Top 40 Quotes & Sayings by Jamie Hewlett

I used to love comic books, and I love American comedy, and neither are afraid to tackle big themes.

I love zombie films.

I start with an idea in my head. I sketch it out quickly as a line drawing, using pencil. It never comes out quite right - usually a bit better than my mental picture.

I took a lot of influences from Studio Ghibli, which is the Japanese animation studio that made 'Spirited Away' and 'Castle in the Sky.' They're like the Japanese version of Disney - but without all the schmaltz.

I'm all about doing things myself because I find it hard to trust other people. Not trust, but I know exactly what I want to do, and I know exactly how it's supposed to look.

You can write and write, but if you don't have someone who can nail that character, it's never going to live.

That was always my dream as a kid: to draw comic books.

When a picture is done, I'm not concerned with it anymore; I'm on to the next thing.

My parents weren't very good at keeping things, which is why I treasure my own sons' work so much now - I don't want to lose anything.

I need to find a way of retaining creative control.

I'm always having ideas. I'd like to continue being able to realise the ideas I have.

It's not that I never do interviews or that I find them traumatic. It's just that I'm basically not that comfortable doing them.

Some comic artists I've known are better than most contemporary artists with work hanging in Tate Modern.

When I'm working on something, if I went to an exhibition of an artist I respect, then I usually come home quite depressed and look at what I'm doing and throw it all away and start again.

I can't see anybody wanting to go to 'Tank Girl: The Musical!'

I don't like collaborating too much.

To be an artist is to doubt yourself and try harder.

I'm much more at home with Daffy Duck than I am with a real person.

The art world's quite elitist. I tend to skirt around that world.

I love to draw and paint - that's what makes me happy.

I don't go to enough exhibitions, purely because it intimidates me.

If you're going to pretend to be somebody you're not - which is the whole point of being a rock star - then why not just invent fake characters and have them do it all for you?

Look at someone like Kanye West - ego is the death of a lot of art. To believe in yourself that much is to stop being an artist.

I have a problem with making eye contact with people, or with holding eye contact.

The more you draw, the better you get.

I can draw and paint in many different styles, and use different mediums to create work.

I want to do stuff that excites me and is enjoyable.

I am in that position where I finish something, it goes out, and I'm onto the next thing. I finish it, it goes out, onto the next thing.

I see the 'z' in 'Humanz' as referring to robots, AI, programming, brainwashing, indoctrination. And it's a question to us: are we human, or are we humanz? Have we lost the ability to think for ourselves? Do we just believe what we're told? That's how I see it.

I grew up doubting myself. It was a very spotty, frustrating, worrying time.

My mum was into pottery and embroidery, very artistic, and she knew some people from the college, which I think was how I got into it. My dad, who was a head-hunter, was also an incredible artist, and when he was very young, he was a really good cartoonist.

The total freedom means that you're enjoying what you're doing and you're involved in what you're doing, and that gives you the opportunity to experiment and have fun.

It’s about reaching that moment of pure ecstasy when a drawing just happens. Where every move you make with your hand and every thought you have in your head grows in front of you without any mistakes; no rubbing out, starting again and getting frustrated. It’s like being in a trance - it’s a fluid - and you almost don’t remember doing the picture. Drawing is an escape from all the unnecessary things in life that get in the way of being free.

A lot of people put out albums with sort of crappy songs and a couple of singles because they know no one's going to listen to it anyway. We very much wanted it to be something that you do listen to from beginning to end and had a narrative that was important.

China is incredibly important to the future of mankind. For me, this is something that we all need to have intelligent discussions about in America, in Britain, in Europe. We need to really understand that their destiny and our destiny, Africa's destiny, etc., are all completely tied in. The argument for getting to know your neighbors is very compelling.

It's wonderful to find cultures that are historically still intact, as opposed to a lot of Western cultures which seem to me to be slowly dying, stuck in celebrity illness or stupidity.

Murdoc is sort of the, um, it’s his band. He sort of put Gorillaz together. It’s his idea. But he’s sort of an ugly, sort of, snaggle-toothed Satanist who didn’t actually get the job of being the lead singer ‘cause he isn’t very handsome. So, 2D got the job, which is always going to piss him off.

If you're having fun, if you're working with people you love working with, then the results are always going to be exciting.

Drawing Is An Escape From All The Unecessary Things In Life That Get In The Way Of Being Free

Everybody thinks that 2-D is Damon, but none of the characters are based on any of us. 2-D is the classic stupid pretty boy singer. He's the fall guy, the stooge. Everyone takes the piss out of him. He had a car accident where he went through the windscreen and ended up with two bumps on his head. It knocked some cool into him