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 keynote address given at the Self Employment in the Arts (SEA) conference on February 29, 2008, Wilson shares stories from his own background to highlight the difficult intersection between art and business, and confesses his own awkwardness in trying to bridge the two worlds. He shares his thoughts on artistic integrity and the importance for an artist to carefully set aside business concerns when actually engaged in the act of creation, and how then to marry that process to the hard facts of commerce.
