About Pictofolio

Pictofolio.com is Pictoplasma’s community for contemporary character design and art—and the online extension of our offline encounters at real world Pictoplasma events, such as our annual conferences, festival or academy programs. Pictofolio enables international artists and creators to stay in touch with old friends, meet new ones, inspire each other, collaborate and show character!

WHY PICTOFOLIO ?

Way back in 1999 Pictoplasma.com went online via 56k modem to serve as the first ever online platform for a new generation of graphically reduced and abstract character design. Only shortly after the site had compiled over 10.000+ artworks by thousands of international artists, all manually tagged and made accessible by “Artist,” “Country,” or “Character Species.” This was way before such a thing as web 2.0 was imaginable—and probably that’s why, just a little later, our entire database imploded.
Instead of trying to rebuild what was lost, we focused firmly on real characters (and especially their real creators) in the actual world. We put all our energy into hosting events, where artists can truly meet in the flesh, inspire and collaborate with each, and established a growing offline community around the globe.
Only now, after more than 15 years of accompanying a large global scene of creatives, designers, illustrators, animators, artists and fans, all connected by a shared love for contemporary, character-driven visual arts, we feel the time has come to reach out and enhance creative encounters through a soulful and supportive online community, where artists can push characters to new visual heights.

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, toy to product and fashion design, urban to graphic arts. Pictoplasma holds annual conferences and festivals in Berlin and NYC, offers programs for further education at the Pictoplasma Academy, undertakes research into anthropomorphic design and curates museum exhibitions around the globe. The focus is on how reduced and minimalist design can cut through the omnipresent white noise of imagery, evoke maximal empathy, and help create meaningful interaction beyond the constrictions of language and narration.