Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Pictoplasma-Induced Trance States

I remember when Pictoplasma was still a glob of goo in a Petri dish; little more than an idea, represented by a new domain address with one animated gif jiggling a little dance at us from a bit of HTML code.

The 1st Pictoplasma book was published in 2001, and ended up becoming a sort of must-have coffee-table encyclopedia of modern character design. Some of my Creature Doodles where included in this first publication (as well as being featured at an earlier version of its - by then - much expanded Pictoplasma website).

And then, in 2004, the first-ever Pictoplasma Conference pressed its large footprints into the concrete and soil of my beloved Berlin. This international event filled four sleep-deprived, euphoric, Utopian days with trance-inducing input-overload.

The conferences and festivals since then have never had the emotional impact on me that this first conference did, but they are still magic, not-to-be-missed happenings.

And I've found that Pictoplasma trailers, ads, and screening-openers have often managed to capture tiny, encapsulated versions of the feeling that these events seem to inspire in me; a mysterious and sublime quality that always draws me in. Here are some examples...

Pictoplasma Festival 2011 Opener

Pictoplasma Festival 2011 Opener from Pictoplasma on Vimeo.


Pictoplasma Animation Festival Intro 2007 - by Oh! Sägas


Pictoplasma - Characters in Motion - Vol.3 Teaser


Pictoplasma - Characters in Motion - Vol.2 Teaser


Characters in Motion 1
Teaser for the Pictoplasma Animation Festival 2005 and the published DVD.


I am now preparing to enter the stormy seas of this very particular input-overload once again starting tomorrow; to "immerse myself in character", as the organizers of Pictoplasma themselves so aptly put it...

...Beginning with tomorrow's Character Walk, which is something everyone can join in, even those without festival passes! See you there?


Cheers,
LaLaVox
mildredlovesyou.blogspot.com/
The LaLaVoxBox.com Doodle Gallery
(which is still long overdue for an update,
but is now gaining new future members on a daily basis ;-))

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