routine. We will help you define possible milestones for your work and provide tools for how to continue to profit from another in a group.

APPLY FOR THE PICTOPLASMA ACADEMY 2025!

HOW TO APPLY

YOUR APPLICATION SHOULD CONSIST OF 2 PARTS:

#1: a brief CV, including your full legal name, your nationality, your date of birth, your full current address, a URL to your online portfolio or website, and your degree of experience.
#2: some reference images of your previous work and general style.

Please send all above material as one PDF FILE (screen resolution) via > EMAIL > academy2025(at)pictoplasma(dot)com

APPLICATION DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 1, 2025.

All applications will be reviewed by the Academy’s tutors during the first weeks of February. Selected applicants will be notified via Email by the 10th of February.

FEES

The fee for the 10 day character development course is 1.360,00€ (incl. VAT*) per participant and includes a full ticket to the Pictoplasma Berlin Conference and Festival 2025.

The fee will be invoiced by Pictoplasma during the last week of February, to be paid in full via international bank transfer upon receipt of acceptance within 2 weeks. All needed studio materials for the workshops and a healthy, vegetarian lunch will be provided.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

1. The minimum of participants per Academy course/group is 20 persons.
2. The maximum of participants per Academy course/group is 60 persons.
3. In the event of a cancellation made by Pictoplasma, the participant’s event fee will be fully reimbursed. We will however not be held liable for any claims over and above the reimbursement of the said participant’s event fee, except in cases of intent or gross negligence.
4. In the case of cancellation by a participant, the advance payment will be reimbursed, if we are notified before March 31. In case of later notification we won’t be able to reimburse the payment.

Pictoplasma Academy Campus

PICTOPLASMA
ACADEMY

SILENT GREEN

Gerichtstrasse 35
13347 Berlin

The Pictoplasma Academy Masterclass takes place at the cultural center “silent green” – a former crematorium in Berlin’s Wedding district.

After being closed and forgotten for a decade, the premises with an extensive green have recently re-opened and now accommodate various creative industries, including the Pictoplasma headquarters.

The venue is not only equipped to meet all of the courses, lectures and workshop requirements, but also offers facilities for the daily communal lunch, a welcome “campus” feeling and a warm, friendly atmosphere.

FAQ

A HAND FULL OF ANSWERS TO/

FREQUENTLY
ASKED
QUESTIONS

IS ACCOMMODATION INCLUDED?
IS ENGLISH THE MAIN LANGUAGE AT THE ACADEMY?
AM I ELIGIBLE?

Basically, anyone concerned with the creation of characters is eligible, i.e. working as illustrator, animation filmmaker, toy, graphic, game, costume or product designer, as fine, urban or graphic artist – especially if you want to reach out and extend your expertise in any of these fields. While we are open to any levels of education, this is not a foundation course offering basic orientation in these fields. It’s probably ideal if you are at the mid/late stage of your studies, or in the early stage of working life. It is not a prerequisite to have completed any studies.
WHAT SHOULD BE THE MAIN REASON FOR APPLYING?

The Pictoplasma Academy has one clear goal: to help you further develop your personal project based on a character, both in terms of design and concept, and also in terms of production and licensing. We aim to help you clarify your concept, refine your portfolio and develop a presentation of your project, which will be of great help to further communicate and ally with strategic partners.
WHAT MATERIAL WILL I NEED TO BRING ALONG?

All material needed for the workshops and jam-sessions will be provided by the Academy. (You can bring along your own computer/laptop and a digital camera/Smartphone, although both are not required). In any case, you might want to pack your own sketch-book, and a reasonable selection of your favorite pens, markers and arts supplies.
WHAT KIND OF FOOD WILL BE SERVED FOR LUNCH?
I WONT BE ABLE TO ATTEND THE ENTIRE COURSE, CAN I PAY LESS?
WHO – OR WHAT – IS THIS PICTOPLASMA ANYWAY?

Pictoplasma is an unique project on contemporary character design and art — abstract figurative entities that create a direct emotional bond with the viewer and have invaded all media over the past decade. The brainchild of Peter Thaler and Lars Denicke is renown for its style-defining book publications, immersive exhibitions, international conferences and festivals and continuously pushes anthropomorphic appeal to new limits. Since its inception in 2004, the annual Pictoplasma Berlin Festival has established itself as the main meeting point for an international audience of visual creators and producers. The event is an unconventional design conference, a forward looking animation film festival, a communal playground for collaborative creation, a surprising tour of gallery exhibitions – and is all about the fun of encountering like minded people. In 2008, Pictoplasma has established a second home in New York in collaboration with Parsons The New School for Design, while further events keep bringing the project from Mexico to Paris and around the globe.
I CAN’T FIND THE ANSWER TO MY QUESTION!

WORK BY PICTOPLASMA ALUMNI

: Catarina Glam

: Bryndon Diaz

: Joanna Winograd

: Kami Goertz

: Nikoo Bafti

: Garry Buckley

: Yasmin Islas

: Lizeth Rodriguez

: Esra Büyükdoganay

: Monika Mitkute

: Majorie Lepage

: Gonzalo R Checa

: Muxxi