Christopher Fowler Quotes

The scientist and the artist are both passionate about their exploration. What leads to my work is that I'm equally an artist and an engineer.

My father, an architectural photographer, was an incurable tinkerer, maker and mender.

Students of American glass must always keep in mind that the creations they collect are truly examples of our American culture... and thus have historical significance.

I think you get most of the most interesting work done in fields where people don't think they're doing art but are merely practicing a craft and working as good craftsmen. Being literate as a writer is good craft, is knowing your job, is knowing how to use your tools properly and not to damage the tools as you use them.

I certainly see myself more as a craftsman than as an artist.

It's [programming] the only job I can think of where I get to be both an engineer and an artist. There's an incredible, rigorous, technical element to it, which I like because you have to do very precise thinking. On the other hand, it has a wildly creative side where the boundaries of imagination are the only real limitation.

To the engineer, all matter in the universe can be placed into one of two categories: (1) things that need to be fixed, and (2) things that will need to be fixed after you've had a few minutes to play with them. Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.

Industry is best at the intersection of science and art.

There are certain things in which mediocrity is not to be endured, such as poetry, music, painting, public speaking.

Screenwriting is still a challenge for me. It's more technical than creative. You have to be a very good journeyman plumber and put the proper parts together. Then, if you can still inject a little bit of something worthwhile, you have done as much as can be expected.

Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad.

Do glassmakers not have the ability to knead their own agates, marbles and rock crystals?

I am a mechanical techie. I can build things with my hands.

Sane judgment abhors nothing so much as a picture perpetrated with no technical knowledge, although with plenty of care and diligence.

Maybe people have no idea how much work is behind a picture. It can seem very effortless, but there is a lot of work. It's exactly like doing ballet. It's hours and hours, but when you go onstage, it's just the pleasure of dancing.

The Discovery was the most intricate, complex machine man has ever built. It's a testament to our time.

Every movie presents unusual challenges, and I like solving the problems with a combination of artwork and engineering.

A design that I create is like my own extension. It's 'thinking made visible.'

I think it's an important part of the visual effects supervisor's job to get really deeply embedded in production and keep us all focused on trying to generate the best result. I'm not proprietary about, 'I would rather do this effect than let physical effects do it.' No, let's do the smartest thing for the movie.

For me, it's a feel thing; it's a mechanical thing.

When art is about craftsmanship, then guys like me don't make it as artists.

I like my products to be smart in a technical way but to show the time invested in their creation, too.

I like to think of 'the studio' as a laboratory where I can go in, learn tricks, apply, revise, and release. I'd figure I had about the same emotional attachment to my craft as a guy over at NASA does over... NASA stuff.

There's nothing more special than intellect and labour that makes painting work. There's no magic there; it's information, and it's work.

It's my experience that scientists can find it difficult to understand the needs of scriptwriters or storytellers.