A presentation by corporate product manager-turned-cartoonist Tom Fishburne captured the complex vibe of this week’s South by Southwest Interactive conference.

Angry at the way “blood-sucking corporations” systematically dull the sharpest ideas, the Harvard MBA grad and author of “Brand Camp” has fought back with his pen and, over 10 years, earned a loyal following of 50,000 like-minded brand managers.

The connection between drawing cartoons and innovation struck a chord among the eclectic mix of software developers, marketers, artists, PR pros and others attending SXSW, as seen in the live Twitter feed of the event.

@escapetochengdu: Most organizations are better equipped w/ cutting tools than with growing tools

@brianrudolph Ideas are like a muscle. The more you work and exercise it, the more you get out of it

@mercurek Most frustrating & inspiring core convo

@jenn__chen The criticism sandwich – start and end with good, keep the bad in between

@frenkie the remarkability of a cartoon is determined by its simplicity, comparable to Apple’s innovative designs

With his cartoons mounted on fabric sheets on the walls, Fishburne recounted his frustration working at General Mills and other consumer products companies that spurred the creative process through highly structured “ideations” where participants sang Kumbaya and sat in beanbag chairs. Following the retreats, Fishburne said, remarkable ideas were systematically whittled away by his risk-averse colleagues.

Despite the bitter start, Fishburne’s cartooning session was uplifting.  His attributed his career happiness to being “deliberately exclusive” to connect with a highly targeted audience fanatical about his cartooning, and a day job where collaboration on product development is encouraged every day.  Tools he uses at Method Products include floor-to-ceiling white boards and a 3D printer capable of churning out prototypes of new laundry detergent bottles overnight.

With its start in 1987 as a music festival, SXSW has long had a knack for melding technology, design, music and filmmaking in a way that’s irresistible for marketers searching for the next great genre, gadget or platform on which to build a brand.

A milestone this year is the explosive growth of SXSW’s interactive portion. Registration was up 40 percent over last year’s 11,000 attendees versus a 25 percent rise for film and flat attendance at music, according to spokeswoman Elizabeth Derczo.

Fishburne’s presentation was just one example of the juxtaposition of deep-pocketed corporate sponsors trying to be edgy and the starving artists that provided the foundation for SXSW.

During a “How to Rawk SXSW” panel advising newcomers how best to navigate the five days of sessions, events and parties, a speaker noted Miller Lite was a sponsor before telling a joke:

“What’s the difference between American beer and making love in a canoe?  They’re both fu@*ng near water.”

Welcome to South by Southwest.

A roundup of other key events during SXSW’s opening weekend:

– The news-sharing website Digg used a SXSW party to announce a simpler, one-click process for uploading content. CEO Jay Adelson a technology overhaul of Digg is expected to speed ingestion of articles, video and other user-submitted content from the current level of 20,000 items a day to as many as a million.

– AT&T bolstered wireless coverage in downtown Austin to satiate the bandwidth appetite of the iPhone-wielding throng.  The telecom giant stationed trucks outfitted with wireless transmitters trucks in parking lots near the convention center and hotels hosting SXSW.  Among other image-improvement initiatives were distribution of coupons offering 25 percent off items purchased at an on-site AT&T booth at SXSW, and charging stations that resembled the miniature lockers used to secure wallets while working out at the gym.  My iPhone functioned fine on the AT&T network during the conference.

– Google took a hit for vastly underestimating consumer concerns about the privacy of their Google Mail and address book data during the recent launch of its Buzz social network. SXSW Interactive keynoter Danah Boyd, a self-described “social media scholar, youth researcher and advocate” who works for Microsoft Research, attacked Google for connecting Buzz to Gmail, which she described as “one of the most private systems imaginable.”  Boyd’s remarks also addressed privacy policies at Facebook and other Internet companies. “I can’t help noticing that more and more technology companies are exposing people’s information publicly and then backpedaling a few weeks out,” she said.

(Editor’s notes: This post was written for PR Week; Photo of Tom Fishburn by Joshua Duncan, Austin, TX)