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.

John Kolczynski

I first started creating costumes for myself, I was a dance performer, therefore, to save money I decided to create my own costumes, I learned by watching time less YouTube ‘How To’ videos. I think, what I could’ve done to speed up my learning process was taking in person sewing classes, but I believe my most essential skill is the ability to watch something and then do it myself. Some obstacles that stood in my way of learning was my lack of knowledge regarding fabric types, needle types, and sewing machine functions. Read more>>

Mark Lloyd

Born and raised in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Mark grew up in and around the ocean. And, growing up in a family of talented jewelry designers, he learned the skills and craftsmanship necessary at an early age to become one of the most talented jewelry designers in the world. Read more>>

Amy Voss

I’m a self taught artist, and I’ve been creating with glass for over 12 years now. I learn something new every time I start a new guitar. The process from start to finish takes about 2 1/2 weeks, and over the years I’ve tried so many different ways to speed things up. From cutting the glass all at once, to cutting as I go, grouting one way or another – at the end of the day it didn’t matter which option I chose, what I’ve learned is, you can’t speed up the process. There may be different ways to do things, but each takes the same amount of time and patience. Over the years I’ve gotten faster at doing certain things, but each guitar has its own design, which means the process for each one is a little different, and if I hadn’t learned all the options over the years, I wouldn’t be able to have various creative methods for each one. All those different methods are part of what makes each piece so unique and special. Read more>>

Janie Slash

I learned the art of sideshow partly from self research and an amazing mentor. I met my mentor at a show that I was performing burlesque at back in 2013. I saw her performing dangerous sideshow feats and I was impressed by her skill and stage presence. I fell in love with the art of sideshow that very night and new that I had to become a sideshow performer. I started my burlesque troupe Deadly Sins Burlesque and Sideshow and had booked her for the very first show to come out and perform sideshow. I remember asking her if she would teach me how to walk on glass someday and she looked at me and told me that we could do it right then and there. She poured the glass out on a rug with burlap on it and showed me the blood spots where accidents had happened and proceeded to show me the appropriate way to walk on glass. From that night on I was hooked. Read more>>

David López

On the musical side, studying theory and playing throughout early childhood established a strong connection to music and gave me a solid foundation to build upon. Having the support of my parents in that was instrumental. Playing in bands and working as a drum tech in high school gave me some really eye-opening industry exposure and learning experience at an early age. On the technical side, my formal education certainly played a major role in learning my craft. I chose to attend a technical college to study Audio Technology & Production versus a traditional school. I knew there were risks with taking that route and trying to get into music and audio production in general. But that’s truly where I got my foundation and luckily it paid off. Read more>>

Lisa Fender

First of all, becoming a writer is not something you “learn”, it is something that’s in you. Aside from that, there are certain creative writing skills that you must learn in order to put out a high quality novel. For me, I had not been in school for years (I was 47 years old when I finally decided to write a book) and had forgotten the skills I needed to write a professional works of any kind. I simply sat down and wrote a book. The story was good, but it needed some serious cleaning up. I made the decision to hire a writing coach and it was the best decision of my career. What would I have done to speed up my learning curve – probably hired one before I wrote the book. The biggest one was learning not to headhop, as they call it. It means writing in omniscient – or second person. Read more>>

Astrus*

Learning to record and mix your own vocals is more simple than people think. It just takes patience to really get where you want to go. But i learned a lot from youtube, just looking up tutorials and how to do certain things. The hardest thing was getting the equipment and software because at the time i didn’t have much money. But it’s the best investment any artist can do. Recording yourself is way easier and cost effective than paying a studio. It’s more hands on so you get the sound that you want. Writing and practicing new things is also good. Making sure you know every aspect about your craft is key. Read more>>

Drew Skyland

I found my love for fashion during quarantine out of all times. The warmth and love that I discovered from the art of sewing has and forever will change my life. Around that time, my life had no stability. My grandmother passed, I experienced an assault, and I lost my job. I needed something to express, something that will make me feel alive, loved, and accepting. Fashion is the reason why I am here and the essence of my character. Off topic, but I actually recount nights where I would pray for love and the feeling of stability; I guess you can say I was a hopeless romantic. However, I did not imagine God/the Universe or whatever higher power out there would bless me with such a beautiful art that can melt my sadness away. Read more>>

