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.

Ka’imi Kuoha

Martial arts has been in my blood and my destiny since before I was born, to say it’s second nature would be an understatement. My Father is the head of a Kempo organization & my Mother a black belt in the arts. The world of film and theater were also introduced to me at the age of 3 years old where I landed my very first speaking role as well as my Screen Actors Guild membership along side of George Clooney, before he became “George Clooney”. Because of my diverse background and meeting people from all walks of life, I have a passion to learn from others. Taking what works for my body/lifestyle & throwing out the rest. Read more>>

Kandi Daniel

I have always had a love for photography but never dreamed I could turn it into a successful business. My hobby of taking photos of my children and other family members quickly grew into a true passion and I knew I wanted to learn more! I found myself taking online courses and offering a lot of free sessions to try and sharpen my skills. My first photography workshop was with a local photographer, Shauna Veasey, whom I had admired so much but was also intimidated by her talent. I remember reaching out to her and asking her if my lack of knowledge should keep me from attending. She was so sweet and encouraged me to attend, so I did and it was a game changer for me. Read more>>

Ben Miller

Seeing my first Fushu Daiko taiko drumming performance was an inspiration. I had already been a life long drummer and lover of martial arts and now I was seeing them together in synergy. My curiosity and passion for taiko has brought me on a 25 year journey so far. If anything might have sped up my learning process it might have been by slowing down and sinking deeper into each new understanding, technique and movement as I acquired them, The most essential skills have been listening, feeling and staying connected with the other drummers. Read more>>

Ashley Nardone

From the earliest days I can remember, curiosity has been a central driving force in my life. I have a tendency to test limits and try things out. To answer how I’ve learned to be a working artist, for me boils down to an amount of natural ability and a deep dedication to being curious. In my mind, the leaning process is just that – a process. The speed at which I learn things is largely out of my control. The best contribution I can make is to ensure I keep moving forward each day, set new challenges, stay curious and absorb lessons around me. One of the most essential skills I have fostered is knowing how to ask myself questions. Read more>>

Alecia Vera

I have always been curious and have had a fascination for the “know how”. I am sure it’s also related to my ADHD on some level as well. I would say it is all about experimentation though. The more you dabble and the more you produce, the more you’ll learn. Treat the mistakes as a challenge to fix the issue by using another medium or painting over it. It’s one of the greatest advantages we have as artists. It’s all subjective. Use that as a driving force to make something you like even if others think it’s horrendous or don’t understand it. Read more>>

Melody Timothee

Photography has basic rules but for me it was finding out what works best for me despite the rules. Most of what I learned was from practicing and watching YouTube videos. Since photography is an art, there isn’t one way to do something. It’s all subjective. I would spend hours on YouTube watching tutorials then taking my camera out with my friends and begging them to take their photos. Thankfully, they always said yes. Through experimentation is where I found my style. “Okay now let’s see what happens when I put the light here instead?..Hmm, I like this. Read more>>

Demetrius Williams

I’d say that the primary thing I do differently is that I do not tend to heavily edit or touch-up my images. I consider myself a purist in that I strive to capture exactly what I am going for in-camera, so when it comes to editing I will occasionally do basic editing (i.e. color correction, minor exposure adjustment, etc). When it comes to portrait photography I prefer to bring out the very best of my subjects as they are – even with their perceived flaws – instead of photoshopping what they see as imperfections out of the image. Read more>>

Kelly Loreto

I’ve been in the creative and marketing field since college. I started exploring more work that I could do with my hands and without a computer. I started with apparel design and sewing. From there I wanted to do furniture but didn’t know where or how to learn. Most furniture programs were a big investment of time, money or traveling to a far location. Wood shops are less common these days and investing in tools without experience didn’t seem logical. After years of exploring, I came across a night program through the San Diego Community College district. Read more>>

Eva Carrillo

I am a primarily self-taught designer and have making jewelry since 2000. It wasn’t until 2015 that I was able to take my first metalsmith, jewelry making class. Learning how to work with metals is a really great skill to have. I fell in love with the craft and wished I had taken classes sooner. I think the biggest obstacles I’ve had to face is finding time for my craft, working full time, being a single parent and making time to create jewelry is quite the juggling act. Covid also had an impact on my craft. My studio class closed in 2020. They re-opened the studio class last year, however it’s limited and fills up rather quickly.Read more>>

