--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Of course, I did lots of what would be…" description: "\"Of course, I did lots of what would be called graphic design now, what used to be called commercial art.\" — Leonard Baskin" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6d/leonard-baskin-31439_art_of-course-i-did-lots-of-what-would-be-ca_1607791.png" --- # Of course, I did lots of what would be called graphic… ![“Of course, I did lots of what would be called graphic design now, what used to be called commercial art.” quote by Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6d/leonard-baskin-31439_art_of-course-i-did-lots-of-what-would-be-ca_1607791.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6d/leonard-baskin-31439_art_of-course-i-did-lots-of-what-would-be-ca_1607791.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6d/leonard-baskin-31439_art_of-course-i-did-lots-of-what-would-be-ca_1607791.png) > “Of course, I did lots of what would be called graphic design now, what used to be called commercial art.” [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He reflects on his career shift from graphic design to commercial art, highlighting evolving creative roles. **In simple terms:** He moved from graphic design to commercial art. Key Takeaway Embrace evolving creative paths. Themes artistic evolution career development creativity Mood reflective inquisitive Type artistic career When to use this quote - portfolio reviews - creative workshops - career counseling Key Concepts design commercial art career transition Questions to Reflect On - What drives you to change artistic mediums? - How does commercial art differ from pure design? A Different Perspective Changing fields may dilute specialized expertise. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Commercial art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/commercial-art/) [Design](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/design/) [Graphic design](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/graphic-design/) ## Related quotes > [It's not an accident that, while bookstores are all in a tizzy, one of the more lively and alive sections is the so-called "graphic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/art-spiegelman/it-s-not-an-accident-that-while-bookstores-are-all-in-a-tizzy-one-of/) [Art Spiegelman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/art-spiegelman/) > [Compared with now when almost everyone knows what graphic design is and has some sort of access to the tools to make it, back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bierut/compared-with-now-when-almost-everyone-knows-what-graphic-design-is/) [Michael Bierut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bierut/) > [Commercial Art tries to make you buy things. Graphic Design gives you ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/commercial-art-tries-to-make-you-buy-things-graphic-design-gives-you/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [I turned down a lot of things that were so-called commercial. You're coming out of one film, and then they want you to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-wright/i-turned-down-a-lot-of-things-that-were-so-called-commercial-you-re/) [Robin Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-wright/) > [By the way, all the major awards that I have won are for so-called commercial movies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shobana/by-the-way-all-the-major-awards-that-i-have-won-are-for-so-called/) [Shobana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shobana/) > [Design can also be used to invent strategic futures, make complex decisions, and craft a bold corporate vision. We need to move design up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marty-neumeier/design-can-also-be-used-to-invent-strategic-futures-make-complex/) [Marty Neumeier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marty-neumeier/) > [Obama really changed the way in which design can be used effectively for a candidate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debbie-millman/obama-really-changed-the-way-in-which-design-can-be-used-effectively/) [Debbie Millman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debbie-millman/) > [It was by design that we mostly used pictures that you could not necessarily see what was going on, and that didn't really focus…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-mccready/it-was-by-design-that-we-mostly-used-pictures-that-you-could-not/) [Mike McCready](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-mccready/) > [For one thing, I don't teach graphic design ; I teach people to find their own strengths. Second, I don't hold back anything for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morteza-momayez/for-one-thing-i-don-t-teach-graphic-design-i-teach-people-to-find/) Morteza Momayez > [Right and wrong do not exist in graphic design. There is only effective and non-effective communication.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-bilak/right-and-wrong-do-not-exist-in-graphic-design-there-is-only/) Peter Bilak > [So, I'm always around video games but I've always been interested in them from a visual perspective, with the graphic design and that whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophia-bush/so-i-m-always-around-video-games-but-i-ve-always-been-interested-in/) [Sophia Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophia-bush/) > [I've come up through art school, through painting, through graphic design, through advertising, through TV commercials and music video. I've designed books, built billboards,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kaye/i-ve-come-up-through-art-school-through-painting-through-graphic/) [Tony Kaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kaye/) > [Art uses many different styles, but his voice is very consistent. He's always concise and clever and funny. That's true of somebody like Chris…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francoise-mouly/art-uses-many-different-styles-but-his-voice-is-very-consistent-he-s/) [Francoise Mouly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francoise-mouly/) > [When