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.

María Alejandra Hernández Guilarte

I would say, since the first day I took a color. Without noticing it, I have always been cultivating a creative life. I drew, painted, illustrated, and was extremely curious to create things as a child. My art classes taught me a lot; I had the chance to learn how to manage color, composition, and details at an early age. Read more>>

Christina Swilley

I’ve always had a great love of music and collected records, so a few years ago I decided that I should play music for other people. My big brother gave me a two minute dj lesson right before my first gig. I was kind of a spaz the first few months of playing records professionally! I always loved it though. As an “all vinyl dj” the most important part is loving music, creating a completely unique experience for people, and reading the room. Music is so human and so important. Read more>>

Genesis Amaris Kemp

I learned by just jumping in and a lot of trial by error. Learning from my mistakes and just having fun. Find a mentor who has been in the podcasting space longer than me. I could have learned tips and tricks upfront and then refocus my time on other areas. The skills most essential are understanding the various types of microphones, finding a podcast platform to host your podcast whether it is free, or fee based. Then deciding if you are going to keep it strictly audio or encompass video. Read more>>

Lorann Schindler

How did I learn to do what I do? Well, I guess in some way it was always innately in me. I am a hair and makeup artist as well as a photographer. They were both things I just kind of started doing as a young child. From there I grew up to seek out formal education on both fronts. I studied photography in college and attended The Makeup Training Academy to further learn makeup! Read more>>

Christie Felton

I learned my craft by letting go of all my expectations and accepting I was at the end of everything I knew. There was the inevitable struggle between what I intended to create and the end result that made me an apprentice in the art of acceptance. I learned to find beauty in what was, regardless of my inability to control the outcome. I allowed each piece to become what it was meant to be, not what I wanted it so desperately to become. Read more>>

Vincent Larue

Follow your interests in life, and dig deeper year after year. For me, interest in drawing and graphic stories was present for as long as I can remember. It grew as I grew up. Some times in ways more consistent than others, but life, especially the youngers years, is not a linear thing. You have to trust your passions and cultivate your way of seeing things through the eyes of an artist. Patience and determination are necessary. Read more>>

Christopher Alexander

As an audio engineer and producer I first began my learning process by being curious and wanting to have fun creating music. Within doing that I faced a lot of trial and error which eventually sharpened my skills. Ive been doing music since I was 15 years old and what I will say is I wouldn’t have done anything different to speed up the process but what did help the paste in my journey was attending collage, and meeting successful audio engineers. Read more>>

Sierra Estes

I learned the craft of ceramics when earning my undergraduate degree. I had changed my major 2 years into my college career, which resulted me in having fewer semesters of classes under the guidance of a seasoned professor. I took enough courses to become proficient, but without a strong voice of my own and a long way to go to round out my clay knowledge. Fortunately, ceramics is a craft with an infinite amount of things to learn, so I’ve always seen myself as a student. This keeps me open to always improving and also adding new things to my processes. Read more>>

Kuzana Ogg

I’m an admirer of ordinary beauty; in people, landscapes, language, poetry, architecture, and such. I remix new observations with my own truths, distilling form and color into a vocabulary unique to me. For example, when I was about 5-I was told not to play on the marble steps of my grandparents’ home. One day I carried my sister piggy-back up the stairs and we were laughing so hard, I fell over and chipped my tooth! If you look at some of my work, you’ll see teeth portrayed, and in other paintings, you’ll see stairs. Read more>>

Prithvi Prakash

I am a producer, songwriter and sound designer. I would have never imagined myself doing this. I started from absolute zero. I watched a lot of youtube videos, masterclasses, watched friends while they produced, observed a lot and learned. I could have sped up my learning process if I had been confident in myself. I think I spent too much time doubting myself and not taking the leap earlier. Understanding sound physics and having a good ear are most essential when you’re a sound designer and a producer. Like I mentioned earlier, the fear of not being good enough and not feeling I belonged held me back from immersing myself in the process. Read more>>