Sarah

As an entirely self taught sewist and designer, my skills have been accumulated over time. That isn’t always the most efficient way to learn a craft because it takes a lot of time, patience, and commitment to learn your art and learn to do things correctly, but I don’t know that I would have wanted to learn my skills any faster. Patience and attention to detail are the most essential skills that need to be developed in order to master sewing elaborate costumes. The advantage of learning slowly and at your own pace is that you have time to truly hone into the unique skills that you excel the most at. Read more>>

Maya Avery

When I was younger my grandmother had gifted me a sewing machine but I never used it until January of 2020 when I taught myself how to sew (my freshman year of college). I began to take apart some clothing in my closet and assemble it back together to learn how the clothing was constructed and how to remake it from scratch. I developed my skills and officially started my brand in June 2020. I am still new to designing and I would love to further develop my skills and knowledge. I wouldn’t change my learning process but not having a traditional design background is a bit frustrating because I am not sure at times what the next step is for me as a designer. Read more>>

Peter Timinsky

I am doing what I do now because I am constantly curious about consuming as much information as possible within the fine arts. As a kid, I wasn’t interested in art or expression too much although I eventually realized it was important but couldn’t really fully figure myself out at a young age. I truly think painting found me instead of vice versa – this is what I find the most comfort in these days. I don’t necessarily think I would have liked to have my past process sped up at all as I learned from all the mistakes and failures, not just in art but life as well. Read more>>

Kris Orticello

When I first began my acting journey I had a natural charisma, and desire to make people happy and to help them escape. Natural acting ability, instinct and drive are important foundational elements to have, but you need proper training to really thrive. At the age of 7 my parents signed me up for acting and modeling lessons. To this day I still upgrade my coaching and acting lessons with both private and group lessons. Actors need to be able to work with other actors and effectively “play” in very controlled situations where multiple variables are happening simultaneously. We also need to build and strengthen our imaginations. This is especially important when special effects come in, and we’re basically miming. Read more>>

Mersed

I hired a vocal coach a little over a year ago that thought me and still is teaching me how to sing and breathe correctly. Singing is definitely harder than it looks, some people might make it look easy but that’s only because they practiced a lot. There are always obstacles in life no matter what you do like not enough time, being tired, no drive or energy, no motivation other than just having no experience, sometimes passing yourself is the hardest obstacle you can overcome. Read more>>

John Dailey

I’ve approached all of my artistic endeavors the same way, pretty much. Whether it’s recording an album or directing a music video, as an independent artist you have to be able to understand how to work within your budget/limitations and be able to get creative within those boundaries. Also just keeping a mental inventory of the resources you already have access to and how you can build something that can flourish creatively within the boundaries. If you really want to speed up the process then I recommend just making art and finishing it. Read more>>

Colleen Underwood

When you find something that you love doing, you love “being” too. That’s why learning my craft was and is central to all I do as a Surface Pattern Designer. Before I even knew what Surface Design was, I was just a watercolor hobbyist. My mom had taken me and my kids shopping for craft supplies to make some memories one day and she told me to throw something in the shopping cart too. I grabbed some watercolor paints without too much thought. Later that evening, after my kids were in bed, I found a tutorial and started painting, playing, experimenting, and in less than an hour… Read more>>

Marcus May

I learned my craft of makeup and transformation growing up and was fortunate to be in an environment where that was okay. I was always in the mirror playing in makeup during theater productions (when I wasn’t on stage) in high school. When I was growing up my mother bought a bundle all-in-one makeup kit and would always let me doll her up for so many fantasy adventures. I of course took Theatrical Makeup in college while pursuing my Bachelors and was blown away by my professor Barbara Cox at University of North Texas. Read more>>

Malcolm Farrell

Malcolm Farrell learned to do what he does by taking acting classes at the age of 18. He knew that acting was his God given talent but he realized he had to be taught it to really get good at it. Malcolm could have taken more classes at first to speed up the learning process. At first he was embarrassed taking courses because he knew that he wasn’t good at it but as time went by his confidence for wanting to learn more about the craft and to grow as an actor went up. Some skills that were most essential to him was being able to look at people in their eyes when delivering lines and also pacing throughout a scene. Read more>>

