Wanting to be an artist or creative is step one. Following through means investing in learning your craft, but we’ve heard from so many aspiring artists and creatives who feel unsure about where to start and so we’re incredibly grateful to the artists and creatives who’ve agreed to share their stories of how they learned their craft.

Jennifer Mack-Watkins

I began learning about printmaking in high school growing up as a young artist in South Carolina. I fell in love with the process and took a few classes during my undergraduate studies at Morris Brown College in Atlanta. I had the opportunity to take classes at Clark Atlanta University where I learned how to carve for the first time ever. I enjoyed understanding how to use tools and how the marks I made would look different depending on the materials I chose to use. Read more>>

Franchesca Schaefer

I found a love for pictures at a young age. My Mammaw (grandmother) kept so many pictures in the house and I would look through them all the time. Myself and my siblings at various ages, my mom and her siblings when they were kids, wedding pictures, graduations, she had them all there. The memories and lives of people I knew and loved and some I only ever met through their pictures. I knew that those little pieces of paper held something so dear. Read more>>

Chelsea Oxborough

I always had an interest in making videos but didn’t take learning it seriously until 2018. That year I bought my first real camera and started to watch Youtube tutorials on camera settings and editing. In 2020 when covid hit I had way more time on my hands and started to create product videos in my apartment. I would post these videos to social media and they started to gain interest from people and brands. In this time is when I really kickstarted my passion for creating and building a brand for myself. Read more>>

Seth PITT

I’m self taught, didn’t go to art school and never really thought of myself as a visual artist until I was in my mid twenties when I realized it was the way I was spending most of my free time. This is an important part of my story to me because I grew up believing that I couldn’t draw or paint and that i wasn’t an artist. It wasn’t until i stopped trying make any particular kind of art and just made work that I related to, that i began to feel confident in my process. Read more>>

Kristin Ware

My grandfather gave me my first camera when I was a kid. At the time, I honestly didn’t think much of it. I was too obsessed with drawing and crafts. Taking photos was just something fun to do to capture the people, places and memories of our family vacations. That all changed when I got to high school and discovered we had an actual darkroom. Read more>>

Amalia Restrepo

Art is the root of humanity, to be an artist, you have to be really good at empathy. Technique is important, but technique comes with putting the time. Theory comes with putting the time. The thing that really matters to me, as an artist, the differentiating factor in art for me, is the ability to connect with humanity, Read more>>

Sara Rosenthal

During the pandemic, a significant body of new paintings was lost, and after that experience I stopped painting altogether for about a year. I had been intrigued by weaving for years, but had never seriously pursued it beyond a small antique traveling loom that I brought with me everywhere and wove by hand. So during this yearlong hiatus from painting, I took an online course, a beginner’s intro to weaving class, and I absolutely fell in love. Read more>>

Katrina Kittle

I didn’t set out to be a writer until after I graduated from college. I initially trained as a dancer, then studied theatre. I was a threatre major for 3 years before being asked to join the Honors Tutorial Program in English at Ohio University. My poor parents–I went from dance to acting to writing. One “practical” pursuit after another! But they remained supportive and it’s all worked out. Read more>>

Patrick Allen

Since I did not go to school for brewing or fermentation science I learned mostly through the experience of brewing itself. Brew, taste, adjust, repeat. Reading books and then doing it through trial and error. Taking notes. Learning from mistakes. Pushing to make it better. Im not keen on the words “self taught” because there have been so many lessons and tips I have learned from others in the industry. Learning did not happen in a void but in a community of others passionate about the craft and willing to share. Read more>>

Laura Ramm-Browning

I love creating with every fiber in my body. Whether its my main craft, drawing or some wild ADHD project I saw on Pinterest. I’ve always had the desire to create something! It’s taken me 32 years to realize you can learn almost anything you put your mind to. Read more>>

Mychal McIntyre

I am self taught in everything I know music wise, Growing up in a violent and poverty stricken neighborhood there wasn’t many opportunities for kids to grow up and actually learn so I made sure I used my time in the house wisely by making sure I was always improving in some manner. Honestly I wouldn’t speed anything up if anything I would’ve just made sure to tell my younger self to DO NOT STOP because I taught myself all the tools needed to succeed, I just needed to develop the mindset to win. Read more>>