ARYIA

I have been learning for a long time now, and as a DJ/producer it has been a long way to be were i am today. at first i started as a DJ when i was 13 years old because of my passion for music, i learned some things by looking at youtube tutorials and since then every time i try to be better than before. after some years i started learning how to make music with youtube videos and i also took some lessons from artists that i really respect. the best advice that i keep listening and doing is to be in the studio as long as i can, and that i think is what have made me learn the most. Read more>>

Carole Pellatt

I started playing guitar by ear when I was 11. My sister and a few of her friends would show me chords, and I’d watch them playing songs and emmerse myself it in it. I listened to music through great stereos and fabulous headphones endlessly. Then, if there was a song I wanted to learn, I put the vinyl on and started trying to translate what I was hearing to my instrument. Because I learned almost everything by ear, my ability to visualize what I was hearing onto my instrument became very fast. Great musicians have taught me that, “You’re only as good as your ears”. There is no other way to sharpen the foundation of your musical ability than to use your ears to learn. When I was 13, I ordered the book “A Modern Method For Guitar” by William Leavitt from the Berklee College of Music. Read more>>

Leif Lewis

With learning design there are a few ways and directions to go. I started in school. I started in secondary education, some pre-med courses, computer science, everywhere but design. None of these classes made me feel like the career path they were setting up for me was the right one. In the end I started taking a graphic design course, as I was already doodling and messing around in Adobe Illustrator for little projects for friends. From there I took on any project or responded to any social media posts of people needing a graphic designer. I worked at my day job all day then drew and designed into the early morning. In my last semester of school I got into an agency and worked there for a little less than a year. Read more>>

Laura Villafani

I have been drawing and crafting since I was a very little girl. My mother said that I would sit by her while she was sewing and I was crafting with the scraps of fabric… I was a year and a half. From then on, my mother put me in crafting and art classes (after I turned the right age to be able to attend a class :) ) But all I remember is wanting to color and draw. I still have some of my elementary notebooks where the teachers wrote good things about my drawings. In those times when I was growing up, we had the yellow pages book. That was the only place I could find clipart to draw on my sketchbook. Due to many moves around the world, my sketchbooks got lost. I grew up without any internet or computers. Everything was auto-didactic. We had to learn some art techniques with private classes, some basic books and some magazines like National Geographic. Read more>>

Jack Barksdale

For me, learning the craft of songwriting has been a long, gradual, and continuous process. I started writing these really bad and simple songs when I was about 7 years old. I was mostly writing cheap imitations of Johnny Cash songs, since he was my favorite artist back then. Two years later, I had gathered two or three songs that were okay. That’s when I started writing as much as I could and consciously working on how I wrote. That’s also when I found the music of Townes Van Zandt, who is still one of my biggest inspirations today. I’m always trying to listen to great songwriters and read great writers, because the more good you put in the more good you put out. I’m still far from being a great writer, but I hope that I continue to learn and get better. Read more>>

Hopeton Hibbert

I’m a self taught artist/photographer. I learned craftsmanship in my childhood from my grandfather who had a workshop and was always building something. What I learned then I apply to my frame building and canvas stretching now. Knowing what I know now to speed up my learning process I would have taken some photography classes at the beginning, but at the time I was in school earning my culinary arts degree putting in work in my chef career so photography was just a hobby at the time. With that being said the skills I find most essential I learned in the culinary field and that was methodical productivity. In other words, learning to produce on a high level consistently. That exercise has gotten me to my prolific state currently. Read more>>

Ezra Jones

Ezra took the unconventional route when it came to learning the business. A vast majority of his experience was a combination of drawing from his previous history and skillset in the retail industry. Knowing what he knows now he could have sped up the learning process by building a team sooner, engaging in more selective collaborations and learning about the importance of implementing referrals and reviews early on, says Jones. He believes his most essential skills to be faith, creativity, openness, leadership and organization. The obstacles that stood in the way of learning more for Jones included: access to mentors, limitations on travel and limited capital. Read more>>