Aubree Tippetts

Learning the mechanics of photography was actually very quick. I took a one day beginner photographer class with the goal to simply learn how to use a camera and all of its functions. Cameras are actually pretty elaborate pieces of equipment that take some time to master. Even still, I don’t use all the functions my camera is capable of!Taking good photos is another story. As with anything, creating good compositions was a long process of just practicing and trying out new things every time I was shooting. There’s this weird period of learning in all creative mediums where your eye is faster than the rest of you. Read more>>

Joanie Nerrettig

I was in rehab after a bad mushroom trip. At 18, I had to call my mom to make sure I was still on her insurance, which thankfully, I was. I did a thirty day hospital stay, then a halfway house. At the halfway house one of the counselors had a guitar and he taught me, “House of the Rising Sun”. Soon after, I went to a pawn shop in Shreveport, Louisiana and bought my first guitar, a Kent Classical nylon string for $20. Somehow I found an easy chord guitar book, and started singing the songs for anyone who would listen. Read more>>

Chris Wheeler

My wife and I moved to Tainan Taiwan in 1999 to travel throughout Asia and learn about the culture. Tainan is known as the cultural center of Taiwan so we had access to cultural institutions that were rich with history and prestige. She took traditional ink and brush painting and realized that when we moved back to the United States there wouldn’t be anyone to flatten and mount her ink paintings. I volunteered to study under Master Huang in the traditional technique of stretching scrolls and shoji screens. Read more>>

Ella Jerrier

I’ve been dancing since I was 2 years old – so it feels like I’ve always been on stage. I’ve always been really comfortable in front of crowds. After dancing for a while, a local talent agent saw me at a performance and signed me. I did a few local commercials here and there where all I had to do was dance or jump around. After that, I started really focusing on training with acting coaches in Texas and Los Angeles. I worked with people like Cathy Sullivan, Lauren Lazell, Cynthia Bain, Sharon Lieblein and Amber Horn. Acting is way more than just memorizing lines – there is a ton of prep work required for every audition and every role. Read more>>

Noel Mirabal

How did I learn to do, what I do? Well, I never knew that I wanted to be an actor until the day I actually had the opportunity to do it. In the beginning, I am assuming like most actors. I started off by gaining experience as a background actor. After a while of that, I decided that I wanted to learn more, so I started attending acting intensives with casting directors such as Lori Wyman. After that, I decided that I wanted to re-enroll into Miami Dade College to study Drama, which I did graduate from. Now, I study on my own by reading books on acting and I do have an amazing Acting Coach. Her name is Marjorie Morham. Read more>>

Emmanuella Adeniyi

I started singing when i was a little girl, but i think I learned to sing properly in middle school froma beautiful black woman named ms. Alexander. I don’t think there was really anything i could have done to speed up the process because i think a bug part of technique is ability but i think to widen my range I probably could’ve sang more out my comfort zone songs. Some essential skills would be drink hella water and push from your diaphragm. A big obstacle i still run into sometime is nerves and anxiety. Read more>>

Tom Groves

I learned much of what I do by gleaning bits and pieces from people around me and then digging deeper. I wasn’t always able to have direct access to what I thought I needed but was able to find my own path. Read more>>

Carol Sullivan

Taking it alllll the way back to the beginning, I learned to sew and appreciate fabric at my mother’s knee when I was 8 years old. I sewed the majority of my clothes for many years. Jump forward to just about to graduate from art school when I did a project for a class that entailed painted fabric that was hand quilted (sewn/embellished). Mind you, this was 1978 and fabric paints as we know them today hadn’t even been invented. I used Windsor Newton alcohol based inks. And I give them a lot of credit. I still have that piece hanging in my studio and the colors haven’t faded one bit! Read more>>

Alex Yanes

My love for art began in elementary school and I continued to take it as an elective course throughout middle and high school. I found woodworking through skateboarding. Back in the early 90’s, Miami didn’t have the skateparks it has today. My friends and I had to build our own ramps. A jigsaw is the only way to cut the curves required for the sides of the ramps. I use the same tools to fabricate and construct my pieces. I think like most artists, my creative process was perfected through trial and error. Once I merged my passion for art with woodworking, the rest was self-taught. Read more>>

Andrew DePalma

My advice to anyone who wants to learn something new is to pick something that they are excited about rather than picking something they think they should want to do. Think of the thing that keeps you up at night. The thing that your mind drifts to when you are supposed to be paying attention to something else. It helps you when you climb over the inevitable walls that you will encounter in your learning process. When I started building, I had very little skill. I have always enjoyed working with my hands but I was not very skilled when it came to building things. Read more>>

