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.

Joseph Moreno

To fully grasp what I do on a professional level, I had to negate the idea that my work will be acceptable to all. I had to learn that leaving it open to interpretation is substantial to both my success as an artist as well as a human being. Read more>>

Blake Conner

I picked up wood carving as a hobby. I have always enjoyed pursuits of creativity and art, but not many always stuck. This one did, and I imagine that it’s because there is a cross between my love for the outdoors with my love for art and craft. Read more>>

Nicholas Pagan

I took my first photography class in the 7th grade after I was late signing up for classes for the upcoming school year and was stuck in the only available course, photography. Before that point, I had never thought of or considered photography as something I could potentially do with my life. Read more>>

Malcolm Dakar

I learned like how a lot of people my age learned, mostly through YouTube how to’s & trial & error. I do believe I got an extra leg up from my aunt, an amazing seamstress for many years, who taught me a lot of the fundamentals. Read more>>

Ivanna Vizcaya Sperling

The easy answer would be to say college. I have a Bachelor’s of Science in Interior Design and yes, I did learn a lot in school, from design software, to color theory to many other useful tools but I learned to do what I do through experience in the field. I have worked in different areas of design and have been able to learn from each and every one. Read more>>

Moe Leady

Learning how to be an artist is a never ending obstacle course. Not only the material skills and knowledge to become an artist but also being able to navigate the professional art world. Read more>>

Eric/Jon M. Campbell/Lattimore

“Eric Campbell” The organization “W.O.R.D has always been a safe place where everybody can gain more knowledge they came with. We learn and teach without even realizing it. There are many people that are fast-paced at what they do, but there is also creative artist that needs more time than others. Read more>>

Lauren O’Byrne

Creative pursuits are often wonderfully maddening endeavors – with extreme highs and lows. I’ve had a camera in my hand for as long as I can remember. Capturing memories is innately important to me. Read more>>

MaryKate Rothman

Honestly, I started with zero knowledge. I didn’t even know how to use power tools. However, I had a deep love for items that were antique or vintage and a fascination for how things used to be manufactured or built in the past. I wanted to bring the absolute beauty I found in hand hewn furniture and vintage styles to others. Read more>>

Cabos

My start in tattooing started off kind of rough actually. My “apprenticeship was about 3 months and the rest was just me trial and error tattooing my friends at their house lol. Read more>>

Javier Herrera

I first picked up a camera in high school and learned the basics of photography then too. Back then it was all film as digital was just barely starting to come to market and was very very expensive and not that great. Read more>>

Victor Espinosa

Learning to be a competent writer is a lifelong process. I don’t think anyone ever perfects the craft, they merely do their best and hope their words have an impact somewhere. The most essential skill in my writer’s toolbox is the ability to observe. To absorb the world around you, from the macro to the micro. If you haven’t seen drama, tension, or transformation, how can you hope to write about it? Read more>>

Codi Anderson

I received a starting leather work kit for Christmas of 2020 and from there I jumped full into learning everything I could about leather working. I had always had an interest in it, I just didn’t know where to start. Read more>>

Courtney Kenefick

My background is in education, I have masters in Early Childhood Education and prior to starting my family I was a literacy coach for kids pre-k-2nd grade. I loved working with kids, but always felt as I was missing something. A friend who was already an established photographer, Read more>>

Sara Fahling

After taking my first photography class in community college, I decided to pursue a BFA in Photography from Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapid, MI. While at KCAD, I took numerous classes in photography, where I was encouraged to think about how I could use this medium to express the topics that were important to me. Read more>>

Katee & Caroline Obrien & King

We are both self taught! Youtube was and still is our best friend, tutorials on tutorials, we invested in mentorships and reached out photographers we admired, second shot weddings, attended styled shoots, but we have still learned the most from our own trial and error. Read more>>

Irv Wright

Studied with a master hatter, started the journey much earlier. Having an open and creative mindset. No real obstacles, just finding the proper sources since there is so much information. So it requires constant information gathering and a lot of trail and error. Read more>>

Najee Strickland

I learned how to do what I do by being observant, motivated, and overall interested in whatever craft I decide to venture into. Speed is not what we focus on, but patience. Patience is a must. Read more>>

Eric Williams

Learning how to do what I do….that’s a difficult question to answer. The simple way to go about it is to say that I taught myself, but in doing so there are multiple trials, errors, heartbreak and struggle. There will be moments of utter brilliance and peaks upon the tallest mountains as well but the main factor I would that contributed to it is determination. Read more>>

Natalie Diane

I learned my craft by studying the craft. Being under teachers, mentors and listening to people that inspire me. I will say that I have always been great at modeling. Even though, I looked up to certain people such as Tyra Banks, Naomi Cambell and watched a little bit of America’s Next Top Model here and there; I always knew I would be a supermodel. Read more>>

STAR Steph

Learning music dates back to my elementary days. I spent most of my extra curricular activities in music and band classes. I learned to play many instruments, read and write music. Rapping however, began in 7th grade. Read more>>

