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.

Steven Sims

My television and film career started at a young age. I was always filming things as a kid in the 90s and had a deep passion for creating visual art and video projects. After college (in 2007) I moved to Los Angeles from Pittsburgh to pursue a career in television and film. I arrived in LA with the skills that I learned working as an Assistant Editor and Camera Operator in Pittsburgh throughout college. Read more>>

Alexandro Zamora

I’m still learning to do what I do! Every gig is a chance to learn something new or to refine what I already know. I got my bachelor’s degree in art from the University of California Santa Cruz in 2011 and I loved the program there. It was very theory heavy but I was obsessed with learning how to use lighting gear in the studio, which they did not teach. We had a little photo studio with some basic lights and backdrops that we could reserve and use for whatever we wanted and that’s where I spent a lot of my time practicing. I made a lot of ugly photos. A lot. Read more>>

Laine Zimmerman

I would say the best way to learn your craft is to be consistent in practicing. You can read all the books and watch all the YouTube videos, but actually going out shooting is the best way to learn your camera. I think I was a little shy at first with shooting in ways where I wasn’t familiar, so pushing myself out of my comfort zone sooner to learn light and different films, etc. would have gotten me to where I am faster. I was more worried about making perfect photos and I knew how to get there, Read more>>

Crystal Cromer

I learned to bake from my family and believe it or not high school home economics. Learning to follow a recipes has allowed me to make delicious desserts and meals. I learn to create beautiful cakes and cake pops by watching YouTube videos and watching some of the best bakers create beautiful desserts on video. I perfected my skills with trial and error along with a lot of practice. I’ve always known I wanted to be a creator, but growing up with a family of educators and factory workers this was not an option. Read more>>

Sarah Spain

I’d like to start by saying I’m still learning to do what I do! I don’t ever want to feel fully satisfied or like I’ve hit a ceiling in my craft. Adapting as a musician has been a goal I set for myself at an early age. I started out playing classical piano, but even at 7 years old I always knew that was just a starting point for me. My dream was always to be in a band. Being able to accompany myself while I sang was a way I could perform in the meantime. I just wanted to be on stage, it was all I thought about. Read more>>

Mark Wilson

I am a self-taught artist, so my skills are developed through life. Once I became conscious of my artistic gift subconsciously, I can develop my craft without making art. It could be as simple as conversations, spending time in other studios, and repetition in my own practice. Learning what I do comes with curiosity as a self-taught artist, which then cultivates new skills with the DIY approach. I do not believe I could have sped up my learning. Read more>>

E.S. Brown

The best way I’ve learned to do what I do is by reading works in the genre that I write. I feel it is essential to expose myself to and surround myself with the types of creative thoughts, ideas, and energies that I want to channel into my own projects. It’s a way of feeding the technical side of the writing process. It also plays very much into the creative side to help me craft my own voice and ways of saying things on the page. Read more>>

Daiana Aponte

From a young age I would play with my grandmothers makeup and practice, completely unaware that I was subconsciously teaching myself how to do something that so many years later I’d be doing professionally. My first job was at a MAC Cosmetics counter, and although I got the job without ever actually having done someone else’s makeup, I was immediately thrown into doing services. Read more>>

Laura Rizo

Born and raised in the projects, my life experiences relate to both youth and adults. Messages on overcoming poverty, depression, alcoholism, an identity crisis, and a lack of self love reaches the hearts of the audience. I love trying to connect to youth through overcoming challenges and I love connecting with adults through transparency and vulnerability. Read more>>

Calvin Norman

As a kid growing up living with my grandparents while mom was working massive hours, we would watch alot of tv and my grand father would have me watch the games with him. I always said I wanted to do. I wanted to be the one to get interviews with famous basketball players or football players. That never happened.. just wasn’t in the cards for me to do that. Instead I ended up becoming someone who would partner with these great people and networks. Read more>>

Nina Tang

Since I was a kid, I’ve loved watching all kinds of anime and manga, and I also enjoyed learning each author’s drawing style by copying and practicing. When I grew up a little, I started to design my own characters and began to draw whatever I wanted. When I really started to get into the professional field, when I was in high school, I began to learn about still life and color systematically. Read more>>

Trey McClain

Comedian FunnyMaine Johnson gave me the best advice I could ever receive when it came to perfecting my craft as a standup comedian. He said “The more you do anything, the better you will get at it.” That’s it. There’s no shortcuts. No cheat codes. No secret methods. Simply daily opportunities to fail forward, try new things, and get a little bit better. The skills I find the most essential to my development are humility and boldness. Read more>>

