35 Quotes by David Bayles

For the artisan, craft is an end in itself. For you, the artist, craft is the vehicle for expressing your vision. Craft is the visible edge of art.

Art is human. Error is human. Art is error.

To require perfection is to invite paralysis.

The unfolding over time of a great idea is like the growth of a fractal crystal, allowing details and refinements to multiply endlessly — but only in ever-increasing scale.

We tell the stories we have to tell, stories of the things that draw us in-and why should any of us have more than a handful of those? The only work really worth doing-the only work you can do convincingly-is the work that focuses on the things you care about. To not focus on those issues is to deny the constants in your life.

catering to fears of being misunderstood leaves you dependent upon your audience. In the simplest yet most deadly scenario, ideas are diluted to what you imagine your audience can imagine, leading to work that is condescending, arrogant, or both. Worse yet, you disregard your own highest vision in the process.

Writing is easy: all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead. – Gene Fowler.

Your imagination is free to race a hundred works ahead, conceiving pieces you could and perhaps should and maybe one day will execute – but not today, not in the piece at hand. All you can work on today is directly in front of you. Your job is to develop an imagination of the possible.

Fears about artmaking fall into two families: fears about yourself and fears about your reception by others.