Felix Preciado

I’m self taught it started back when I was living at my grandparents. I used art as an escape tool from everything that was going on around me. Although at the time I was just doodling, looking back now I see I used it as a form of healing. I think just sticking with it would have gotten me further then where I’m at, I stopped messing with art around high school to focus on being a knucklehead. I was more focused on other things that comes with growing up in the “hood” I was my main obstacle. I picked art back up during army basic training and always kept a sketch book around in Afghanistan. Read more>>

Steven Tracy

I started learning by just buying a few pieces of recording gear and reading everything I could find about the craft of making albums and music production. I was also lucky enough to have some folks that were very open with their experience and happy to share their expertise with me. I’m not sure I could have done anything more to speed up the process. It really is experience that is the greatest teacher, and it’s nearly impossible to fast track that, with maybe an extreme version of curiosity that is motivating you. Read more>>

Julian Sutherland

I found a love for music and the saxophone at the age of 12. My dad, who was a semi-professional musician with an extensive jazz and R&B album collection, enrolled me in lessons at an early age. I attribute those private lessons and musical environment as the biggest key to my success. Since then, I continued my music education through high school and at Idaho State University for two years. In 2009, I moved to Denton, TX, to finish my undergraduate degree and later a Master’s in Jazz Studies: Performance. Read more>>

Joshua Swonke

I am mostly self taught but wouldn’t be where I’m at without the guidance of a few mentors who showed me how to approach things from a certain perspective along the way. I went through a year long recording arts program at MediaTech Institute which equipped me with a diverse skill set within different areas of music and production. Collaboration is one of the most critical aspects of producing music and writing songs. I find that synergies are created when you feed off of each other’s strengths, and help with weaknesses, ultimately speeding up the learning process and allow you to be more productive. Read more>>

Elissa Title

I’ve loved art for as long as I can remember. I attended art camps every summer where I was exposed to famous artists’ work and a range of hands-on classes including scrapbooking, painting, drawing, clay beading, and papier-mâché. Whenever I traveled abroad (and I’ve been to all 7 continents and 60 countries to date), I’d make time to visit special exhibitions, artistic galleries, and museums. What really solidified a career in the arts, however, was taking a graphic design class at Palisades Charter High School in Pacific Palisades, California. I had never heard of graphic design, and my teacher’s passion is a huge reason why I am a graphic designer/photographer today. Read more>>

Cora Duke

I’ve been singing since a time I can’t remember, learning every song on the radio and pushing my vocal range to the absolute limit-having no clue about the technicality of it all. If I had the resources for lessons, I could’ve learned to use my instrument earlier but I honestly feel like being self-taught really allowed me to fully experiment and learn who I am through my music and my voice. I began learning instruments as a pre-teen and while I suffered an injury in my very early life that limits the use of my left hand, I’ve learned to adapt a unique sound on every instrument I play to suit that individuality. Read more>>

Leslie Kell

My artwork is created using an original technique that synthesizes elements of Illustration, design, and photography. The skills required are multi-faceted and the tools range from my camera to an array of Adobe Creative Cloud software. While I hold a BA with a background in painting and illustration, the technical aspects of my work are self-taught. I’ve developed a deep knowledge base in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign over the years as a professional designer. The photography facet of my practice has had a more compressed timeline. A formal education as a photographer would have created a foundation that accelerated a higher level of technical skill. Read more>>

Deward Lawrence

My first real experience about the film making craft of production occurred in 2014 when a friend referred me to a production company that needed assistance. Since my back ground was a living historian , I had a great deal of military uniforms and equipment specializing in WW2 and they needed help in wardrobe and actors. Having been in the living history business since 1999, I never thought that my exposure to locations and events would have ever panned out to a means to make a living and a means to remain creative. Read more>>

Eben Lee Hall

Quite a bit of my learning came from trial and error, and a curiosity of the materials and techniques that were required for the different media. I saw pieces of art, and was curious about what it took to make them, the way the materials worked, the processes that were required to get the end result. Once I understood what I was working with and how to do it properly, then I was able to use my creativity to make art. I think the only way that I could have sped up the learning process was to be taught or instructed by someone that knew the materials and processes better than I did. Read more>>

