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.

Dan Switalski

I’ve always really struggled in formal teaching settings. The “record, memorize, recite” pattern that still feels very prevalent in traditional western education has always felt so far removed from my actual goals that I’ve always found it difficult to be enthusiastic about. I’ve been fortunate to have worked with many great educators throughout my life, from my first guitar teacher Evan Haller, to my current industry mentor Michael Schulze, to many others both inside and outside of the music world. Read more>>

Brandon Johnson

I actually never went to school for videography! Photography and videography have always been a passion of mine since I was little. I remember always playing around with my parents’ polaroid and film cameras as a kid but never thought of it as a career. A few years back, my sister-in-law was in the wedding planning process and asked if I would film her wedding. At the time, I only had an entry-level camera and a few lights my wife and I would use for our YouTube channel. Read more>>

Michal Overholts

I am asked almost daily if I went to art school or have had some sort of professional training. Truth be told, I am self-taught and I’ve found that most of art is experimenting and trying new things. I started drawing in 2018 with some simple doodles and bought my first set of graphite pencils in 2019. I immediately went home after purchasing them and tried drawing my very first portrait. After that, I was hooked. Read more>>

Brian Doyle.

Field experience! Because I don’t have an academic background in photography, I gained all my insights from working in all aspects of the field and with mentors. Working long hours in energetic environments challenged and advanced my understanding of the technical aspects of photography and photographic equipment. These challenges provided not only professional but personal growth. While academia may have provided textbook skills for this career, I believe time and experience are the best learning tools. Read more>>

Won Jin Choi

I picked up a camera years ago and always wanted to explore photography. One day I decided to take it seriously and started traveling and taking landscape photographs. I had a mentor who was in advertising and she showed me some basic skills and I took off from there. I studied hard, and learned mostly from trial and error. I didn’t have any support from friends or family and that was big obstacle for me. Read more>>

Matt Moberg

Whenever somebody asks me about how I started to draw, or learn the basics around the craft, my answer is boringly uncomplicated: I watched YouTube Videos. In particular, I started obsessing over an artist named Jeff Haines and the way he brought life out of the charcoal dust. I copied his moves to understand how he moved. And then I found others from which I could do the same. In the same way that I got swept up in music by learning to play the Goo Goo Dolls on the guitar, we all start out as cover artists as we set out looking for our voice. I still am on that search, but I think I’m getting closer. Read more>>

Rodney Woods

Wow! Learning my craft started at the age of two. I would always dance in front of the tv and imitate and learn choreography from Michael Jackson Janet Jackson. I learned a lot of choreography from just watching videos from my favorite artists. I started taking ballet and hip hop classes when I was 16. Growing up I would always ask myself “why my parents did not take the initiative to put me in classes sooner?”,when they realized my love for dance. As a child I was so unaware that I could make a living from dancing. Read more>>

Eric Kros

I learned the craft just by listening to different genres of music. Taking certain sounds and flows that caught my ear and applying them to how I go about writing my songs today. Also tweaking it a little so I don’t sound exactly like the artists I look up to. And knowing what I know now, I’m not sure if I would speed up the process, Everything I’ve learned came from trial and error. After all my life experiences, I’ve developed many traits that play a huge role in where I am and who I am as an artist. Read more>>

Toria Richings.

I have always had a massive love of music ever since being really young, I was brought up in a family that if we were not playing an instrument we were listening to songs. When I was 12 I fell in love with the guitar, my dad taught me how to play Top Of The World by The Carpenters and I was hooked! I locked myself in bedroom for a year, went through so many blisters but I emerged playing the guitar! Read more>>

Courtney Zelaya.