Lucas Doney

Theres a lot to be said about learning the “ins and outs” of hair. First I went to beauty school. Thats where everyone starts. It’s necessary in the state of California to be a working professional in the field. Once you complete school and get your license you are free to be a hairdresser. I didnt feel very confident when i completed school. I searched out other forms of education to help me have a better understanding of what I did every day behind the chair. I went to courses in Europe, I surrounded myself with people who were better than I was, and I was always asking so many questions. I am the kind of person who will always be a life long learner. Read more>>

Justin Tomlin

I learned by going out there and making mistakes. Knowing what I know now I definitely would’ve learned the business side a little better, I still have some learning to do but that would’ve been my main focus going into photography for sure. Networking and studying the craft hands down. There aren’t too many obstacles in terms of learning more about the craft, but I will say that if you don’t know something, 9 times out of 10 there is somebody in that field that can help you. Read more>>

Archana Iyer

I am a polymer clay artist and sculpting is my passion currently. But it wasn’t always like this. I came to know about this medium called Polymer Clay accidentally.When I came to USA from India in 2012 I wasn’t even aware that there is something called as oven bake clay! I wanted to continue my painting hobby and hence visited a local craft and in one of the aisles I discovered Polymer clay.I brought some home try just for fun.And one thing led to another and soon I was so addicted to claying that I would spend hours experimenting. Read more>>

Kimberly D. Worthy

I learned to get a foothold in television by trial and error. I initially wanted to start my career solely as an Actress. After attending countless auditions and seeing the same people time and time again, vying for the same few positions, I knew I had to do something different. I always remembered the quote, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” So for me, my ability to be fluid and navigate directions when need be was essential to my success. Read more>>

Dru Phillips

Learning my craft was mainly trial and error. I would sit in the studio I worked in in collage and just play with all the gear to see what it did. Now a days everyone has Youtube, Linda.com, and adobe tutorials so they don’t have to play around. Lighting was the most essential skill I feel I learned because it benefits photo and video. Only obstacle I feel that stands in the way of learning more is the need for sleep lol. Read more>>

Vencent Dorcilien

Andrew Bernstein is one of the longest-serving NBA photographers. His work appears in thousands of newspapers and magazine covers worldwide. Andrew B. has shot many iconic photos such as the 80’s Magic Johnson showtime lakers, Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls era, The Shaq & Kobe dynasty, and many more iconic moments till this day. I came across his work when he and late NBA legend, Kobe Bryant, partnered in his first-ever book titled The Mamba Mentality: Read more>>

Mika Brooks

I learned how to twist when I first joined a company who had balloon artists twisting in restaurants. We had a week training and had to learn 10 simple shapes. The person who was training me forgot how to twist a couple shapes so she suggested we go on YouTube. I surprisingly picked up the techniques pretty quickly to the surprise of my trainer. I learned 10 shapes in about 3-4 days and started working the restaurant the same weekend. Read more>>

VSN

I learned how to do what I do off of me just being in love with music and an obsession to learn how my favourite songs were created and the ongoings in the music industry. I don’t necessarily feel like anything could have been done to speed up the process as it is a journey and everything I find happens in its own time as long as you stay motivated, driven and consistent. Read more>>

Jonathan Munoz

I started studying music at 8 years old at an academy that no longer is around called ASM. My primary instrument is guitar and that is where I started to develop my chops as a musician/artist. For many years, I attended the academy and through my training, mainly in rock & blues, I started honing my craft even more. By the time I was 11, I was playing at incredibly high levels and I chose to experiment and started to learn how to play the trumpet in middle school. Read more>>

Matthew Santos

I attended University of Colorado, Boulder and graduated in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts Media Production, a minor in Technology, Art & Media and a certificate in Music Technology. This college experience and degree really helped lay the foundation and get me started in learning both music production and graphic design. However, since this degree was not a technical degree, my skill set still needed to be improved after graduating. Most of what I have learned since graduating has been from friends teaching me on their own or through videos, forums and posts on the internet. Read more>>