Marie Gray

How I learned to do my art to put it simply is by putting in a lot of time and work. Honestly once I discovered art I wanted to know everything I could. One can have natural talent but one also needs to put in the time by doing the practice and work. Any extra time I have I try to paint. The more time you paint the more you learn. As an artist I learn something new from every piece I paint. Growing up I took as many art classes as I could while I was in school and now I still take workshops from artists I admire to learn new techniques or share what I have learned. I am always trying to expand my work or what I am trying to convey in my paintings. Read more>>

Megan Uhaze

I’m a graduate of Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia. I received my BFA in Art History and Painting. Coming out of school I was looking for work, and was turned onto a job posting for Painting at The Seward Johnson Atelier In Hamilton NJ, the add simply read can you mix color? Little did I know what I was walking into. I was hired onto the staff in 2009 and the last thirteen years have been an amazing journey. I’m the current Co-Head of the finishing department here at the Atelier, responsible for the high end finishing of numerous fine art and commercial projects primarily life size and monumental sculpture for different artists and companies all over the world. Read more>>

James Overstreet

I learned to be an artist by hard work, dedication, following passions and lots and lots of practice. Being an artist takes countless hours of work, it is a never ending learning process. Although it takes years of dedication, there are a few things I know now that could have sped up the learning process. Learning from others as much as you can , whether that’s fellow students, the community and professionals in your field. You have to experiment on your own but it also helps learning techniques and other ways of doing things by working with others as much as possible. Read more>>

Theodora Atanassov

I learned to model by trial and error essentially. I did several photoshoots and fashion shows when I first started and didn’t really know how to pose or walk, I just did what I thought looked good. Now looking back at it I see the growth from those moments to now. I watched my movements on the runway closely and analyzed myself, I looked at all the photos taken of me and learned what looked best for me. To speed up my learning process I could have researched more, looking at demonstration videos online, spend more time posing in the mirror, and practice my runway walk in front of a mirror a little bit each day. Read more>>

Molly Jackson

I was first introduced to the craft of stained glass by an amazing art teacher in high school. Prior to her I didn’t realize this was something anyone could do, other than artists who worked on church windows. She had found some old supplies previous teachers had left behind and together we learned some of the very basics, like scoring glass, using copper foil tape, and soldering. I was truly awful at it. When we finished the stained glass lesson as a class she let me take home some of the supplies. There was just something about it- working with glass made me feel so empowered, even though at this point I was still terrible at it. Read more>>

John Gonzalez Gonzalez

I am a self-taught artist. I learned to paint mostly through determination and a lot of experimentation in my early years. I had a lot of setbacks, but never put the brush down. With the proper time and dedication– eventually you will create something unique and true to you. In the creative industry, you have to be risk adverse and always harvest the desire to consistently learn more. After years of being an established artist, I am currently looking to enroll myself in an Ivy League Art program. I am eager to see where my creativity goes and to continue challenging myself and my skills. Never build obstacles for your self. Read more>>

Jenny Ettinger

What I do involves so much process that it was and continues to be a culmination of learning. That’s what attracts me to upcycling in particular, each style has a unique requirement that keep me learning. Read more>>

Gaby Paul

I’ve been professionally trained since the age of 14 and I learned vocal performance through opera and classical music. If I knew then what I know now, I would’ve started piano at a younger age rather than at 14. Although I do know a lot now, I think music theory practice as a child would have really benefited me. The skills that I believe to be essential were the ones I was lucky enough to focus on at a young age. Those skills were vocal projection, range and lots of performing experience all relating to singing. Read more>>

Rebecca Lansdowne-Collins

I create in a variety of different media and most began as playful experimentation. My digital art skills are all self taught while my mosaic knowledge was gained through taking classes. I am not sure that there are any roads I could have taken to speed up the learning process. As it is I am a pretty fast learner and I often create at the speed of light, if anything I need to learn to slow down. The most essential skill for learning is an ability to play and allowing yourself to fail. The only obstacle I face is time and occasional health battles. I think lack of time and time management are issues all artists have to tackle at some point. Read more>>

Bob Steiner

My father was an advertising executive and photographer in the late ’60s. He was one of the original Mad Men – having worked at Y&R (Young and Rubicam) in NYC until starting his own company, Comptomark – located on Madison Avenue, in the mid-’70s. In the early years of my father’s agency, he did most of the photographing himself. As such, he needed an assistant, so I ended up being his gaffer on many commercial shoots when I wasn’t in school. It was here that I learned about lighting, staging, directing, camera settings, and developing film. Read more>>