Hello! My name is Courtney Zelaya, 27 years old, being a Freelance Makeup Artist in Raleigh, North Carolina for the past 5 years.  I learned to perfect my craft in makeup artistry by studying different skills & application processes by various talented makeup artist in the industry as well as investing in courses online and in-person on models, myself included to truly learn after trial and error. Read more>>

Ruth Chapa

I learned from google, youtube, reddit and trial and error. I would have looked for a mentor to speed up the learning process. Knowing your camera, and how to operate basic things like iso, shutter speed and aperture. Also, knowing that when you show up things might change so get use to being flexible and quick on your feet. Read more>>

Aduragbemi Peters

In the beginning I always wondered what the topic songs would be, I didn’t have the freedom I have now. It took constant repetition before I realized I had an amazing voice. I had to learn how to write songs myself, no one can teach you these things especially if you want to be unique. I wouldn’t do anything differently except start with more confidence but even that was a lesson I had to learn. Read more>>

Victoria Sager

The most important lesson I learned was to embrace the risk of failure. For years, I was held back by a fear of creating bad artwork. Then, one summer, I set a goal of making one bad painting a week. This new mentality freed me to throw myself into the process. Now, I know that each unsuccessful painting brings me one step closer to the next successful painting. Plus, I have found that painting over unsuccessful paintings often adds depth and interest to my work. Read more>>

Lance Avery Brown

Like a lot of other dreams for young kids. I watched a lot of Disney and Nickelodeon and wanted to in shows like those airing at the time. It wasn’t until middle school when my teacher and mentor Michael Mario Good cast me in one of the middle school productions of the Wiz where I would play the Mean Ole Lion. I was new to theatre, but even then I knew it would get me closer to my goals. Michael Mario would then introduce me to an Atlanta legend “Freddie Hendricks”. Read more>>

Zusha Goldin

I learned pretty much all that I know about photography from watching Youtube Tutorials and then applying them on the daily practice. I would type in “How to professionally retouch a portrait in Photoshop” and then watch the video again and again and again until I learned the technique. It really is about learning and then application. I wish I had found a photography mentor in the beginning stages of my career. Read more>>

Brittney Vickers

I sort of stumbled into jewelry making. While I have always been a lover of the arts and handmade goods, I took matters into my own hands and got crafty. In December of 2015 I started to watch videos, read books, and dive into the world of silversmithing. I realized how attached to my jewelry I was and how it made me feel whenever I wore it. One of the largest obstacles that continues to stand in my way is finances. Read more>>

Maddie Kamp

The journey I’ve had to learning how to be a photographer and gain the skills needed has been a never ending one. I’m constantly learning more and more and hope to never stop growing as a photographer. I first started taking photos for fun in high school when I had almost no clue what I was doing. I gradually was learning more as I taught myself and got my first DSLR camera. In college I took a couple photo classes and learned more technical skills with my camera and got much more comfortable with it. Read more>>

Kiera Rahming-Reed

Working with tools was new to me when I first started Summer Orchid in 2019. I knew I wanted to create just didn’t know what and how. When I 1st saw the scroll saw on Pinterest I was fascinated and immediately wanted to learn more, so I did what most of us do and searched Youtube. It was very difficult to find many videos on how to use this tool so I ventured on to other social media sites and eventually started learning bits of info from makers who were already skilled at using this tool. Once I purchased the scroll saw, used it once, then left it sitting for months. Read more>>

ElizabethDarcel

Trial and error and just digging in and getting my hands dirty. I’ve always loved music. I’ve always loved to sing. I never knew how much time and effort went into producing one 3-5 minute song. Learning about all of the layers and steps that it took to build a song was overwhelming and fascinating at the same time. Blending harmonies together requires more that just hitting the right notes. Timing is everything. Read more>>

Jessica Ariane

My professional Makeup Artist career began in 2009. Then, I provided makeup services for prom girls, graduations, and special events. I didn’t know how vast the beauty industry was, but I knew I wanted to apply myself and be amongst the best. After much research, I enrolled in a makeup school in New York City. The curriculum was challenging at times but in hindsight, necessary. Taught by industry professionals, we were prepped for what the demands would look like as a beauty pro in the real world. Read more>>