Maggs Vibo

I wrote a poem about battlefield apparitions and unseen injuries which funded a trip to the United Kingdom. I was invited to a veterans’ poetry workshop at Oxford Brookes University. The pieces we created, and subsequent published anthology, opened my mind to visual poetry. From this experience, I shifted my focus from written text towards more visual antiheroine lore and grotesque imagery. Read more>>

Paul Lizardi and Roxann Lizardi

Roxann: I learned to make jewelry through trial and error, experimentation and absorbing everything I could from books and magazines about the craft. I am grateful I learned this way because it enabled me to go at my own pace and direct my focus through curiosity. Learning new techniques is incredibly engaging and it’s such an important part of what makes me love what I do. Read more>>

Kyle Hammer

A majority of what I know how to do musically was learned through trial and error and watching YouTube tutorials. I did take guitar lessons at my town’s local music store for a few months during my first year of playing, but eventually stopped due to financial reasons. After that, I started playing in bands with people who were way better at their instruments than me, so I ended up learning lots just from playing in the same room as them. Read more>>

Chip Oliphant

I grew up in a musical family and was surrounded by different musical influences as a kid. My parents both played instruments and sang Country/bluegrass-gospel songs around the house. My oldest brother was a multi-instrumentalist and taught me some things on electric guitar and I would always hear him practicing the saxophone for his high school band. – (Side note: Read more>>

Michael Cortez

Well, I’m still learning to do what I do. I think that’s the fun part about doing this, and I don’t believe I’ll ever stop learning. The minute I think I’ve officially known something is the time that my head has gotten too damn big. But I am learning about page layouts, I’m learning how to write shorter stories, and I’m learning anatomy. And you only learn this stuff by practicing it over and over again. Read more>>

Shamaria Rankin

I started drawing in Elementry School from what I can remember. I was in one of my first art classes and remembered how much fun I had with arts and crafts — making things with my hands was such a fun experience for me that I’d gift many of my items to my mom to display on the fridge. Much of my influence for how I learned would include anime characters from my favorite shows I used to watch as a kid that I would replicate on sketch paper, pausing each scene. Read more>>

Shuang Wu

As a young professional who works in the education field with a design career, I see learning as an ongoing process. The graphic design industry requires constant learning on innovative thinking and technology updates. I started off as a non-art student, spending most of my time learning essential Adobe software and design basics from college and online resources. Read more>>

Monique Huezo

As a photographer who started in high school, I learned the fundamentals of photography by taking classes and practicing with my camera. I also gained experience by taking a college course, and shooting events for friends and family at little or no cost, then later on learning from Youtube. Looking back, I think one thing that could have sped up my learning process would have been to seek out more mentorship and guidance from experienced photographers in the industry. Learning from their insights and experiences could have helped me to develop my skills more quickly and avoid some common mistakes. Read more>> 

E’niah Anderson

E’niah was “discovered” at the age of 5 years old while both her and her parents were volunteering at a Christmas Charity event in Charlotte, NC. During this event there was a fashion show scheduled that day, and instead of “volunteering” E’niah was playing on the runway, pretending to be a model. This caught the attention of a fashion designer who asked us if E’niah could participate in the show, of course we said. Read more>>

Emily James

I fell into this creative venture completely unplanned, and I think that’s why it has been so fun. I am a creative person and have always been a writer. It’s not a muscle I get to flex at my day job, and I have always had some freelancing projects that allow me to write. My career is in higher education, and for several years all of my freelancing focused on working with leaders are various universities who were transitioning into new roles at new schools. Read more>>

 Keifer Wiley

The best advice I ever received on the creative process was to give yourself permission to fail. In any creative pursuit, no one is going to create good art every time they put pen to paper. From the songwriter’s perspective, you are going to write some bad songs. In fact, you are probably going to write a lot of them. So you might as well write as many bad songs as you can starting out so that you can get to the good ones. Read more>>

Jamie Gainey

I have been an artist and a creative since a young age. I have always doodled and drawn and then I graduated to painting in middle school and throughout high school. I started getting my nails done when I was 16, for my first prom and instantly fell in love. Read more>>

Garrett Goto

The woodworking products I make took a relatively short time to learn, but I am constantly learning new techniques that increase my efficiency, reduce costs, or create distinctive styles. I think the base skills to do what I do can be learned quite easily, but creating a brand image and identity is something that continually evolves and changes over time. New techniques and methods replace old and the products I make are a combinations of those learned skills and the materials I use. Read more>>

