Celebrating their 20th anniversary of championing all things character, Pictoplasma took London by storm this weekend with their first-ever UK event.
As expected, the day was packed wall-to-wall with all things character, creativity and cute little animation folk making friends and inspiring each other. Hosted at the infamous Royal College of Art, the afternoon kicked off with a vibrant room of networking, doodling, sharing business cards and wondering what the big gong in the corner was for (more on that later).
At 2pm, we were welcomed to the first of a two-part lecture series, kicking things off with the hilarious, unconventional and very instinctive designer and mask maker, DamselFrau. Next, Murugiah took to the stage to talk about finding his niche between the 90s British influences of his upbringing like his CD Walkman and comic books, and the traditional art of Sri Lanka – peppered with a good splash of design influence from his years of training as an architect. Wrapping up this first half, Aysha Tengiz gave us a funny, heartfelt and playful insight into her idiosyncratic, mathematical and picture book-inspired illustration work.
While each speaker had taken a different route into the world of design, all had the same get-up-and-go spirit, an eye for the obscure and a level of persistence that only an artist could have. I left this first half feeling inspired and eager to get back home and dig out my sketchbook.
In the interim, things got spicy with a bit of industry speed dating. Long tables marked the middle of the foyer with studio reps along one side and empty chairs along the other. Each person at the table was given five minutes to present their showreel, ideas and passions and soak up some industry insight from names like Nexus, Buck, Studio AKA and Strange Beast (to name a few) before the gong chimed and you moved on to the next seat. The 90-minute session was buzzing with conversation, laughter and a sense of excitement in the air. What a treat!
Back in the lecture theatre, part two saw talks from the delightful Frenchman, FX Goby, who spoke of the poetic and poignant campaign he made for this year’s Olympics hosted in Paris. Following him, Eva Münnich gave us a hilarious and passionate insight into her route into character design via the Picto Academy, with a beautiful animated loop picturing herself sat in the crowd at Pictoplasma years before, picturing herself on stage talking. Very meta. And to round things off, Ed Barrett and Tom Judd from Animade gave a wonderful talk covering some of their best bits over the last 13 years of animation – rounded off with a live play of their cheeky mobile game, Ready Steady Bang.
Rounding off the day, we were treated to an eclectic mix of animated shorts to see us into the evening – each as bonkers as the last. With names like Joseph Bennett and Greg McLeod on the bill, it’s safe to say the room was filled with laughter more than once – but the quality, style, charm and ingenuity on display was felt across the board with every film that played. Exciting, engaging and kick-you-up-the-butt motivational –Pictoplasma‘s first foray into the big smoke was a hit – and I hope we get to welcome them back soon.
Written [and photo credit] by Lisa Kenney – Careers Features Editor
