TAD Berlin 2025 - A weekend about illustration, inspiration, and connections

Going to TAD Berlin from an introvert's perspective.

I wanted to tell you all about what I did last weekend here in Berlin! I went to The Art Department (TAD), an international fest focused on the art and design process for film, animation, and games. Some big names were there, like Beatrice Blue, Dani Diez, Aaron Blaise, and Feefal, just to name a few. They gave talks, did live drawing demos, portfolio reviews, and so much more.

If you know me even a little, you’re probably wondering: why would I go to an event aimed at film, animation, and games when my focus has always been on children's book illustration?

Well... Beatrice Blue was there💚! That alone would’ve been a good enough reason for me. But the truth is, I’ve been thinking lately about expanding my focus a bit—putting more eggs in different baskets. Sticking strictly to children’s illustration feels limiting sometimes, both in terms of creative growth and job opportunities.

I had already started exploring by making illustrated maps, but I wanted to see how much further I could go. Going to TAD really opened my eyes, not only in terms of career but also creatively.

Let me give you a quick breakdown of what I did over the two days of the event. But if you want to skip to the conclusions, just scroll down to this part.

Day 1 – Demos and artist studio

I kicked things off with a demo by Pauline Voss, a concept artist and illustrator. I wasn’t familiar with her work before, but I fell in love with the way she uses light in her paintings. She painted an eye live while explaining her process and answering questions. I took some notes, but one cool thing is that she always starts with a mid-gray canvas to avoid the intimidation of a blank page.

Next, I saw Dani Diez's demo. I already knew his work and his characters. He showed his illustration process, which was fascinating. Unlike Pauline, he starts with a textured layer beneath his painting and sketch layers. It gives the feeling of drawing on paper and also avoids that daunting blank canvas feeling.

Another thing that stood out: he avoids obvious symbolism in his characters. Like, instead of dressing a character like a stereotypical police officer, he designs them to provoke curiosity in the viewer.

I also did two artist studios (it worked like: watching the artist working), one with Dani and one with Beatrice Blue. Dani's was all about character design. He showed us some unreleased work and gave me tips on how to build a portfolio as a character designer if I want to head in that direction.

Beatrice’s workshop focused on traditional illustration. She showed us her materials and how she paints. Watching her so excited and passionate while painting was such a treat💚!

That was the end of day 1. There was a happy hour after, but I was totally wiped. As an introverted person, socializing all day drained me🫠, so I decided to skip it and rest up for the next day.

Day 2 – Portfolio review, talks, workshop & happy hour

On the second day, I arrived early, hoping to get a spot for a portfolio review .. they were first come, first served and limited to 4 portfolio reviews per illustrator. I had two artists in mind, and luckily, I managed to get a slot with one of them: Julia Koerner. She’s someone whose work I love and who actually inspired me to start playing Zelda! I even got a cute sticker from her at the end💚.

She gave me some good feedback on my portfolio, including what I could study more in terms of art fundamentals and what I could show more of. It was a great review, and now I have direction for improving my illustrations.

I wasn’t planning on doing a workshop that day, but I had a free hour and tagged along with a friend to a life drawing session, and I’m so glad I did! It was amazing! I got to try the Pentel brush pen (which I now need to buy!) and we sketched live poses, guided by the artist Bajar Zedensodnom, who also modeled for us.

Then came the meet and greet with Beatrice Blue. I hadn’t mentioned yet, but the event also had an art book fair, and her new book was being sold there. Of course, I couldn’t resist and bought it. It’s filled with sketches, paintings, and finished pieces — all traditional media.

I was the last person in line at the signing, and Beatrice signed and sketched in my book! A fun fact: on the first day during her workshop, I had left my newly bought copy on the table, and she asked if she could flip through it — she hadn’t seen the printed version before. So it was genuinely a surprise for us that it was available at the event!

Later that day, I went to three talks. The first one was about the current creative market and all the layoffs happening. The speakers were Bianca Nazari (recruiter at Envar), Dani Diez, and Inka Schulz (from Blizzard). It was super insightful. They discussed how to be visible online to art directors and recruiters, what makes a good application, and shared real-life experiences.

If you’re interested, I could write a whole newsletter just about that talk. It had so many useful tips!

The last two talks were more inspirational. One by Mel Milton and the closing one by Beatrice Blue. Two things Mel said really stuck with me:

• "You don’t have to be the best illustrator, you just have to be good."

• "Pay attention to your attitude, and care about the fact that you chose to be an illustrator."

I wish I had recorded his talk to replay on tough days.

And Beatrice’s closing talk? Pure inspiration. She shared her journey, like where she started, the challenges she faced, and how she constantly pushes herself to explore and try new things, even when it’s uncomfortable.

So what I took from her talk was:

draw more for myself, experiment with materials, and tell my own stories — because they’re unique.

The last talk wrapped up at the end of the day, and honestly, I was exhausted from doing so much and interacting with so many people. Don’t get me wrong — I loved meeting new artists, chatting with them, and being part of so many cool activities, but my social battery was deep in the red, haha.

That said, there was still the after-party, which was happening at a super cool place I’d always wanted to check out: Drink and Draw. I had already decided not to go… but at the last minute, I changed my mind and went anyway. After about an hour on public transport, I made it there. And even though I was tired and feeling very introverted, I still managed to chat with other artists, give some emotional support to help light a bonfire (yes, it’s May, but it’s still cold in Berlin), and finally visit this amazing place that is Drink and Draw.

Who knows — maybe I’ll go to more events there in the future🙂.

Final thoughts

These two days were filled with learning, new connections in the art world, and a whole lot of inspiration to keep going on my journey to (hopefully) live solely from illustration one day.

One of the biggest takeaways?

Make art for yourself.

Create what you love instead of trying to make something just for the market. That aligns perfectly with another lesson: only include work in your portfolio that you actually enjoyed making, because chances are, if you’re hired, they’ll ask for more of that.

Making art for yourself also helps you stay passionate about the process. And if you’re already making a living from art, it’s even more important, since you won’t always love every client project. Carving out time for personal work helps keep that spark alive.

Also, I realized I need to spend more time exploring tools and techniques and reconnect with that inner child who loved experimenting without fear of being perfect (she was, probably, less than 5 years old 🥲 .. Yeah, I learned to try to be perfect very early).

A lot of artists shared that the materials they love today were once things they avoided or feared. And now, those tools are key to their style.

Lastly, and this was important to me, your portfolio will never perfectly align with what a studio or publisher is looking for. Most of the time, recruiters will look at your work and decide if you can create what they need. You can help by showing your process and your illustrations, and then whoever is hiring will look at your portfolio and identify whether you have the skills to be part of their project.

So your portfolio will never be “perfect” for one specific job. But that’s okay. What matters is showing your potential (I’m writing this last sentence to myself, too, because the impostor syndrome hits hard sometimes!).

Thank you very much for making it this far! 💚
Charlene⭐