I first prepared this particular talk... I realized that my usual approach is usually critical. That is, a lot of the things that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-kay/when-i-first-prepared-this-particular-talk-i-realized-that-my-usual/) [Alan Kay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-kay/) > [I decided to go to school for advertising and graphic design. That was what I was gonna do but acting is that thing, its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dayo-okeniyi/i-decided-to-go-to-school-for-advertising-and-graphic-design-that-was/) [Dayo Okeniyi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dayo-okeniyi/) ## More by Leonard Baskin > [It took me fifty years to deal with the Holocaust at all. And I did it in a literary way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/it-took-me-fifty-years-to-deal-with-the-holocaust-at-all-and-i-did-it/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [There is, however, a change going on in the world. There's far more interest in drawing now than there has been in a long,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/there-is-however-a-change-going-on-in-the-world-there-s-far-more/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [Art is man's distinctly human way of fighting death,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/art-is-man-s-distinctly-human-way-of-fighting-death/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [I think it has other roots, has to do, in part, with a general anxiety in contemporary life... nuclear bombs, inequality of possibility and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/i-think-it-has-other-roots-has-to-do-in-part-with-a-general-anxiety/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [I think there is an element of nihilism about, but I don't think most artists feel their work is meaningless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/i-think-there-is-an-element-of-nihilism-about-but-i-don-t-think-most/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [I think the leaders inevitably express the people they are leading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/i-think-the-leaders-inevitably-express-the-people-they-are-leading/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [But I think doctors have always been either honest or dishonest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/but-i-think-doctors-have-always-been-either-honest-or-dishonest/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [I always felt I needed to teach to survive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/i-always-felt-i-needed-to-teach-to-survive/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [I always felt that I had anxiety of survival in terms of livelihood even when I was making plenty of money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/i-always-felt-that-i-had-anxiety-of-survival-in-terms-of-livelihood/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [Works of art produced in the contemporary world are a further expression of that. But I don't think there is an active, ongoing nihilist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/works-of-art-produced-in-the-contemporary-world-are-a-further/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [“The art schools... you get young kids doing the most vile and meaningless crap. I think the believe every bit of it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/the-art-schools-you-get-young-kids-doing-the-most-vile-and/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [Architecture should be dedicated to keeping the outside out and the inside in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/architecture-should-be-dedicated-to-keeping-the-outside-out-and-the/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [I think if you touch ordinary people, they're simply ordinary people, the way they've always been. They work hard, they don't have really as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/i-think-if-you-touch-ordinary-people-they-re-simply-ordinary-people/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [People like me, who care about printing, constitute the tiniest lunatic fringe in the nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/people-like-me-who-care-about-printing-constitute-the-tiniest-lunatic/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [Pop art is the inedible raised to the unspeakable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/pop-art-is-the-inedible-raised-to-the-unspeakable/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) [Explore all 16 Leonard Baskin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) Taf Teh > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Of course, I did lots of what would be called graphic design now, what used to be called commercial art.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Leonard Baskin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/of-course-i-did-lots-of-what-would-be-called-graphic-design-now-what/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/of-course-i-did-lots-of-what-would-be-called-graphic-design-now-what/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6d/leonard-baskin-31439_art_of-course-i-did-lots-of-what-would-be-ca_1607791.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6d/leonard-baskin-31439_art_of-course-i-did-lots-of-what-would-be-ca_1607791.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6d/leonard-baskin-31439_art_of-course-i-did-lots-of-what-would-be-ca_1607791.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Of course, I did lots of what would be called graphic design now, what used to be called commercial art.” — Leonard Baskin", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Leonard Baskin", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Of course, I did lots of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/of-course-i-did-lots-of-what-would-be-called-graphic-design-now-what/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/of-course-i-did-lots-of-what-would-be-called-graphic-design-now-what/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```