MAKE Announces Three Winners of the 2025 Animation Thesis Grant
December 6, 2025
In its 22nd edition, Pictoplasma, the world’s leading conference on contemporary character-driven creativity sets its focus on story: How can characters act as narrative devices that shape emotion, identity, and meaning – beyond affect, empathy, or cuteness?
Over four bustling days, Pictoplasma investigates the art and impact of adventurous figurative representation across creative genres and cultures.
The conference welcomes artists and producers to a transdisciplinary exchange of strategies and ideas, bridging illustration, animation, art, games, story-telling, branded worlds, and social media personas – opening its stage to every practice that gives characters agency.
Get full event details HERE.
Book tickets HERE.
• 20+ featured lectures and artist talks explore the edges of contemporary creative practice
• Vibrant discussion and networking spaces connect creative and commercial contributors
• Daily workshops, jam sessions and demos await all to get hands-on with new mediums
• Cutting-edge animation screenings dive deep into next-level world building
Amedeo Capelli: Italian artist bridging the realms of craftsmanship and digital storytelling, specialising in automata –mechanical sculptures animated by intricate, non-electronic mechanisms
Form Play: Known for their hand-drawn character animation and playful storytelling, that have collaborated with brands such as Google, Sephora and IKEA to find humor in the everyday
Gemma Correll: British illustrator and cartoonist renowned for simple line drawings, rich in narrative and humor
Helga Stentzel: Multidisciplinary artist, who arranges objects in photographic settings to unveil messages hidden within the seemingly mundane tapestry of life
Ilse Valfré: Fine artist, whose surreal, narrative worlds reflect on identity, femininity, and the emotional complexity of modern life
Jun Ioneda: Brazilian multidisciplinary graphic artist blending science fiction, fantasy, queerness, and Japanese influences to create visuals ranging from whimsical to introspective
