Eliot Sumner Quotes

When I usually go to my studio to work, I start with something that is going to take two minutes just to put some idea down and the next thing I know, ten hours have gone by and my family is screaming at me because they want me to come up to have dinner with them.

Usually composers need a reason to write. I need a deadline.

Every morning between 9 and 12 I go to my room and sit before a piece of paper. Many times, I just sit for three hours with no ideas coming to me. But I know one thing. If an idea does come between 9 and 12 I am there ready for it.

There's nothing an artist needs more - even more than excellent tools and stamina - than a deadline.

Brian Eno developed systems to keep himself on edge and to keep himself in a position where he's generating ideas.

I often find that having an idea in my head prevents me from doing something else. Working is therefore a way of getting rid of an idea.

When I got my first loft, I still didn't know what I was going to paint... There were long stretches when I just sat there and thought without interruption.

I think we've all been in the middle of doing something we cared about, when someone coming in the room and saying 'hello' was annoying. I personally can understand that, as someone who tries to create.

A good artist has less time than ideas.

I think every artist needs a rule that's stupid but that helps him, like a deadline would.

I'm a believer that you shouldn't really talk about the drawing until you're done with the drawing.

You can work on an album forever, but finishing it is a whole different deal.

People ask me, 'What's your next film?' And I never know.

I have a lot of sketches and ideas, but when you don't use them, they get stale.

My struggle over the years has constantly been, it only takes 10 minutes, or an average shower, to come up with a mini-series or two, but it takes a year to draw them. So for me, it's been just trying to find a way to get all these ideas and all these incidents on paper.

The best thing for my creative process is a deadline.

I would say any creative person has that: you can't just force a topic. Whether you're a painter, you want to do a cartoon. Anything. Something may come up that's not your style or suited to what you are working on at the moment. So you file it away and hopefully find a place for it.

I just write when the bell rings. I don't have time to wait for inspiration.

Creation is in part merely the business of forgoing the great and small distractions.

I'm always working on something. I wish I had more time for free-thinking and brainstorming new ideas. That's not to say my mind doesn't wander, but I find myself wishing for more of that kind of time.

I feel like I have a lot of novel ideas, but they often come up while I'm already in the process of working on a book. You have to watch out with the slutty new idea.

Just lock myself in a room, stop answering emails, stop answering the phone and I come out with something.

I don't know where my ideas come from, but I know where they come to. They come to my desk, and if I'm not there, they go away again.

I'm not one of those who spring up yelling, "Yippee! Another day!" I'll grumble and sulk around a couple of hours, reading newspapers and trying to pick out an idea I might do something with on the show. But I don't really start functioning until noon or later; then about two I go to the studio and the pace begins to quicken.

Inspiration and creativity, they ride right next to one anotherNot everyday are you going to wake up, the clouds are gonna part and the rays are gonna come downsometimes you gotta just get in there and force yourself to work and maybe something good will come out of it.