Stephen Gleason

I’ve always had a fascination with the way things sound. Like most young musicians I initially learned to play guitar by listening and watching others. I had a very musical background and formal training was thrust upon me at a young age at the unrelenting request (demand?) of other musicians in my family. Read more>>

Vincent Sung

I think the key ingredient to learning anything is having the desire to learn it, and the repetition of doing it over and over again. That was definitely the case for me; I had a strong passion to model, so I kept doing it! Read more>>

Rahn Hortman

I’ve learned the art of stand up by getting on stage and trying. Stage time is the foundation to getting better. Watching other comics and being around it. It lit a fire. Knowing what I know now, had I started when I was younger I would possibly be steps ahead of where I am now, However, younger me may not have been patient and quit when it didn’t work out right away. Read more>>

Katie Bodden

I contribute a lot of my skills from trial and error, a lot of practice, and learning from my peers. I am a self taught aviation photographer. I think if I took a photography class to learn more of the basics with my DSLR camera I would have been able to figure out settings for different photo opportunities a lot faster. Read more>>

Katie Marie

I’m a learning junkie. I adore picking up new skills and absorbing information. That being said, I struggled in school due to dyslexia and left at 15, without any academic qualifications. Thankfully, I wasn’t fazed by this at all and couldn’t wait to get out into the real world and make music my full-time thing. Read more>>

Joey Diehl

Learning how to become an audio engineer is a bit like learning how to bottle air. You have no idea how you’re doing and the entire process is totally subjective. So the best way I’ve found is to just jump in head first and surround yourself with the best people you can find doing exactly what you want to do. Read more>>

Amanda Clay

I consider myself fortunate in that I am somebody who has known what they wanted to do for a living since I was a child. Writing was always a passion for me, an outlet from the chaotic outside world. Because I’ve always had a passion for writing, I’ve spent my entire life practicing. Read more>>

Kathryn Sullivan

I started writing when I was 14. The science fiction and fantasy I was reading of that time had very few female main characters and I wanted more stories with characters I could identify with. So I hauled out my dad’s manual typewriter and started writing. And sending out manuscripts and collecting rejections. Read more>>

Jared Chance Taylor

As a teenager, I learned so much from spending hours alone creating music just for fun. That changed later on. As music became a career, I began to learn a lot from collaborating with others. Read more>>

Aliyah Holmes

I was always open to new opportunities. I never wanted to limit myself to just production because I wanted to do a bit of everything. I love being creative and coming up with ideas from marketing plans to show concepts and collaborative projects. I knew what I wanted my career to be when I was thirteen. Read more>>

John Robbin

-The first thing I had to learn was how to sew. It started when my auntie gave me one of her sewing machines toto get started. I was too excited but before I could start I had to first learn the machine, and that came through watching a lot of YouTube videos. Honestly, a lot of the things I’ve learned came from YouTube videos and a lot of trail & error. Read more>>

Danielle Daniel

Learning a new skill such as wood burning was completely new to me when I started. I have always worked with many different forms of art such as painting, drawing, crafting etc. Taking on wood-burning seemed to be the new art form for me that brought me joy and served as an outlet that I didn’t know I needed. Read more>>

Ayjshane Winslett

I’ve always loved to write, my grandmother and mother realized that about me at a young age. I use to watch Def Jam Poetry as a kid and although I didn’t know the entire meaning of what the poets were saying, Read more>>

Jessica Hanson

It’s taken some time to get to where I am, mostly because I didn’t understand where I wanted to go in the first place (laughing). I grew up studying classical violin and piano from an early age and felt like there was an unintentional box put around me. When we see or hear violin at this young age it’s either classical music or fiddling and many times that’s what gets taught in violin lessons, which is great for beginners! Read more>>

Abby Kacen

Since childhood, I’ve always been interested in drawing and storytelling. A lot of my learning has been done through trial & error and absorbing art that I love, but I did attend the University of Georgia where I studied drawing and visual storytelling for my BFA. Read more>>

Justyn Campbell

Learning all that I know surely took lots of trial and error. If I knew what I know now, I feel that I would have a lot more clarity on the things that took me much time to understand. The skill that I find most essential to my career in content creation is the ability to network. Read more>>

Vuyo Joboda

“I have a bag of skills” something I say often because I have taken over 10 years learning and refining skills for the industry. When I decided to be in the industry, I needed to find something special I would stand out with. Read more>>

Brandon Watson

I have always been a music lover. As a kid I became obsessed with becoming a “student of the guitar” listening to influences like John Mayer, Eric Clapton and B.B King all of the greats really. My goal was always to become “listenable” with my playing. Fast forward 15+ years now creating my brand of being known for “just me & my guitar” it just made sense that I would create my own music that revolves around my guitar playing and style. Read more>>

Frank Piombo

I started guitar lessons at the age of thirteen at a music school near by my house. At the time, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with learning to play the guitar, I just wanted to be like my idols who happen to be the Beatles. I sudied for a couple of years until I was able to put a garage band together and play local block parties. Read more>>