Ben D’Alessio

I wanted to write as far back as First Grade. I have a vivid memory of my first day of school asking my teacher when we’d get the chance to write in our marble notebooks. I reignited my interest in high school with creative writing classes but focused more on scholarly (and not scholarly) pursuits in college. I regret not taking writing classes at that time. I started my first novel at 23 while living in Spain. I worked in a school and had a lot of free time. I focused on learning the language and writing my first book. Read more>>

Jesstyne Johnson

I have always been creative- making any kind of art I could get my hands on. I wanted to go to art school and it never panned out. That ended up being a good thing. After college I took a renaissance painting class and HATED it. It sucked all the creative life right out of me. I stuck out the 6 week course since I paid for it, but as soon as it was over I high-tailed it out of there and never looked back! Read more>>

Ottavio Taddei

I graduated from / acting conservatories,”Stella Adler Studio Of Acting” in NYC and “Art Of Acting” in Los Angeles. I believe I understood what “craft” really meant, at least to me, only a few years ago in particular thanks to the teachers Ron Burrus, H Richard Greene, Sam Schacht and Bruce Katzman. Read more>>

Nicole Casaletto

I’m still learning! But I’ve clocked some time and experience for both my photography, and my comedy, and happy to share. However, please know this is an ongoing process. Read more>>

Clayton Stewart

I learned CAD based jewelry design by trial and error. Having a good bit of computer experience and CAD experience from a prior job, the biggest hurdle was learning how to design jewelry that would actually be able to be produced and be wearable. I had to work closely with our in-house jewelers to make sure I was designing in such a way that they could finish and set what I was designing. Read more>>

Corey Strohmeyer

My Oma taught me how to sew when I was about 8 years old…I use the word “taught” loosely–I used to watch her sew and then she would let me loose on her scrap bin and let me make whatever I wanted. She would help me when I would get stuck on something but the majority of the time I learned through trial and error, which can be highly frustrating, but is the best way for me personally to learn. Read more>>

ILLbyNas

Once I found out my creative path was drawing it came organically for the most part.  I drew whatever was around me, until I found my style! I give my parents a lot of the credit though, my Pops pushed me further into my craft no doubt! From telling me to only draw with pens instead on pencils, teaching me that If i made a mistake I had to fix it. Besides learning from them, I studied from Artists and Artwork that I seen around me. Read more>>

Burl Norville

I grew up around creating – around crafting and projects. I also often drew and doodled and sometimes painted growing up, so art has always been close by and familiar. Although no one in my family was a musician, my parents loved music, and I gravitated towards music as well and eventually taught myself guitar. I loved banging out chords and writing songs and this lead to playing in bands and being involved with the music scene in Houston, Texas in the 90’s. Music was what I most identified with as an artist. Read more>>

Justin Dawson

I would say there are two ways I learn and grow as a creative musician. One by doing deep listening to music that I like and analyzing every part in my head and being able to sing it back. Sometimes it could be as simple as one melodic phrase and trying to sing it back or as complicated as a rhythm I’m trying to feel without counting or someone’s whole solo. Read more>>

Mbayo Jonathan Gotz Bona

As Ray Virta, one of my favorite teachers in acting school once said to me: “Be a roast”. Read more>>

Gina Ariko

My jichan and baachan (grandpa and grandma) were both working artists, and I spent most of my childhood summers visiting their house-turned-art-studio in Kokura, Japan. I was two years old the first time my jichan put a stretched canvas in front of me and a paintbrush in my hand, so I can’t even remember a time when I didn’t love painting. Throughout my childhood I thought, “I want to be an artist like them when I grow up.” Read more>>

Will Gehring

I learned color grading online from experts like Darren Mostyn and Walter Volpatto, and gained hands-on experience with short films and music videos. This led to confidence in handling a variety of projects, from commercials to features. Read more>>

Keala Venema

I grew up in West Michigan and I am a (mostly) self-taught fiddle player. I grew up playing classical piano since I was 6, but I was really 16 or so when I picked up my current main instrument and life-long passion. Fiddle teachers were hard to come by in my area of living and I instead turned to learning by ear through local opportunities. Read more>>

TheArt Global

This is a very broad field to get in to; creative collection. Honestly, what started from simply wanting to gather people together and vibe is now turning into creating a positive space for people to learn off of and inspire each other. We’ve noticed that putting events together can be cookie cutter but the interesting part comes when we build ideas off of each other. Read more>>

Aloysius Tamasang

I was self -taught so I learned watching a lot of youtube videos. I also learned by going out to watch other DJ’s during live club sets like my good friend DJ Inturn. Read more>>