One of the most daunting aspects of pursing a creative or artistic career for many aspiring artists is not knowing how to learn the craft. So, we asked some very talented artists and creatives to talk to us about how they learned their crafts and we hope their stories will help you in your journey.

Kathleen Donnelly

Becoming a full-time novelist has always been a dream of mine. I love reading and I love creating so writing fiction is a win-win. I learned through trial and error and by reading the genres I enjoy the most. There’s no better way to learn your craft than reading other authors and seeing how they did plot twists and structured their novels. This helps with writing my books because I have a better sense of all the important elements such as pacing, character, setting, etc. Read more>>

Oliver Mann

When I started at Berklee I was completely awestruck by the talent around me. I saw so many amazing musicians and I just wanted to meet and play with as many people as I could. I eventually built up the courage to ask some of my favorite players if they would play in my band. I had no idea what I was doing leading a band, but I was decently good friends with everyone so we got along pretty well. After some ups and downs we have now officially solidified the way we work. We’ve been playing together for a year and we have played in many states including Tennessee, Texas, North Carolina, New York, and of course Massachusetts. Read more>>

Vedant Dave

My name is Vedant Dave, and I’m a cinematographer and Chief Lighting Technician based in Los Angeles, originally from Mumbai, India.

My journey into filmmaking started at a young age—I was always shot videos and photos for myself, friends, and family. In seventh grade, my best friend and I were inspired by creators like Casey Neistat and Dude Perfect, which led us to start our own YouTube channel, making trick-shot videos and prank videos. That experience introduced me to cameras, lighting, and editing, and I kept refining my skills through hands-on practice and YouTube tutorials. Over time, this passion turned into a profession, and I began working in the film industry in Mumbai in 2019 before moving to Los Angeles in 2023. Read more>>

Cody Cowell

Through Life Lessons ,,, Nothing … Life Lessons … Ego … Read more>>

Rebecca Dugger

I made my first ever decorated sugar cookie in October of 2020. I was bored and needed a hobby. I had been watching YouTube tutorials and IG reels and thought to myself, “I could totally do that!”. And so I did. I researched what ingredients and tools I needed and just went for it. Read more>>

Jen Smith

My art practice is a dynamic blend of skills and techniques, each picked up in its own unique way. From a young age, my mom introduced me to sewing and cross-stitch, laying the foundation for my love of fiber arts. Years later, I picked up knitting in Austin, but it wasn’t until I discovered embroidery that everything truly “clicked.” Read more>>

Angie Knutson

I’m primarily self taught, mostly from trial and error — heavy on the errors. Mistakes are great learning tools, they teach you what NOT to do. I think a lot of business owners can allow mistakes to get in their heads that they’re not good enough, that they don’t deserve their success or that they’re an imposter. I am grateful for my mistakes and the clients that allowed me to make them. We are all human and ultimately my biggest obstacle in my business is myself. Successes and failures are simply part of the process that offer feedback on what to do next. Getting stuck on mistakes gets in the way of learning the lesson that could propel you forward. Read more>>

Alex Nuñez Caba

It’s a collection of skills that I’ve cobbled together along the way. And they all end up informing each other to some degree on different projects. I try to do the best job I can with anything and everything I do. I aim to challenge myself and do just a little more with each new thing. My biggest obstacle is usually myself. Read more>>

Jackson Wrede

You’d think art school would teach you how to paint, but that’s not really the case. Most university art programs today focus on exploring interdisciplinary, conceptual, and postmodern approaches to art making rather than teaching the nuts and bolts of traditional painting technoques. If you want to learn how to make “stuff look like stuff” as I say—how to capture form, light, and texture with precision—it’s surprisingly difficult to find proper instruction in the mainstream art establishment. Read more>>

Marelly & Joshua

Well, we both are very creative people. I, Marelly, have always been interested in photography, design, and content creation. However, I never really took the chance to learn more about it, since I was very focused on being a full-time student-athlete. Fast forward , I took on a job in college during my Junior year as a Social Media Manager and Website Coordinator. That year I invested into buying my first camera as well. I learned a lot while on the job, and from there I went on to forming part of the Creative Marketing Team at the university I was attending at that time. Read more>>

Linnaia McKenzie

When the world stopped in 2020, it was a critical moment for the all of us to reflect on our pursuit of what we truly want in life while we have the opportunity to do so. I used that moment in time as fuel to revisit my passions and take greater, intentional action on making my dreams come true. Since I can remember I have loved music; the way it can make you feel, the way it can entertain, the way it can bring people together. Coming from a family of skilled, experienced musicians allowed me to fall right in line with developing my skills as a singer and performer at an early age. By the time I was 8, I had performed in my first Community Theater production and was assigned my first public solo where I was given the opportunity to sing for people outside of my family. Read more>>

Donielle Broderick

I taught myself to crochet during the pandemic. I was previously a bartender but when the world shut down I needed a new way to make money and something to keep me busy and sane while the world was shutting down. I was also trying to quit drinking and picking up a new “hobby” aided in that effort and I am now 5 years sober with a successful crochet business. I watched instructional YouTube videos and followed along until I got the hang of it, then learned how to read patterns and create stitches without having to watch them be done. After a couple of years of experience under my belt I then began writing and selling my own crochet patterns, as well as making and selling the dolls from the patterns I created. Read more>>

Eli Perez

I was born and raised in Mexico City, and ever since I can remember, salsa was everywhere. I have always enjoyed dancing and salsa specifically has been the one genre I never let go.

