Daily Inspiration Quote by Matthew Ashford

"I draw whatever hits me" is the kind of offhand line that sounds casual until you notice how much it refuses. Ashford, an actor by trade, is basically declining the whole prestige machinery that normally hovers around making art: the planned statement, the tidy theme, the brand-consistent aesthetic. "Hits me" is doing the heavy lifting. It frames inspiration as impact, not intention - a physical jolt rather than a curated idea. That wording quietly aligns drawing with acting: you don’t manufacture emotion on cue so much as stay porous enough to let something land, then translate it into behavior (or in this case, line and shade).

The intent reads as permission - to work from instinct, to skip justification, to treat drawing as a responsive practice instead of a disciplined project. Subtext: control is overrated. In a culture that rewards artists for narrating their process as a coherent philosophy, Ashford’s sentence dodges the PR-friendly explanation. It also protects the work. If the source is whatever "hits", then the drawing can be messy, contradictory, or private without needing to be defended as a concept.

Context matters: actors who draw are often treated as dabblers, expected to either prove seriousness or keep it as a hobby. This quote sidesteps that insecurity by adopting a punchy, process-first identity. It’s not "I draw to express myself". It’s "I draw to register the world as it collides with me". That collision is the point - and the credibility.