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.

Heather Dixon

Ever since I was a very young child, I loved to read. I fell in love with books by Judy Blume and Ann M. Martin and Beverly Cleary. From that love of reading, came a love of writing. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing stories. I only stopped for a while when I went to university to pursue an English Literature degree and spent most of my time writing essays. Read more>>

Wren Appleby

The nudge to learn pottery was an intuitive download. I started feeling the pull in 2021 and by June I had signed up for my first class at a local studio, I had done some ceramics in high school back in the 80’s but that’s all the experience I had. For me, it was a nudge to connect to a part of myself I didn’t know yet. Read more>>

Andy Garcia-Ruse

Because I’m not from a classically trained background (aka I don’t have a degree in theater), I had to learn the craft in other ways. I was a voracious learner– a sponge–soaking up everything I could get my hands on. I started with research. Read more>>

Niketa Calame-Harris

My first acting class was in elementary school in an artist program called Regina’s School of Performing Arts. My Saturday was packed with dance voice and drama, with classes starting at 8am and ending at 4pm. I started auditioning for commercials and booked my first paid acting gig with Hanna Barbera home of Fred Flintstone Yoga Bear and the gang. Read more>>

Kim Legaspi

It was a lot of trial and error, there’s so many slight changes that can be made to improve with this particular craft. I’ve learned that a power drill is my best friend but I’ll tell you what, I got a good bicep workout each time I made something! Read more>>

Jerevon Elias

At a young age my father would have me listen to classical music and music composers and instilled that in me. Just from that I’ve had a passion for that type of music. Honestly no one sat down and taught me how to play piano. I mainly just watched my father play and I picked it up and taught myself the rest. Read more>>

Mary Amor

I think that it is very natural for people to want to speed up the learning process to start seeing progress faster; however, I think that patience is most important when learning a craft. Finding something that I absolutely loved and could spend hours and hours at a time focusing on was key. Read more>>

Francesca Nobili

When I fell in love with stop motion fabrication and animation, I chose to be self-taught. I didn’t want to do what others already do, I didn’t want to follow anyone’s example but only being inspired by them. Read more>>

James Castilleja

i started making beats and writing lyrics in 2020, i knew i needed to outsource for recording/mixing and even beat making cus those were things getting in the way of my writing. i made sure to have complete songs before outsourcing cus the key to becoming a better songwriter is being self sufficient at the start and as much as possible. Read more>>

Roni Feldman

Airbrushing has been key to my artwork for a very long time. I keep trying to move away from it because of the uncomfortable protective gear I have to wear, but it just offers the perfect way to create ephemeral transparency. Airbrush had its heyday decades ago. Not many artists use it anymore. Read more>>

Miriam Dubinsky

The most important thing I have learned over the last year and a half of running my business is how to express the value of my work to my clients. I wish I had understood how to price and showcase my work earlier on in my artmaking adventures. I studied printmaking in college and worked as a screen printer for other artists in the years after I graduated from college. Read more>>

Jordan Binney

I started seriously getting into painting when I was a sophomore in high school. I realized painting was what I wanted to focus on when I was going through a lonely time in my life and the painting I was working on was the only thing that got me up in the morning and kept me going. Read more>>

Lauren Howard

A lot of what I learned how to do was just through trial and error as well as practice. Back in 2012, when I first started cosplaying, there were barely any tutorials out there for many costuming techniques I use today! I relied on stage costuming techniques to enhance my costume-making skills. Read more>>

Javier Loyola

My first approach was when I was 14 years old. I was in school, a friend of mine told me he wanted some beats to practice his freestyle skills, so I opened my first DAW (FL Studio) and started learning from videos I found on YouTube. I just did it for fun. Read more>>

Shelby Olson

There are a few ways to become an interior designer. My path included earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Interior Design, coming from a construction background, and working in many roles that all support the business I have now. Read more>>

Arianne Reducha

The learning process for artists probably looks unique for everyone. I find that all of my experiences within the art world have served a purpose in one way or another. All the jobs I’ve taken on, passion projects, even the internships & volunteer work along the way, have led me to make the artwork I do today. Read more>>

DANID KARIM EID

I had taken a variety of classes that taught different disciplines. Certainly, I have learned about painting styles and techniques but at the end, there was always something missing and unsatisfactory for me. Something incomplete. This feeling prompted me to know and learn about the Old Masters and how they created their master pieces. Read more>>

Dan Marion

I’m still learning to do what I do. That’s the greatest thing about being a voice actor – it’s a never-ending progression of creativity and skill development. I made the mistake at the beginning of thinking all I needed was a good voice and a microphone and I’d start making money in audiobooks. Read more>>

Lewis Foster

Image retouching was never something I thought I would be doing. I did a degree in graphic design and specialised in illustration, but quickly realised after graduation that there weren’t many opportunities as an illustrator. 

I worked in at Fanatics as a studio assistant where I could occasionally apply my skills from producing vector based illustrations to retouching. Read more>>

Anthony Azekwoh

I started learning via YouTube and books, which in Nigeria, are the closest things to formal education I could get. Practicing and learning from other artists really helped as well. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t have skipped so much of the basics, I’d have been more patient with the process. Read more>> 

Jordan Tallent

From a very young age I’ve always been a “creative”. My medium as a child was primarily drawing. I’d draw anything from anime characters to just about anything interesting that I had a reference to. My upbringing was heavily influenced by film, tv, and video games. Read more>>

Judi Tavill

My creative path has been long, twisted, tangled and rewarding. The journey to my current art practice began as a dream to be a fashion designer around age 11 in a Baltimore, Maryland suburb. I really did not know how to go about it, There was no internet and certainly no Instagram. Read more>>

Christopher Bull

As a travel and portrait photographer who started very late at age 30 (I’m now 33), I felt the pressure of having to learn and implement a large amount of information in a short period of time. Read more>>

Vincent Fondale

Being in a musical family, singing came naturally to me. I used that as a foundation and built upon that over the years. Songwriting, on the other hand, took a bit longer. I started writing basic, not so great songs. Read more>>

Bobby Johnson

Becoming a musician has been one of the most rewarding challenges of my life. My love of music started at a young age, listening to country music on the radio and my dad wailing away on his electric guitar. Read more>>

Severyn Beekman

I’ve gained most of my knowledge from books and YouTube, however some of my different crafts I’ve sort of just jumped into and taught myself. Things like sculpture, costume design, pyrography, and wire wrapped jewelry I have taught myself most techniques. Read more>>

Kiaan Van Dusseldorp

Much of my learning has been following what is naturally interesting to me and what I grew up tinkering with! Being from a rural community falling into sculpture as a practice was incredibly natural, like another limb I didn’t know I had. I have had the privilege of being able to attend an art school in Minneapolis and everything that I know I have to thank the professors for. Read more>>

Diana Simpson

I am a self-taught designer. I didn’t go to school for web design. I took courses and watched YouTube videos to hone in on my craft. The first course taught me how to market myself and the second course taught me how to build a WordPress website (GeekPack). Read more>>

Kate Broadhurst

I started my journey as a makeup artist 19 years ago! I was hired by MAC Cosmetics and received a great deal of training during their Basic Training. Read more>>