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.

Justin Poage

The process of learning to write and direct has been long. And honestly still ongoing. Teaching someone to be a good writer is impossible, in my opinion. I think you can teach the basics of storytelling to people but you can’t teach ideas. And that’s where the magic is. Now teaching someone to direct is another story. I was fortunate enough to learn at the feet of the master Lubomir Kocka while attending SCAD. I was a reckless cowboy until he taught me how to mold a story correctly and with purpose. He taught me subtlety, and patience, and how to play the long game. Read more>>

Darius Prather

Photography has always been about experimenting with ideas and taking initial thoughts and making them grand visuals. My earlier days, i spent loading up on beginner level equipment, backdrops, entry level DSLR’s and lenses to feel like i had the essentials, but each photographic experience is a lesson in which you take something from it. You honestly must be teachable, not only to others, but to yourself in order to grow, realize you can do wonders with your eye, and constantly improve on that using your creative instincts. Read more>>

Cameron Jeffrey

A lot of practice at coffee shops and bars lol. I think experimentation (and the time for such) is an artist’s greatest boon, which I get sucks if you’re a perfectionist. It’s harder for some artists to step outside of that box and ‘play around’ more when the going social narrative is to just be good at everything you do ALL the time. I think finding a balance between Art – the hobby – and Art – the profession – is the balancing act a non-zero number of artists need to work at finding a comfortable spot with in the current landscape. I definitely fall into that pit more often than not still though. Read more>>

Demian Gordon

Photography learning comes in may forms. Practice, classes, learning from others, practical use and even more practice. For me it was going out and just shooting everything. From fallen leaves to architecture to people. Everyday is still a learning process. I read up on the advancement of photography, I mimic other creatives to learn new techniques and I go out and shoot to develop and hone my own skills. Read more>>

Savannah Cyree

Learning to create content is an ever evolving process. I started as a blogger who then added youtube and other social platforms. And as someone who has a background in writing and film, I knew storytelling would be my foundation for everything. I knew how to tell a captivating story. But it’s different to do it on every platform. I started by finding those who have been doing it for a while and reading their free content was step one for me. The Blog Societies is great for this. Read more>>

Begoña Herranz

I have always been a very creative and visual person. The walls of my childhood home were covered with paintings from great Mexican artists, so I was exposed to art the moment I entered my home in the arms of my mom. I think thats when everything started. Then, growing up, my parents always encouraged me to draw. paint, and create things with my hands. I’ve been taking art classes for as long as I can remember; but, my first proper introduction to clay was in high school. I took ceramic classes there for three years, and I learned all the basics from great teachers. Read more>>

Robin Litrenta

One of the things I most love about photography is there is always something new to learn. A key starting point is understanding the exposure triangle which is essential to making a good photograph. There are many places to learn both on-line or in person, but the key is to start. Initially, I found classes at local camera stores and my school district’s adult education program. Read more>>

Adam Hartle

I’ve been a stand up comic for 11 years and I’m on year 2 of running our own shows, so I approach everything from a comics perspective. Dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s in terms of all the little things comics would want is the secret to our success. Read more>>

Jasper Martin

My education and practice as an artist has come from many sources over the years! I consider myself primarily a self-taught artist, as I spent most of my time while growing up drawing, sculpting, and creating with whatever means I could find while obsessing over art books, manga, video games, and cartoons. I learned a lot from trying to replicate things I saw, and trying to think of my own ideas. A lot of my work now asks me to illustrate or use my design skills, so it helps to have spent time observing the many ways others have utilized these skills in their own projects. Read more>>

Al Abbazia

I drew pictures and created little comics since I was a kid. I even got in trouble a couple of times in school for doing it during class time. Some kids made fun of me and called me a nerd but I shrugged it off and kept at it. As an adult, I branched off into oil painting and later, photography. It was during my time as a pin up photographer that I started to experiment digitally. Over the years I progressed to drawing and painting digitally. I would watch every free tutorial I could and then even took some online classes to get better. I find that I still learn something new each time I create a new piece. It makes creating art even more exciting. Read more>>

Enrique Batiste

Well, it’s several different things that has been my constant teacher throughout my journey. I went to film school, spoke to numerous friends and colleagues that were already in the business, read, watched videos you name it. But, the most effective teacher and I tell people all the time, is experience. Going out there and doing it. Learning from your mistakes. Seeing what works for you, what doesn’t. Just getting out there in the field and getting those scars. Me jumping out there just doing projects I wanted to do would’ve sped up my learning process tremendously. Read more>>

