"I never want to make art that has to hide behind a sea of words to understand it or make it more exciting." -- Ed Templeton

"You have to trust yourself. Take a look at everything, even worlds that [you] don'’t understand or are attracted to. That way you know what's happening." -- Ed Templeton

"It's too easy to use the computer to make a font, or to render the layout. ... I still write out everything and spend more time than needed to 'mess up' all the 'perfectness' that using a computer allows you without trying. I go in and make fake scissor cuts and tweak the edges of the picture boxes so they are not straight." -- Ed Templeton

"I feel like I have trained my eye to know what a good photograph is through looking at so many photo books and seeing so many exhibitions. It builds over time. Each absorption of a great photograph seeps into your own brain and helps you shoot better or helps you know what you don't want to do." -- Ed Templeton

"There are many levels on which a photo or painting can work. It's really good when you make a painting or photo that works on many levels. That means it's good for more than one reason." -- Ed Templeton

"Working with a legit gallery takes some of [the work] off your hands. They ship work, they help promote you and manage a mailing list. They have a space where you can show and they take your work to art fairs. I still do a lot, but when I need help I have a support group now." -- Ed Templeton

Sex Pistols/Public Image Limited's Johnny Lydon peers out the gate. Venice, Calif., 2011.

"Every rider has control over their graphics. But for the most part when I ask them what they want, they say, 'Do whatever you do.' Or they give me a suggestion on a way to draw the Toy Machine characters. ... So I think within the framework of doing a series, each rider still has a bit of personality coming through." -- Ed Templeton

"Even though it's easier to make graphics [with a computer], I still draw everything by hand and use the computer just for coloring and shading. Technology just enabled us to do the things we wanted to do easier. Cutting ruby [lithos] sucked, and there is no limit to colors now. You want a photo as your graphic? No problem!" -- Ed Templeton

"I never worried about if becoming an artist was attainable. You either make art or you don't. The only question is can you make a living doing it like the people you read about in art books?" -- Ed Templeton

"There was a period early on when the idea of parting with a painting was very hard. But as you start to wrap your head around making a life doing this, it becomes easier. I realize it's another way of sharing. ... I feel way stranger about marketing skateboarding than I do selling paintings. Every once in a while I take one of my own paintings. I either list it as 'not for sale' or just take it home after the show is done. So I have my own secret stash of work that I like." -- Ed Templeton

"Sometimes a photo can spawn a painting, and the missing of a photo makes me want to paint what I missed too. For me the connection between the two is people. People, how we act and what we do is the constant fascination for me, and that thread goes through both mediums." -- Ed Templeton

"At the very core of it, skateboarding is a creative and individual pursuit. The people who are drawn to it, by nature, [are] prone to be more creative and artistic. ... It's not a team sport, and it takes a bit of creativity. That is why many skaters are also painters, photographers and musicians." -- Ed Templeton

On collectors: "Neil Patrick Harris has a bunch of work. I think Demi Moore does. I had heard that John Waters has a photo -- not sure about that one. I was supposed to paint a portrait of Judd Apatow and his family, but our schedules have made that impossible so far. D.V. DeVincentis, the guy who wrote the adapted screenplay for 'High Fidelity,' has some work." -- Ed Templeton

"The trust comes in liking what you like, regardless of what your teachers and peers are telling you, and finding your own influences, and then taking the next logical step and making those influences your own. Hard work is no guarantee of success, but there is no success without hard work. Unpack that sentence. Hard work is the key. Anyone who is successful has put in the time and effort to be truly good." -- Ed Templeton

"Since childhood I had the fortune of having grandparents that were champions of the arts. I was taken to museums and watched people considering paintings. That has a big effect on a kid, I believe, to see adults spending so much time looking at pictures, discussing them, etc. Monkey see, monkey do." -- Ed Templeton