Howard Blackson III

I learned first by drawing maps, majoring in Geography as a cartographer at the University of Texas. From there, I learned how to design master planned communities, resorts, retirement communities, golf course communities, senior communities, and most anything suburban sprawl. That was before I found out how to design for walkable, transit-supported neighborhoods with a variety of uses (shops, offices, residences, schools, churches). The key is how to design for neighborhoods. Neighborhoods are physical places and communities are cultures and societies that inhabit them. A cluster of neighborhoods in San Diego are known as Community Planning Areas, but neighborhoods are important because that is how everyone can conceived of the city or region we live in. Read more>>

Ellie Rich

I think I was born to be wild and my mind is always full of ideas that don’t allow me to be passive. Thanks to my mother, since my childhood I was involved in various artistic ventures like playing in TV advertisements, TV shows, singing, leading festivals and fashion shows where I would sometimes also be a model. I simply couldn’t stay away from the artistic world, nor did I want to. It gave me an opportunity to utilize the skills I had and to keep developing creative arts – photography was one of them. There was always a lot of photography and videography equipment at my childhood home so I had a camera in my hands for as long as I remember myself. I always enjoyed the beauty of a moment eternally frozen in a second that you are lucky to capture. I wanted to get better at it – to best myself over and over again. Read more>>

Katya Vilchyk

Everything changed when my daughter was born. I could not take my eyes off her. I had to document every fleeting moment of her newborn life, she was changing so quick, my iPhone photography sucked so bad, and I simply couldn’t afford to have a live-in photographer in the house (as cool as that would be haha) There had to be a better way. And who would take better photos of my baby than her own mother? So I dug out my old work camera. At the time I had a full time job (that I was on maternity leave from) in marketing. I had my Nikon for years, but never took the time to learn it beyond the Auto mode. I never felt the need… until then. Read more>>

Hoss Cruz

I’ve been oil painting for 29 years, basically a self taught painter. It was a time in my career where I met my good friend Pilo who inspired me with his amazing artworks. There’s this one day where I saw a poster of a model raising her shirt to show her koi fish rib cage tattoo. I thought it was a good picture, so I stared at it. Soon enough, I saw his signature, and I was floored because I thought it was an actual photo/poster. There was so much amazement in his work, I was only 17 at the time and I wanted to become better at my skills. The hunger grew more intense as given the opportunity to apprentice tattooing by him. Words can never express my gratitude. Read more>>

Laura Laing

I always knew that I wanted to work in a creative field. I didn’t really know specifically what I wanted to do so I opted for a major in Applied Design from SDSU because it allowed me to explore various 3-dimensional mediums. Once I fell into Metalsmithing and Jewelry Design, it became clear that was what I was meant to do. It just so happens that SDSU has one of the top metals programs in the country so I was able to learn basic and advanced techniques from Sondra Sherman and Helen Shirk, two very accomplished artists and professors. After I graduated, I apprenticed with another alum who had her own fashion jewelry collection. After about 4 years, I became the Jewelry Designer for THATCH Jewelry where I taught myself how to run business. Read more>>

Brantly Sheffield

I learned to do what I do by going to art school. I attended the Kansas City Art Institute between 2010-2014. This was really the beginning of honing my craft. While I was at KCAI I was confronted with a bunch of different ways of working as well a variety of exercises and projects that where meant to prepare us for our own studio practice. I found myself using paint to compete most of my projects, so I gravitated towards the professors who’s work I liked that could guide me down the path of painting. From there I studied abroad to Florence. Italy to learn how to fresco paint, and in 2015 I moved to Boston to attend Boston University’s MFA painting program. The institutions give you time and space to hone your skills to develop your vernacular into a successful studio practice. Read more>>

Andrew Wick

I learned through trial and error mostly but also with investigating a variety of art techniques and mediums. I don’t really know how to speed up the art process. In my mind, it should slow down. Everyone wants immediate gratification in the era of the screen. As far as obstacles, there are many with art. Likely too many to count. My personal one just recently was a house fire. Awful. Read more>>

Lori Weiss

In July of 2015, I became a raw vegan fruitarian and I wanted to share my lifestyle online. In order to inspire others to eat fresh fruits and vegetables, I knew that I would have to learn how to make my dishes look beautiful and delicious. So I took pictures of my food every day and used each meal as an opportunity to hone my craft. Then, about two years ago, I got the idea to present my platters of fruit like pieces of art – and that is how I became a “fruitographer.” Over the years, I studied other people’s food photos on Instagram and kept experimenting with the medium until I eventually developed my own style. Read more>>