Reed Knauth

My family is very artistically inclined so naturally I started my artist journey early. I grew up painting and drawing and when other kids went away to Summer camp my brother and I went to art classes. I designed my own brand of greeting cards when I was 8 – all of that led to me pursuing what I do today – art and graphic design. Read more>>

Shakeal Peets

Well music is in my blood. My uncle was a pianist in a band called Jam band back in the Virgin Islands and my father was a singer in a group called XAQ as well, who opened up for Destiny’s child back in the day. So, it’s safe to say music runs in the family. As a kid I would watch my uncle put together melodies for their next project. But I mostly learn from observing others as well as paying attention to little details in different genres of music. But the best way I learn is mostly from trial and error. Read more>>

Chozy Aiyub

As a child, I always imitated actors on TV, from their accents to their movements to everything else. American movies were so powerful back then and there were many wonderful stories that were told. At the age of 13, my father decided to buy me a camcorder camera and that is when I realized my passion for acting as well as story telling. I would write my own short films and cast my friends and neighbors as actors on the project. I would direct and act in my projects. Now forward to today, Read more>>

Jesse Rodriguez

I had a group of friends that I skate with even til this day and we had been wanting to start trying to film so at first I had just wanted to buy a camera so that we would be able to do that , so I got a camera from a friend of mine named jorge & then as time went by & I had kept filming I became really fond of it & only wanted to learn more so that I could get better at it while trying to be as creative as I could be with it too. I started skating & filming with friends a lot more making little small edits here & there. Read more>>

Money Making Sace

Honestly, I study my craft a lot. When I listen to my favorite artist or watch their music videos, I look at it as homework. For example, if there was no Michael Jordan, there would be no Kobe Bryant. Thats not a diss to Kobe, it’s just that in order to be great you have to learn from the greats. As far as speeding up the process, I think everything happens when it’s supposed to. God doesn’t make any mistakes and the universe is going to do what it wants to do. Therefore, I feel like I learned at a speed that I was capable of, you know? I think my most important skill is that I’m perfectly fine with being student, I don’t have to be top dog 24/7. Read more>>

C. D’Angelo

When I decided to write my first novel, THE DIFFERENCE, I didn’t know writing would become another career. I started writing it in my mid-30s and published in my early 40s, spanning 8 years. For the years before this writing bug bit me, I had experience writing academically for my established career as a mental health therapist, but no specific training otherwise. What a shock it was when I enjoyed writing so much that it grew to having two published books. So, the simple answer to how I learned to be an author is that I just wrote. Read more>>

Bee Sucia

It all started when my mom bought me a Polaroid i-Zone Pocket Camera for my 11th birthday. I almost instantly fell in love with taking pictures of everything. It was like being able to capture a moment in time to keep forever. That all evolved to where I am now, a digital and analog photographer completely fluent in photo manipulation programs. I think if I would’ve stuck with photography through out my early school education instead of jumping from medium to medium, I would’ve probably mastered my skill a lot sooner. Read more>>

Adan Avila

Being a Creative Entrepreneur is fun because you can develop all sorts of creative skills without even knowing it. After graduation in 2020, in the height of the pandemic the school didn’t have their annual collections class fashion show for the graduates. Which meant that the exposure I would get from the show and school’s connections was gone. With that coming as a realization, I wasn’t going to let my work go unseen. During collections class, I worked around 2 classmates. Read more>>

Lady Blanca

The art of drag is something that has intrigued me and kept my creative juices flowing for years now. I didn’t start doing my own drag until 3 years ago in 2019, when I decided to start my drag career in my college dorm. These 3 years have been a learning experience for me. Nothing is ever perfect, but practice definitely makes progress. That progress was much needed, in order for me to feel comfortable with my art. When I started in 2019, one of my only sources to learn how to do makeup and drag was RuPaul’s Drag Race, YouTube videos, and a couple of close friends. Read more>>

Kevin Nguyen

My father is first generation barber and he taught me most of what I know today. I wouldn’t necessarily speed up the learning process because I had to take my time and understand the details within the journey. The skill to remain teachable. An obstacle that stood in my way was being around people with different mindsets. Read more>>

GB The G1ft

I’ve been learning about music and arts since before I can remember. My dad was in a marching band and a church drummer, so rhythm & percussion was always a focal point when it came to music at home. On the other hand, my mom was very astute and gave me book reports to do outside of school work which taught me descriptive language. Starting music at a young age and gaining experience in all aspects came from my perseverance and hunger for knowledge. Read more>>

