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.

Jose Ludovino Sanchez

Architecture encompasses a wide array of disciplines, ranging from physic, environmental psychology to visual culture. Almost the full spectrum. Shortcuts are not exactly the way to go, you need to understand several aspects of these components, but my recommendation to speed up the learning process is to try to identify early on, exactly the type of service or project you would like to work on and concentrate your learning on it. Read more>>

Crystal Boyd

When it comes to learning my craft of baking it started when I was 11 years old. My grandmother would have me help her in the kitchen when she would cook. After seeing how passionate my grandmother was about baking and cooking in general I took a big interest in desserts. I believe my grandmother saw how interested I was in making desserts with her. In the beginning I would take all her ingredients out for her and measure them. Read more>>

!mindparade

I started writing poems and playing instruments in childhood, while always being exposed to music by my family. My dad was into jazz and prog rock, and my mom was into pop. My older brother was always into alternative rock like grunge. I learned ballet from 1-4th grade, and danced in Indiana University Ballet’s Nutracker performances. Being exposed to this much Tchaikovsky definitely had an impact on me at a young age. Read more>>

Alejandro Flores

Kris learned the craft of B&W film photography back in her high school days through a Chicago arts program called gallery 37. Alejandro started his analog journey by purchasing his first film camera off craigslist. Since then he has taught himself how to develop and work with different film stocks as well as manual 35mm/120mm cameras. Read more>>

Lola Yiting Zhang

As a concept artist working in the games industry, my journey began in my childhood. From my earliest memories, drawing has always felt natural to me. I was a pretty introverted kid, and I seemed attuned to the world in a different way, perceiving emotions and details in a more sensitive way than others. Drawing naturally became my way of expressing my thoughts and emotions. Read more>>

Eddie Martinez

Professional Wrestling was truly an amazing opportunity that I took the chance to fulfill the dream. Learning it wasn’t easy in the beginning. I graduated from DFW All-Pro Wrestling Academy / VIP Wrestling in November 2019. When I started my training at the academy it was unreal and super nervous for me. Read more>>

Thomas Johnston

The passion of silversmithing was instilled in me at a very young age by my grandfather. He taught me the basics and then encouraged me to keep pursuing my art. I spent a lot of time with grandpa growing up and had he not been such a big part of my life, I never would have cared to learn this art! Read more>>

Pavitra Kumar

Learning Bharatanatyam is a constant craft of pushing oneself physically and emotionally. Connecting with decades long stories, and religious motifs, one has to challenge the body to stay present. This has been a craft I have and will continue to grow alongside, finding commonalities between my experiences to the characters I play. Furthermore, intention is at the root of this craft. Read more>>

Simpcxty

Learning to do what I do is still an everyday battle of courage and faith. I want to be fully aware of my situation, and be ok with failure. Falling down only gives me more incentive to find another way back up. I first started focussing on become a student of the game back in 2019 after I won a competition to perform in Birminghams first Music Freedom Festival. Read more>>

Solomon Lewis III

I was always intrigued by photography at a young age; I would read through photography books and just imagine how the experience must have been. At some point down the line, I picked up a camera, and ever since I have been traveling and practicing my skills! I feel like the best thing I could have done to speed it all up would have been to practice my editing skills and overall post-processing ability. Read more>>

Corea Connie

I like to call myself a Self Taught Makeup artist. I literally sat in front of a mirror days on end practicing different techniques. Watched countless videos. Begged friends to let me try different things on them as well. I honestly can’t say I’ve faced any obstacles when it comes to learning more because when I want to learn, I make it happen. Read more>>

Evan Joelle

To be quite Frank, I didn’t know I was capable of earning a living as a performer until a year or two into my first professional gig. I immersed myself into the theater world wholeheartedly, without any regrets. I took any and all opportunity to develop my skills, which landed me in rooms I only dreamed of being in. Read more>>

Caitlan McMullen

I began my journey into jewelry making about 3 years ago with no prior experience. I stumbled upon clay jewelry on social media and I was so intrigued and thought “I want to try that”, so I did! I bought some basic supplies and gave it a go. I was so proud of my first few pairs of earrings. Creating them and seeing my vision come to life brought me so much joy. I began watching how-to videos and reading books on jewelry making, and just really dove in headfirst in an attempt to expand my very limited skills. Read more>>

Norris Moorehead

I taught myself most of what I know. Whether it be through online tutorial videos helping me understand my equipments capabilities, as well as learning on the go while stepping out of my comfort zone accepting opportunities I’d typically turn down. I think it would have been very beneficial for me in the beginning to find structured courses breaking down the photography business. Read more>>

Ruxi Tirisi

I am mostly self taught in metal smithing. The jewelry industry was notorious for gate keeping back in the day and in a lot of ways, it still is. Resources, such as tips and tutorials were very limited online when I started and so for me, it was the passion that drove the learning; the desire to bring my vision to life the best way I knew how. I wish I would have found like minded creatives sooner, jewelry artists that want to pass on the knowledge they acquired through the years. Read more>>

Noah Strykes

I learned the craft of my various skills through repeated trial and error, being ok with failure, and trying to be as disciplined as possible. I know that no one is great at anything when they first start, and everyone has always started from zero. I think having a versatile mind is important to being an effective artist in general. There are so many skills involved with just one field of creative work. The more areas you can feel confident in, the better. Read more>>

