How to draw: Quotes from the greats to get you inspired
After yet another lockdown in Melbourne, I set out to begin a new project.
As I get ready to develop a new collection for House of Rolfe I’ve quite literally gone back to the drawing board.
Each of the textile designs starts as an illustration, which I then transform into patterns.
I sat down with my trusty set of pencils and paper and looked to some of history’s greatest artists for motivation and inspiration for what’s fundamentally the root of all art and design: Drawing.
Drawing has become like oxygen, it allows me to make sense of the ideas and dreams that swirl through my mind, and at times create a sense of peace and even meditation.
Below are some of my favourite quotes on drawing:
“Photography is an immediate reaction, drawing is a meditation.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson
“Drawing is the only thing I've found in which I can lose myself completely. I love it. It started as something that relaxed me, but now it's a struggle because I'm pushing myself. The day-to-day sketching is fraught.” – Peter Capaldi
“Sketching is almost everything. It is the painter's identity, his style, his conviction, and then color is just a gift to the drawing.” – Fernando Botero
“A drawing is simply a line going for a walk.” – Paul Klee
“I look at graphic design as communication, meaning that the work has to have a vibe to connect to the viewer or perceiver. I make a black and white drawing and then add colour digitally, bringing in a contemporary pattern to the composition to create a vibrance.” – John Van Hamersveld
“Drawing makes you see things clearer, and clearer and clearer still, until your eyes ache.” – David Hockney
“Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad.” – Salvador Dali
“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
“Even drawing grey hair at all is difficult to render in black and white.” – Alison Bechdel
“In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing.” – Vincent Van Gogh
“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
“In drawing, nothing is better than the first attempt.” – Pablo Picasso
“Drawing is not what one sees but what one can make others see.” – Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas, Three Studies of a Dancer