Shonte Jackson

I’ve always been a performer, naturally. At a young age, 9, I began to join community Hip-Hop dance teams to learn more skill and to be able to showcase my natural talent. There’s no “speeding” when learning a craft such as dance. Being a performer takes time and patience to be exact. Knowing what I know now, I would have made sure that I was equipped in more dance genres so that I could easily pour into my performance career, as an adult. Read more>>

Shelby O’Banion

I decided to start crafting with polymer clay during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic and I taught myself by trial and error. I had fun playing around with a lot of earring shapes and designs, I started to make TikToks of the process, and eventually I started selling them! I had a lot of success and failure while trying to figure out how to make these earrings. But, because of that I have come up with a really good process that works for me. Read more>>

Zenobia Carter

I’ve been in the hair game since I was a little girl. I literally grew up in the salon because my mom was a master cosmetologist as well. She taught me everything I knew about hair. Once she saw the potential that I possessed, she poured everything she could into my passion by teaching me the things she knew. Read more>>

Akeal Evans.

I’ve been picking up musical skills since I was three years old specifically as a drummer. With that I wish I had properly studied piano at a younger age rather than once I got to college. I was so caught up on being a drummer as a kid that I feel like I’m playing catch up in terms of the other instruments I play, my ear is pretty strong though The most essential skills that I have gained is probably being able to adjust and play any style on the fly. As a drummer I’ve been able to sit in without rehearsals for gospel gigs, jazz gigs, rock gigs and more. It’s been a blessing to be able to be so versatile. Read more>>

Nicholas Esquivel .

After I got my first camera, my sister told me that our city’s community center was offering an “Intro to Photography” class. This helped me with learning how to use a digital camera, from learning all the settings and when to use them to learning how to compose a shot as well as contrast, lighting and editing. A skill that I feel is most essential would be editing, I feel that it can make or break a photo. An obstacle that stood in the way of learning more would have to be creators block. Running into one of those sucks because I wouldn’t be able to come up with any new ideas. Read more>>

Joe Vitale Jr.

When I was around 12 years old, I had decided that I wanted to learn to play the drums like my father, veteran rock drummer Joe Vitale from Joe Walsh, the Eagles, Crosby Stills & Nash, Peter Frampton, Buffalo Springfield & many more. My father knew that if he taught me to play drums that we would have the classic scenario where father & son would bump heads when trying to learn something. He didn’t want that to happen. What he did was send me to one his former students named Phillip Zampino. My dad trusted his teaching ability and knew I would be in good hands. I studied with Phillip for many, many years. Read more>>

Rick Kennington.

How did you learn to do what you do? Art has always been a passion of mine. It started when I was very young. When I was in elementary school, I looked up to my older sister who was in high school. As I would watch her draw, I would be amazed at her skill and I would try and emulate her talent. My parents fostered my love of art and would give me drawing pads, drawing pencils, and instructional books as Christmas gifts. Read more>>

T and E Team Whatever Cosplay

We both took sewing classes and Teresa went on to Tailoring and Pattern Drafting from Johnson County Community College. After that it has been years of trial and error and experimentation to achieve the costume looks we are going for. Sewing skills are a must. The techniques we learned are applicable to other forms of crafting like pepakura, 3D-Printing, foam armor crafting, etc. Being able to take a flat pattern and turn it into a 3D design works for so many things. Read more>>

Melanie McGee

There are so many resources out there with social media, YouTube, and/or the internet that we as humans can pretty much learn anything. I personally learned from social media. I read a lot about Polymer Clay and followed a ton of clay artist sharing their tips and tricks of what they learned. What I know now and things I could of avoided was mainly spending a lot of money on a bunch of things I don’t really need. To me, it was all about trial and error. I jumped right in and started doing markets. I didn’t have much success in the beginning, but I was able to network with different vendors and they would share a lot of tips and other markets to attend. Read more>>