Drawing Quotes
for Inspiration and Motivation

A collection of inspirational drawing quotes to live and work by (with shareable images!) from artists of the past and present. Please note that this page contains affiliate links to drawing books that I highly recommend.


Drawing Quotes

Drawing pencils with quoted text: "In drawing, one must look for or suspect that there is more than is casually seen." -George Bridgman

"In drawing, one must look for or suspect that there is more than is casually seen." -George Bridgman

Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life


Open sketchbook and pencil with quoted text: "Drawing is vision on paper." -Andrew Loomis

"Drawing is vision on paper." -Andrew Loomis


A hand drawing with quote: "Learning to draw rewires us to see the world differently, to love it more intimately by attending to and coming to cherish its previously invisible details." -Maria Popova

"Learning to draw rewires us to see the world differently, to love it more intimately by attending to and coming to cherish its previously invisible details." -Maria Popova

From Brainpickings: Art and the Mind’s Eye: How Drawing Trains You to See the World More Clearly and to Live with a Deeper Sense of Presence



Realistic portrait drawing with pencils and quoted text: "How you draw is a reflection of how you feel about the world. You're not capturing it, you're interpreting it." -Juliette Aristides

"How you draw is a reflection of how you feel about the world. You're not capturing it, you're interpreting it." -Juliette Aristides

Juliette Aristides' Classical Drawing Atelier: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice


A hand drawing with quoted text: "The ability to draw depends on one's ability to see the way an artist sees." -Betty Edwards

"The ability to draw depends on one's ability to see the way an artist sees." -Betty Edwards


Colored pencils with quoted text "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 the artist's most direct and spontaneous expression. A species of writing: it reveals, better than does painting, his true personality." -Edgar Degas


Art supplies, pencils and paint with quoted text: "The painter draws with his eyes, not with his hands." -Maurice Grosser

"The painter draws with his eyes, not with his hands." -Maurice Grosser



Ink pens on a sketchbook with quoted text: "It gives me such a sense of peace to draw; more than prayer, walks, anything." -Sylvia Plath

"It gives me such a sense of peace to draw; more than prayer, walks, anything." -Sylvia Plath



Closeup of colored pencils with quoted text: "Originality depends only on the character of the drawing and the vision peculiar to each artist." -Georges Seurat

"Originality depends only on the character of the drawing and the vision peculiar to each artist." -Georges Seurat


Drawing pencil about to draw on paper with quoted text: "I love the quality of pencil. It helps me to get to the core of a thing." -Andrew Wyeth

"I love the quality of pencil. It helps me to get to the core of a thing." -Andrew Wyeth


Sketchbook with quote: "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

"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




Drawing pencils with quoted text: "Photography is an immediate reaction, drawing is a meditation." -Henri Cartier-Bresson

"Photography is an immediate reaction, drawing is a meditation." -Henri Cartier-Bresson


Drawing pencils with quoted text: "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

"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


"I have learned that what I have not drawn, I have never really seen, and that when I start drawing an ordinary thing, I realize how extraordinary it is, sheer miracle." -Frederick Franck

"I have learned that what I have not drawn, I have never really seen, and that when I start drawing an ordinary thing, I realize how extraordinary it is, sheer miracle." -Frederick Franck




Quoted text: "All the visible world is only light on form." -Andrew Loomis

"All the visible world is only light on form." -Andrew Loomis


Drawing pencils in pencil holder with quoted text: "Drawing is not what one sees but what one can make others see." -Edgar Degas

"Drawing is not what one sees but what one can make others see." -Edgar Degas


Colored drawing pencils with quoted text: "One must always draw, draw with the eyes, when one cannot draw with a pencil." -Balthus

"One must always draw, draw with the eyes, when one cannot draw with a pencil." -Balthus




Sketchbook and pencil with quoted text: "Drawing takes time. A line has time in it." -David Hockney

"Drawing takes time. A line has time in it." -David Hockney


"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

"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


Blue background with quoted text: "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working." -Pablo Picasso

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working." -Pablo Picasso




Chalk drawing supplies with quoted text: "Drawing is rather like playing chess: your mind races ahead of the moves that you eventually make." -David Hockney

"Drawing is rather like playing chess: your mind races ahead of the moves that you eventually make." -David Hockney


Sketch of flowers with quoted text: "An artist must have his measuring tools not in the hand, but in the eye." -Michelangelo Buonarroti

"An artist must have his measuring tools not in the hand, but in the eye." -Michelangelo Buonarroti


Quote: "At its essence, art is an alchemical process. Alchemy is a process of transformation." -Julia Cameron

"At its essence, art is an alchemical process. Alchemy is a process of transformation." -Julia Cameron






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