An Interview with Tom Wilson & Jeanette Smith of Character Matters
Jeanette Smith | Tom Wilson
Tom Wilson is the artist behind the popular newspaper comic character Ziggy. He took over drawing Ziggy from his father in 1987. In addition to Ziggy, Tom has worked as a conceptual creative consultant for Richard Saunders International. This world-renowned creative think tank has been named the nation's #1 innovation consulting service for developing new brands and products for Fortune 500 companies. He has also worked on branding programs for companies including American Express, Johnson & Johnson, The Ford Motor Company, Chrysler, Circuit City, Procter & Gamble, Hewlett-Packard, Hallmark, AT&T and Walt Disney, among others, and is the founder of Character Matters, a company specializing in developing world-class characters for branding and licensing.
In this full-length version of an interview conducted at the SEA 2008 conference, Jeanette Smith and Tom Wilson of Character Matters field questions related building a life and career as an artist, building and sustaining a brand, and the in and outs of licensing your work.