Drawing Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old drawing quotes, drawing sayings, and drawing proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

A mistake in drawing becomes difficult to detect when the eye is familiar with it. Walter J. Phillips
Real development is not leaving things behind, as on a road, but drawing life from them, as on a root. Gilbert K Chesterton
It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine day you discover, to your surprise, that you have rendered something in its true character. Camille Pissarro
Drawing at its best is not what your eyes see but what our mind understands. Millard Sheets
A drawing is simply a line going for a walk. Paul Klee
Drawing is the discipline by which I constantly rediscover the world. Frederick Franck
How you draw is a reflection of how you feel about the world. You're not capturing it, you're interpreting it. Juliette Aristides
If drawing belongs to the world of spirit and color to that of the senses, you must draw first to cultivate the spirit. Henri Matisse
Drawing is a form of probing. And the first generic impulse to draw derives from the human need to search, to plot points, to place things and to place oneself. John Berger
Life is the art of drawing without an eraser. John W. Gardner
I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster, and leaves less room for lies. Le Corbusier
As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward. Vincent Van Gogh
Above and beyond drawing my creations, I try to incorporate some kind of message. I try not to end as merely a question but try to provide a conclusion within the work. Natsuki Takaya
By drawing our senses of perception inward, we are able to experience the control, silence, and quietness of the mind. BKS Iyengar
Drawing a good picture is like telling a really good lie the key is in the incidental detail. Shaun Tan
For me drawing is an attempt to understand what I feel about the world I live in. Brian Froud
Drawing things makes them seem more real and makes me feel more alive. It also makes me pin down and remember things landscapes, season, weather, occasions, incidents, people that would otherwise have melted from my memory. David Gentleman
Originality depends only on the character of the drawing and the vision peculiar to each artist. Georges Seurat
Drawing teaches habits of close observation that will always be useful. Susanna Clarke
Technique should be taught, not as an end in itself, but as something related to individual expression, as a means toward an end. One cannot separate technique from expression. There is only expression. Kimon Nicolaides
Drawing is still basically the same as it has been since prehistoric times. It brings together man and the world. It lives through magic. Keith Haring
Drawing is like the first kiss. It carries within it the deepest emotion and the challenge of the first step. It is the first cry after birth. Ala Bashir
Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad. Salvador Dali
Art is not what you see, but what you make others see. Edgar Degas
Drawing is speaking to the eye; talking is painting to the ear. Joseph Joubert
Drawing is a kind of hypnotism: one looks in such a way at the model, that he comes and takes a seat on the paper. Pablo Picasso
Drawing general conclusions about your main weaknesses can provide a great stimulus to further growth. Alexander Kotov
Drawing is the artist's most direct and spontaneous expression. A species of writing: it reveals, better than does painting, his true personality. Edgar Degas
Drawing is not following a line on the model, it is drawing your sense of the thing. Robert Henri
Drawing is not the same as form, it is a way of seeing form. Edgar Degas
Writing, like drawing is an art, and whatever conveys the meaning is justified. Maxwell Perkins
Drawing makes you see things clearer, and clearer and clearer still, until your eyes ache. David Hockney
In drawing, one must look for or suspect that there is more than is casually seen. George Bridgman
A drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. William Strunk Jr
Drawing is the cornerstone of the graphic, plastic arts. Drawing is the coordination of line, tone, and color symbols into formations that express the artist's thought. John French Sloan
Drawing is not what one sees but what one can make others see. Edgar Degas
Animation is not the art of drawings that move but the art of movements that are drawn. Norman McLaren
Drawing is rather like playing chess: your mind races ahead of the moves that you eventually make. David Hockney
Realize that a drawing is not a copy. It is a construction in very different materials. A drawing is an invention. Robert Henri
Drawing is giving a performance; an artist is an actor who is not limited by the body, only by his ability and, perhaps, experience. Marc Davis
Drawing is putting a line around an idea. Henri Matisse
A drawing is always dragged down to the level of its caption. James Thurber
Keep a bad drawing until by study you have found out why it is bad. Robert Henri
Pure drawing is an abstraction. Drawing and colour are not distinct, everything in nature is coloured. Paul Cezanne
Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence. Henri Matisse
Art begins with resistance at the point where resistance is overcome. No human masterpiece has ever been created without great labor. Andre Gide
The essence of drawing is the line exploring space Andy Goldsworthy
Do not fail, as you go on, to draw something every day, for no matter how little it is, it will be well worthwhile, and it will do you a world of good. Cennino Cennini
An artist cannot fail it is a success to be one. Charles Horton Cooley
Drawing is rather like playing chess your mind races ahead of the moves that you eventually make. David Hockney
The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work. Emile Zola
Photography is an immediate reaction, drawing is a meditation. Henri Cartier-Bresson
This world is but a canvas to our imagination. Henry David Thoreau
You can't do sketches enough. Sketch everything and keep your curiosity fresh. John Singer Sargent
The important thing is to keep on drawing when you start to paint. Never graduate from drawing. John Sloan
The greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we never expected to see. John Tukey
At its essence, art is an alchemical process. Alchemy is a process of transformation. Julia Cameron
Learning to draw is really a matter of learning to see, to see correctly and that means a good deal more than merely looking with the eye. Kimon Nicolaides
Drawing is based upon perspective, which is nothing else than a thorough knowledge of the function of the eye. Leonardo da Vinci
Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen. Leonardo da Vinci
The painter draws with his eyes, not with his hands. Maurice Grosser
Drawing used to be a civilized thing to do, like reading and writing. It was taught in elementary schools. It was democratic. It was a boon to happiness. Michael Kimmelman
An artist must have his measuring tools not in the hand, but in the eye. Michelangelo Buonarroti
In drawing, nothing is better than the first attempt. Pablo Picasso
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. Pablo Picasso
To know what you're going to draw, you have to begin drawing. Pablo Picasso
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. Pablo Picasso
Drawing is feeling. Color is an act of reason. Pierre Bonnard
Every artist was first an amateur. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing. Robert Benchley
Realize that a drawing is not a copy. It is a construction in very different materials. A drawing is an invention. Robert Henri
Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises. Samuel Butler
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. Scott Adams
Drawing is an exercise for a restless imagination. Tim Burton