Mike Mignola Quotes

We only do what we think is good and what we're happy with. I do that in stand-up, I even do it with my children's books. I don't do market research, I don't have focus groups, I don't care. I don't care if it fails, honestly. I'd rather have something that's completely mine fail than something succeed that I'm not proud of.

Don't write the book you think publishers want to commission. Plenty of other writers will be doing the same thing.

I like to make the music that I really love. You're supposed to make your favorite music that no one else played, and I'd like to just keep it at that and not really change it at all.

I've gotten to a point where I wouldn't direct someone else's material. It would only be something totally original.

I don't want ever to be guilty of what my critics claim: doing formula without original elements.

In the world of creativity, laziness translates into an inability to be rigorous enough to create fearlessly. It makes us plagiarise or water our creativity down to make it more acceptable to the public.

I'm not trying to become a pop artist, and I'm not trying to make sure I stay a country artist. I'm just trying to make sure I make the best music I can, according to my way.

If Hollywood is going to keep going, the writers need to be creatively fulfilled by creating their own things. We need to generate new ideas, so we're not always cannibalizing old ones.

I don't say that I'm going to be like every other comic that's blue, or gratuitous use of language. I do try to have my own standards: I don't do everything the audience wants, and I do try to surprise them.

If you start to just aim for what the audience wants to hear, you're already hamstrung because you don't have any freedom.

Just trying to be different - when I hear something - I don't like to go trampling on other people's sounds.

I don't worry about what everyone wants to see. I make movies that please a writer, director and myself. I always think there are enough people smart as me and sensitive as me.

When we were making 'Arrested Development,' it was the hardest thing I'd ever done. You know, nobody was watching. We weren't getting feedback. The job wasn't paying very well. But the one thing I did feel confident about was: No one will ever be able to do this again. Because no one would be stupid enough to try.

Being essentially a creator, I never set out to shock, always thinking about creating my work and not about the benefits it could produce.

None of my movies have ever made any money, so it's not about commercial success for me. It's always the same thing. I want to create something valuable, something unusual and different that the world has never seen.

One of my life philosophies is that you have a choice to make when you're doing something creative. You can be cheesy... or you can be lame.

I think 'Billy on the Street' is a big show, but why do a show if you won't make it original and unique and powerful?

The thing about Pixar, they don't do the 'trend is your friend.' They're really about timeless story telling, and that's pretty great.

I'm not going to release something just because they think it's the next hit. It's not what everyone wants to hear, but that's the way it is.

In my short career, I tend not to repeat myself. I have no interest in redoing something. Sometimes that makes people angry, and maybe it's not the best thing for me commercially. But it's the best thing for me artistically, and it's the best thing for my heart.

My advice to new artists is to not follow a trend, but to start one. By that, I mean to not be tempted to do what business people might suggest to you, to jump on the bandwagon, but to be strong.

You can't pick a fight with anyone doing something with your sound.

I can only do music if I can do it the way I can do it.

Creativity is not about making 30 songs in 30 days. It's never about demand and supply. No one can possibly do that.

I think one of the studio's characteristics is to embrace wholeheartedly what we feel is interesting; what we perceive to be worthwhile, cool, or beautiful; and to place these ideals at the foundation of the games we make.