My parents/family loved to dance salsa and my sister was taking dance classes when she was in college. I remember seeing her in a recital once, I was probably 8 years old. And I fell in love with it all; – the way she looked, the lights hitting her face and body, the music so loud you could feel it in your seat and just how happy she looked on stage. That day, something hit and I wanted to be on stage as well. Read more>>

Leigh Walls

I started drawing comics from a very early age. I was always drawing. Mostly stuff from my head and my own characters and I would fill up sketchbooks with these characters and stories.
In high school I started drawing from live models at the suggestion of my father and brother. Drawing from life is the basis for learning how to draw. Anything you need to know how to draw, nothing is better than getting a look at it in real life. Read more>>

Alix Scherer

As a creative, I would consider my “crafts” to be fashion and interior decorating. If I could do it all over again, I guess I would allow myself to lean into my creativity sooner. Growing up, my school placed a heavy emphasis on science and math. It was age of Numbers (the 2000s tv series) and emphasis on good *test* scores. For years I left my creativity on the outskirts of my life, calling it nothing more than a hobby. I tried to make my desire to create smaller and smaller, until the pandemic hit. After spending weeks in our apartment I finally thought “hmm if creating things makes me this happy, why not do it more often?” Read more>>

Francheska Acevedo

I got into painting when I started college in 2013. I wasn’t the best at it starting out, thankfully I’m a little better at it now. Something that would have helped me improve faster was if I painted more often! I would get frustrated because the work did not look the way I wanted it to when I was still new with at medium. So, instead of practicing more, I would go periods of time without painting at all. Wanting to be a perfectionist did more harm than good. Practice makes perfect! I got into digital art around November of 2017. I had just bought my iPad and immediately downloaded procreate! I was so excited to finally to be able to make digitally! Read more>>

Suzy Williams

I learned to quilt when I was 15, making basic quilting blocks and focusing on traditional quilt patterns. As an art student in college, I took fiber arts classes where I dabbled in designing fabric and quilt patterns; however, it wasn’t until my mid-20s that I got the idea to make quilts and sell them. This was early 2015 so around that time I discovered Instagram and would post my quilts there. Read more>>

Donovan Neal

Wow, that’s such a great question! I learned to write by simply practicing. The more you write, the better you become. Over time, you’ll start asking yourself how to describe things in a way that resonates with your readers. This understanding comes only through dedicating time to your craft. It’s in this process that you discover new words, techniques, and approaches to achieve your goals. Eventually, you’ll find yourself seeking advice from others, learning how they mastered their craft. So, practice telling your story to yourself and read about the art of writing the kinds of books you want to create. This includes reading works from the genre you’re writing in. Read more>>

Sarah Calandro

I could talk at length about this topic. It’s something I’ve thought about a lot and I am particularly interested in conveying to my students. Learning to paint has been one of those things that has happened through my life in fits and starts and it took me feeling like I was going to die (theoretically) if I didn’t figure out how to create what I knew I could (but just couldn’t yet, if that makes sense). Read more>>

Jonathan Brown

I was always drawn to music growing up. It started with drums as my main instrument, I would always sing jokingly around my family and friend. When I was about 13 I met a guy named Hezekiah Trevino at a church I was going to at the time. He was the music director at the church, He spent a lot of time pouring into me and teaching me things, providing me with resources to learn, and helping me develop myself. If I could have sped up any part of the process I would def have taken more time to grow in knowledge to have a better understanding earlier that I do now. Read more>>

Ramona Ryder

Honestly, I have been performing on stage since I could walk. I started in toddler ballet classes and plays at my parents church, and then went on to do community theater and high school productions to hone my stage presence and abilities. I’ve always had a passion for acting, singing, and stage makeup, but it wasn’t until my freshmen year of college that I really started experimenting. I joined Tiktok through the recommendation of a friend and I started posting special effects makeup looks and cosplay videos using whatever I had in my closet, and over time I started growing a following and learning how to improve my makeup and costuming skills. I also discovered my love for theatrical lip syncing this way. Read more>>

Shea West

As soon as I could write coherent sentences as a child, I did. I have these tiny slips of paper that my mom held onto from childhood; the edges are frayed and colored from two decades of being in boxes. Silly poems and funny notes, mostly. But it’s evidence that I had the kindling for the writer’s spark in my bones from the beginning. Read more>>

Kid Balloon

I’ve been born with it. I was drawing since the age of 2 years old. It wasn’t something that was pushed on me I just started doing it thanks to watching Bob Ross and never stopped. I’m self taught I learned from YouTube university, google and alot of practice in my earlier days. After a couple years went by I got some friends who went to universities that gave me a few insiders. But the knowledge I got from friends was more like little life hacks like where to get cheap supplies or how to prolong supplies…etc Read more>>

Vanessa Cozart

I majored in theatre at Birmingham-Southern College, but I truly learned how to act when I moved to Atlanta and started taking classes from local studios. I wish that I could have stopped comparing myself to other people so much. I had such bad insecurity issues, and I wanted to be perfect. I really think I got in my own way a lot. Read more>>