Alyssa Botelho

Taking an art class was a requirement for Fairhaven High School freshmen, and I was placed into drawing. As I had absolutely no interest in advancing my stick figures, I convinced my guidance counselor to switch me into the class my friends raved about with the new, Emmy award-winning teacher with the cool mustache: Media Production. At first just a fun way to break up the day, it quickly became the place I felt most at home. Read more>>

Stephanie Guinnane

It may sound cliche to come from a baker, but the kitchen has been one of my greatest teachers. It’s not only where I physically learned the basics of baking and recipe development but also where I got to learn from my favorite mentors. My dad taught me how to improvise – you may have a recipe, but it’s ok to make things up as you go. My mom taught me to follow my passion – helping my 13-year-old self get her first business off the ground. And my great-grandma taught me that patience and consistency are the keys to unlocking your craft. Read more>>

Jessie Bloom

I was interested in art from a very early age. My mom was an art teacher, so she was always cultivating my creative side. She taught me how to sew on her old Singer sewing machine. I was making little sewing projects, which expanded into some embroidery and then weaving. I took art classes at a local art gallery. I was given a small tapestry frame loom for Christmas one year and started weaving little pieces with fuzzy knitting yarn from the craft store. Once I was in high school, I really discovered textile art in a Fiber Arts class taught by Adrienne Butvinik. Read more>>

Elizabeth Carlile

Podcasting isn’t just about learning how to record, edit and upload an episode. So much of what I learned about the art of podcasting happened over time through many many errors. The skills that ended up being the most essential were discovered in my ability to relax the guest from the very first question, so that the beauty and wisdom of their work could be shared with the audience. Read more>>

Emily Lane

The process of creating my art is ever evolving. It’s been a lot of trial and error to figure things out along the way – and I’m still thinking of ways to improve! Because there are no tutorials or books about creating what I make – I took an idea and figured out what worked and what didn’t. I used the knowledge available online and in books about dyeing wool, and tried out different techniques to get the end result I was wanting. Read more>>

Tyana Danae

It all started on an anniversary trip Kelon (hubby) and I took to NYC. We were walking and he showed me some pointers on how to use the iPhone settings to take pictures. From then on it was a competition between us to capture whatever we wanted. At the end we combined our photos and made an album. After that I couldn’t stop. We purchased a dsl camera and I nervously started photographing family events and portraits. I soon realized I had talent but lacked knowledge. So, I took an introduction to photography class at Brookhaven, now Dallas College, under Daniel Rodrigue. The skills I learned there along with practice gave me confidence which allowed me to be much more creative. Read more>>

Jacob Taylor Gibson

As a practicing artist, most of my work is made through ceramics and printmaking which I was introduced to as an undergrad at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Before then, my artistic ventures were mostly contained in the margins of my high school notebooks. After a semester of struggling to engage with my initial major in biology, I took a last-ditch effort and swapped into art where the first day of Design 1 we were shown a video of a campy Jack Daniels commercial where artists were making posters through relief printing which was accompanied by heavy banjo music. Read more>>

Steve King

I was largely self-taught and did a lot of Googling. I also took some online DJ courses to help understand some fundamentals, and then largely from there I just put time in playing out and learned a lot from seeing how crowds reacted (or didn’t react) to various mixing and technique styles. What I didn’t realize initially was that I would have to learn were a lot of skills outside of simply playing music. On the technical side, understanding how to connect various sound systems and lighting via both wired and wireless methods. Read more>>

Krista Bowman

I’m self taught and have been an avid learner all my life. Everyone knows about “YouTube University”. I built a curriculum for myself based on different YouTube channels I found. Shout out to ProducerGrind, !llmind, and KennyBeats for putting so much information out for the producer community. I also took advantage of free courses on Courses and Berklee Online. I learned music theory, sound design, mixing, and beat arrangement through these different avenues. Read more>>

RICEYFLUSH

I wanted to take pictures of the culture in my city, but I didn’t even know how to use a camera. I had no photography education or class lessons, I learned everything from books and YouTube. Some really good friends of mine also were big contributors when it came to me learning photography. It took years of trial and error, taking horrible photos, for me to truly develop a style that I was comfortable with. I don’t really think speeding up the learning process would have been beneficial because everything happened the way it did for a reason. Read more>>

Adam Emerick

I was in graduate school and learned about the use of Dermestid beetles to clean animals for study/display and was fascinated. I think the anatomy of animals (especially skeletal) is fascinating and seeing these skeletons can amaze and inspire people interested in science/nature. The craft is basically known to few people with many different techniques, so pulling information from others experience and developing my own techniques and styles was important. Read more>>