I just kind of conjured them up out of my subconscious and put them in order of ascending peculiarity.
Edward GoreyRead
If something doesn't creep into a drawing that you're not prepared for, you might as well not have drawn it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Embrace the unexpected in creativity; it's essential for true expression.
Edward Gorey's quote emphasizes the importance of spontaneity and unpredictability in the artistic process. He suggests that if a drawing lacks surprises or elements that challenge the artist, then the act of drawing may not hold much value. True art often involves unexpected twists, which can lead to deeper insights and expressions of the artist's emotions.
Themes
ArtCreativityUnexpectedExpressionDrawing
In practice
Example use cases
An artist sharing this quote during a workshop to encourage students to experiment with their styles.
More from Edward Gorey
All quotes →This is the theory… that anything that is art… is presumably about some certain thing, but is really always about something else, and it’s no good having one without the other, because if you just have the something it is boring and if you just have the something else it’s irritating.
Edward GoreyRead
I am a person before I am anything else. I never say I am a writer. I never say I am an artist...I am a person who does those things.
Edward GoreyRead
Similar quotes
Writers write because they cannot allow the characters that inhabit them to suffocate them. These characters want to get out, to breathe fresh air and partake of the wine of friendship; were they to remain locked in, they would forcibly break down the walls. It is they who force the writer to tell their stories.
Elie WieselRead
For me, it's about making art that's not good but phenomenal. James Baldwin didn't want to just stay above the fray. Prince didn't think, 'I wonder what the industry is gonna think about 'Purple Rain.'' It's just, is this honest? Is this real? Does this move me? The rest is icing.
Lena WaitheRead
The deepest quality of a work of art will always be the quality of the mind of the producer...No good novel will ever proceed from a superficial mind.
Henry JamesRead
My aim in painting has always been the most exact transcription possible of my most intimate impression of nature.
Edward HopperRead
A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.
Stanley KubrickRead
The writer's only responsibility is to his art...If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' is worth any number of old ladies.
William FaulknerRead