Gabriel DeLeon

My passion stems from watching my father excel in the kitchen. l began working with my father, Juan DeLeon, at the age of sixteen at my father’s first restaurant La Parilla in Red Oak, Texas. Two years later, my dad opened La Margarita in Irving, Texas, where I learned how to operate a restaurant day-to-day. I don’t really believe in hypotheticals, but I believe that if I would’ve sped up the process then I would’ve missed out on the opportunity with the Hartnett group and I wouldn’t appreciate the lessons I learned today. The skill I think is most essential is the ability to connect with your guests – it is critical to be able to communicate with others and then build upon that relationship. Read more>>

Juliette Mansour

I learned photography not by getting a degree in photographic art, but by following a tiny light, shining from under a large, door that held prisoner another version of myself. Let me explain: It was 2005 and I was at the height of my career in the freelance advertising, focusing on just the business and technology side at this point. I was surrounded by so many creative people at work and in my personal life, secretly lusting after what they were able to do with their skills. That spring of ’05, I went to New York with a good friend of mine. It was my first trip since I was a child and I wanted to take a camera with me. I decided to take a few rolls of color film on that trip and I was on my way. When I got back to Atlanta, I was so excited when I got my negatives and prints back. New York and its people burned in my brain in a whole different way. Read more>>

Shaun McNamara

I learned by trial and error. Believe it or not, there were not a lot of blueprints you could follow to be an R-rated puppet theater owner. My wife was supportive and helped me get started. Then we just tried things. I just learned by failing. I still learn by it. My shows are constantly changing, even night to night, performance by performance because I’m learning. Scripts, jokes, ENDINGS, I’ve changed everything in a show just by eating sh** in front of an audience. However, knowing what I know now, I’m not sure I would change much. I don’t believe “who we are” and “who we will be” has anything to do with each other. When I was 20, I dropped out of college, and moved to California. Read more>>

Megan James

How did you learn to do what you do? Art is something I’ve always done naturally. In my own intuitive pull to create, I’ve been able to expand my skills as an artist. Luckily, everyone around me has always encouraged me to keep working on my art too, which has created a supportive environment for me to grow. Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? I have learned to recognize that having artistic abilities is only one part of the equation, so building a strong creative practice is essential for an artist! It has taken me years to take stock in my own work imprints, and build good habits, but it has transformed my abilities as an artist. Read more>>

Shanna Toft

I’ve always been a natural performer. When I was very young I would put on little shows at home just for my parents and my friends. As soon as choir and theatre became available in school, I added them to my course schedule and I stuck with theatre into high school. My parents didn’t want me trying to make a career out of acting, so that was an obstacle to achieving my dream as a young adult. I ended up going to business school instead, and I met my ex-husband and started a family, so family life put acting on the back burner for over a decade. Out of the blue one day, a friend of mine who happens to do headshots for local celebrities told me about an audition she thought I really needed to pursue, and that was just the push I needed to get back in the game. Read more>>

Anna Ferry

My mother, and both Grandmothers used to sew all kinds of wonderful things and not only saw sewing as a hobby but as an essential part of everyday life. My mother spent hours with me teaching me to hand sew little felt bears together and has always encouraged my interest and probably more than myself had the confidence in my abilities to create anything from a suede jacket in high school to my beaded wedding dress. I was very fortunate to go to a high school that had a great Arts program and wonderful teachers that taught me the many ins and outs of creating a garment from design to construction and the skills needed to do this. Read more>>

Ruth Westreich

I was drawing and painting from a very young age, probably around 7. It just came naturally and is a part of me like my arm or leg. I was discouraged from pursuing a career as a fine artist with my counselors saying men dominate the art world in 1965. Also you will never make a living as a fine artist. So I did the next best thing for a conscious creative, I went to design school. But while doing that I would find masters whose work I connected with and train under them. I don’t know how much time you have to put in doing your craft before your style emerges. It may well be the 10,000 rule. Mine happened for me some 20 years later when I met my art mentor. Read more>>