Gretchen Haselden

I have been surrounded by handmade quilts my whole life… My great grandmother Viola Sherman was my first exposure to the art of quilting. Growing up, I would watch her make beautiful quilts, she made it look so easy and relaxing…She probably made hundreds of quilts in her life. They were mostly utilitarian and patchwork using repurposed fabric, they were beautiful! I have seen a few of her appliqué quilts as well. Read more>>

Dennis Mailu

Learning about acting is multifaceted and I gained my skills through training and experience. Now I understand that It is a delicate tightrope that requires bringing theory to application simultaneously.The amongst the skills of acting such as voice and speech, physical acting, dialect training, and improv etc. I realized quickly that the business of acting is completely different from the craft principles. Combining these elements will bring out the most effective outcome. Read more>>

Courtney Rivenbark

Through years of developing different skills, fueled by directionless self exploration in my early 20’s, I discovered surface pattern design by combining my sewing and illustration background. This lead me to create my own creative path which is designing clothes as well as illustrating exclusive fabric prints for my designs. Read more>>

Sam Kent

When Sam Kent first started her career as a lash artist, she was filled with excitement and enthusiasm. She had always loved makeup, skincare, and beauty, and she felt that becoming a lash artist was the perfect way to express her creativity while helping others feel beautiful. However, as time went on, Sam began to realize that her skills as a lash artist weren’t quite up to par. She struggled with consistency and precision, and generally wasn’t happy with her work. Despite her best efforts to improve, she couldn’t seem to get the hang of it. Read more>>

Creative Freedom HQ

I’ve had to “enroll myself” in my own education. I found my own “teachers” whether that was from YouTube, in person networking, reading books or otherwise. Mainly since I didn’t go to college for what I’m pursuing but also because I got my hands dirty even if I didn’t know everything! It has been intimidating at times jumping right in, but I feel like if you just try your best and give a goal your honest shot, the universe may just grant you a gift in return! Read more>>

Bryan Hayes

Like most musicians, producers and songwriters, I was self-taught at first. I was very blessed to have some amazing mentors and friends who taught me the basics of the industry. Later on, I earned my Master of Arts in Music Production from Berklee College of Music. This was a tremendous learning experience and definitely increased my knowledge and skill set. Read more>>

CHRISTOS JOANNIDES

When you follow your passion in life you will always find away of doing it. I went to college to study journalism but I ended top being a founder rand creative director of branding agency. Design was always my passion. It was always something I gravitated to and I always enjoyed drawing or design little things when I was young. I just never felt that I could go to school for that and so I pursued a little more grounding – like writing. Read more>>

Danielle Hawiszczak

A common misconception when it comes to learning art is that you need to do so in art school. This no doubt helps streamline the process, but if you’re willing to put in the work, you can learn on your own, regardless of your education. I was 27 when I started my art journey. I had taken a watercolor class and quickly realized I needed to learn how to draw to really paint well. Read more>>

Ashley Lynn

First Off I would like to humbly recognize the land on which I live, work, and create is Dena’ina Land. I am grateful to be a non-indigenous guest on this land. I am a non-indigenous person on Native land and humbly acknowledge the peoples and history of this land. This land acknowledgment is an essential first step whenever someone asks me about my art. Without this land, without the constant love and support of I have received from my friends and family, I would not be the artist I am today. I reside in the beautiful Chugach Mountains, Anchorage, Alaska, Dena’ina Ełnena. Read more>>

Kaiwei

As a modern-day music creator, working largely in contemporary and experimental capacities, every day I am in the scene and am part of this community is another day of acquiring new knowledge and experiences. My experience with creative music and electronic music was largely guided by my interests in unveiling uncommon sounds. Being intrigued by and revealed to the fundamentals of complex sounds and rhythms allowed me the widening of my vocabulary in composition, sound design, as well as my improvisation chops. Hence I believe curiosity has long been the inceptive element of any learning process, of any forms of craft. Read more>>

Sarah Etherton

While I used to regret not studying design or art as an undergraduate, I think having a variety of life experiences makes me a more well-rounded designer. I learned to work the way I do with my clients by having a variety of people-focused jobs first. Working in the service industry taught me customer service, working under pressure, and multitasking. Working as an elementary school teacher taught me patience, system building, and confidence in front of people (there is nothing scarier than presenting to a room of judgemental 2nd graders). Read more>>