The International Conference on Illustration and Animation, CONFIA 2023, took place on 6 and 7 July in Caldas da Rainha, in a joint event coordinated by the two Portuguese Polytechnics members of RUN-EU: the Polytechnic University of Cávado and Ave (IPCA) and the Polytechnic University of Leiria.

Organised by the IPCA School of Design (ESD) and the Research Centre for Design, Media, and Culture (ID+), this edition was co-organised by the School of Arts and Design of Caldas da Rainha (ESAD.CR) of the Polytechnic of Leiria, within the scope of the research centres, ID+ Design, Media and Culture and LIDA Laboratory for Research in Design and Arts, both part of the Creative Art and Design & Materials Thinking area of RUN-EU Research centres.

The event took place in the Caldas da Rainha Cultural and Congress Centre (CCC) Auditorium, with around 200 international participants. More than twenty nationalities were represented from Singapore to the United States, Australia, and Europe.

Paula Tavares, Chair of CONFIA, Director of ID+ and Vice-President of IPCA, said, ‘This edition exceeded expectations. There was a full recovery in the post-pandemic. It was undoubtedly an excellent moment of sharing the contemporary discussion of the areas of illustration and animation, which have a long tradition and, at the same time, are pioneers in technological innovation.’

CONFIA featured the following keynote speakers recognised in their fields:

• Emma Calder, co-founder of Pearly Oyster Productions with award-winning animated films such as Beware of Trains;
• Rachel Gannon, co-author of Illustration Research Methods, associate professor and head of the illustration animation department at Kingston University (UK);
• Stuart Medley, comics author, co-founder of Australia’s largest comics festival, art director of Hidden Shoal, a publisher with a roster of international artists, with clients including the BBC and Canadian Broadcasting and also,
• André Carrilho, the widely awarded Portuguese illustrator and cartoonist, who recently wrote and illustrated the book ‘The Girl with the Busy Eyes’ and since 2009 publishes a weekly editorial cartoon in Diário de Notícias newspaper.

In this edition of CONFIA, in addition to these keynote speakers, the CONFIA Scientific Committee selected 70 articles from the 150 submitted. New ideas were shared and debated, anticipating the future of illustration and animation.