Tyler Witt

I got my start taking a basic intro course to running your own record label. I initially did it as a way to meet artists to promote my digital art work, as I wanted to get into the album artwork space. I fell in love with everything about it and decided to take the leap into the music industry. Read more>>

Dr. Megan

I am more of a hands-on type of learner so I learnt a lot of posing and catwalk techniques by practicing in front of the mirrors and taking feedbacks from others. When I first started, I’d spend a lot of time reading how-to books, Vogue magazines, and watching America’s Next Top Model. Read more>>

Heather LaForge

The simplest answer to the question how did I learn my craft would be to say that I learned it from my schooling. I hold a Ph.D. in Theatre from UC San Diego and a BA in Theatre Arts from the University of Puget Sound. While it’s true I have a formal education in my field, this doesn’t tell the full story. Read more>>

Lauren K McLeod

Learning my craft started when I was young and continues to this day. Initially, I learned by watching my dad. He always had a camera in hand, and new camera equipment was one of the only things I remember him splurging on. I’d often beg to take a few photos with his camera. In high school, I took my first photography class and instantly fell in love with the craft–this was back in the late 90s, before digital photography was mainstream. I continued my education in Rome when I studied abroad during college. Read more>>

Linda Lieffers

The only way to learn how to paint is to actually do the work. It takes a tremendous amount of time to perfect your craft. I spent two years in my studio trying out different techniques with various paint mediums before I actually felt confident to sell a piece of art. I really don’t think there is a faster way to learn how to paint well. Practicing each day and working with various brushes, tools and paint mediums is the only way to get the hang of it. Read more>>

Whitnye Raquel

Anything and everything you could ever want to learn how to build in the DIY universe is on the internet. I am convinced that with a hefty supply of elbow grease and creativity, there is a cost effective way to renovate absolutely everything. These days, there is an easy to follow tutorial on just about anything you could ever want to build. Once you learn how to use a few key power tools, the rest is up to your imagination. The days of gate-keeping DIY knowledge are over! Read more>>

Tom Petito

In the music world learning comes with patience. All musicians experience failure at times. You have to recognize mistakes as opportunities for growth. In my mind the most essential thing an artist can do is attend shows. Get involved with your local music scene. Don’t look at anyone else as your competitor. Instead go talk to them, learn their story and do something to support them. The music world will return the favor. Read more>>

Laurie Freitag

I think that I learned to do what I do by simply following my passion. As a child I was awestruck by images that I saw in Look and Life magazines. I felt a ‘calling’ to be a photographer but was steered away from any creative career by my parents who wanted me in a stable job so I spent twenty years working behind the scenes in TV news, a very nice steady paycheck and my parents were very proud of that choice. Read more>>

Yaron Shavit

I learned what to do through doing. I don’t think there is a better way to learn than getting up and acting/improvising etc. Of course you need guidance and help along the way. I don’t think there is anything that can speed up the learning process, maybe aside from getting consistent work, or creating your own work. Read more>>

Matthew Prewitt

There are so many ways to think about musicians these days. You have people who play instruments, people who write original songs, people who produce the final audio tracks on a technical level, and more. I think the way I’ve meandered through these roles is what really got me to where I am currently. Read more>>

Jason Osborne

I first started making beats back in January 2019, so, a little over 4 years ago now. When I started out, I knew next to nothing, I was a complete novice to beat making, I just knew what type of music I wanted to make and how I wanted to make it. I bought myself a second-hand MPC Studio off eBay for around £180, which comes with its own MPC software, a primitive and limited DAW. Read more>>

Marguerite Knowles

I learned what I do through lots of trial and error and practice! I began with acrylic painting and then moved into watercolours as it was the best medium, in my opinion, for my greeting cards. When I first started with watercolours, I was not very skilled and my card designs were very basic. Read more>>

Aika Takeshima

Since I do not only dance, but also create dance works, teach dance class and spread DEI(diversity, equity & inclusion) culture and method, actually I learned those from many experiences. Even if I pick up only as a dancer, my strong floor-work movements came from my three years of experience in Judo, a Japanese martial art. (I have a black belt and won the first prize in the city.) Also another three years of experience in field track as a shot put & discus throw player made my strong arms to support my body on the floor. Read more>>

Jaime Shevat

I was very fortunate to have the most supportive art teachers growing up. They taught me to try everything. If I had a wild idea, they backed me. Nothing was off the table. They gave me a fearless creativity. When I first started to sell my work, I constantly thought about “what would sell”, and that hindered my growth as an artist. Once I started creating pieces because they made me happy, told a funny story, or made me smile, I found my style and my voice as an artist. That idea to create without fear has become essential to me. Read more>>

Radhanny or Danny De La Cruz

My 9-7 job, is as a media planner, which has been a dream job since I was a little girl. I always dreamed of planning toy commercials and showing more representation of girls like me. However, ever since I was a little girl I also had a passion for art and being creative. I believe I was born a creative and artistic being. When I was young I was always in love with painting and art and crafts. Anytime I wanted to learn something new it always started with an idea, “How can I do this?” Read more>>

Ren Cinema

When it comes to music, I learned how to play the drums with my twin brother when we were eight. My music teacher really pushed us to learn songs, as well as read music, which went a long way. Read more>>

Demi Wylde

I’ve always naturally been drawn to writing. I like to say the only classes I paid any attention to in school was art and English. Growing up I also always had my nose in some book, and it wasn’t until college when I really got involved in writing and editing the college paper as an editor. I took those skills, started creating news content, social media, ad copy, podcasts, books and blog posts. Read more>>