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.

BRE.iSH

As an upcoming Artist, One of the things i Hear the Most is “Learn the Business”. You hear Tons of Stories about how people learned the business or the time they got taken advantage of or didn’t get paid etc. But people Rarely ever talk about Their Love for the Craft, and how they learned all of the little tidbits of knowledge that help them create on the professional level in which they operate. Read more>>

Charlotte Terrell

I grew up in a small town in Mississippi (Tennessee Williams’s birthplace) with a wonderful art school, and the university students took me, a young tween, under their wing by mentoring me and showing me the skills they were learning in school, typically in dormitory hallways. When it was time to go to university, I picked a creative career, landscape architecture, which gave me a background in design. As a bonus, the curriculum also included art history classes. Read more>>

Ben Heffernan

I learned my craft through experience – from a young age, I joined a church choir, took guitar lessons, joined band programs at local music schools, watched YouTube guitar tutorials, and perhaps most importantly, was exposed to lots of music through my parents! Since then, I’ve made efforts to open myself up to as many different types of opportunities as possible, from gigs, to teaching, to producing, to session playing. Read more>>

Shuyi Qiu

I started as a graphic designer in the first place when I came to New York. I was shocked by the inclusion of this amazing city. Then as I dived deep into this field, I found more fun of color and vivid pictures to tell the story. I am really thankful for my bachelor’s degree as a graphic designer at SVA. It gave me a different way to see the world. The challenge at SVA established a solid foundation as an artist to pursue my future career. Read more>>

Altonia Fowler Dugar

I acquired my skills in event production through a combination of volunteering and on-the-job experience. Looking back, there are several strategies I could have employed to expedite my learning process. Read more>>

Taylor Smith

My tattoo apprenticeship process has been full of different educational methods, from reading to observation to hands-on experience. Being positive and confident helps with grasping concepts; insecurity is an obstacle to reaching your potential! Read more>>

Luke Brenes

For me, learning how to make the electronic music I was interested in required hours of observation, trial & error, and online videos/guides that helped me get familiar with the necessary softwares. Pretty much the familiar story of “locking yourself in your room and being obsessed hours on end.” Starting out, I definitely wasn’t putting out the content that I am today. Read more>>

John Fulton

Sometimes you can learn another craft unknowingly. Although I’m an actor now, music has always come first and learning that craft has led me to my current status. The rhythm, tempo, pitch, beat and feel of the music can be applied to acting. I moved to LA to be near creative people and do creative things and only focused on writing songs. Read more>>

Kerry Stephens

I always wanted to work in film, but started in college as an IT major in hopes of finding a well paying job. However, I quickly learned that I didn’t enjoy IT work very much, and took a gamble on switching my major to my passion. This is one of the best decisions I ever made. Read more>>

Laura Petrovich-Cheney

As a woodworker and quilter, I am fascinated by the intersections between our changing climate and the complex geometries and narratives embedded in textiles. Most of my pieces are made from repurposed wood collected after natural disasters and then assembled into quilt-inspired sculptures, displaying the very personal impact of natural disasters and the potential for renewal. Read more>>

Alejandra Romero

Music has always guided my life, allowing me to reinvent myself. Read more>>

Nathan Borton

I would like to discuss this question in terms of my relationship to the art of making a living as a jazz musician. If you’re a musician, or even someone that what’s to pursue music, the most important thing for you to do is to not be afraid to fail. In my career up to this point, I have tried and failed at many things. Read more>>

William Sims

Film directing is one of those things that has a basic foundation but over time it develops into your own craft. For me it started oddly enough with acting. Acting gave me the foundation of how to talk to actors and what the mindset I’m trying to emulate. A director whether it be in film or theatre is a collaborator. Read more>>

Nathan Cuevas

I would say music production is an endless endeavor. Always will be a student. Been making music since my sophomore year of high school and I learn something new everyday. Shout out to Icon Collective (music production school in Los Angeles) and the University of Youtube. Read more>>

Kai Ono

Learning the craft of creating music is a constant balance of experimentation and imitation. Read more>>

Faina Teplitskaya

Learning the craft is similar to learning a life itself: a continuous experiment involving starting from scratch, making mistakes, and starting over. At times, you may see a clear direction, while at others, you are lost in uncertainty, eventually, piecing things together-though sometimes not. I consider myself fortunate to have the most incredible profession in the world-that of a perpetual student-of life and of art – both in the literal sense ( as a mature art student) and in a more philosophical way.  Read more>>

Jayden Simisky

Learning is at the root of human purpose. We are curious creatures, always seeking to understand the world around us. My whole life has been characterized by this idea. When I was young I would take apart TV remotes and radios to see how they worked. As I got older I started to shift my efforts into the world of metalwork and since then have felt no stronger call than expressing art through metal. Read more>>

Sam Perches

I happened to learn my craft quite accidentally. My father was a photographer and I spent much of my childhood and teenage years standing around watching him work, and of course helping where I could, and this experience, combined with my love of movies, gave me not only a fundamental early understanding of how a camera worked, but also a glimpse into what life as a visual storyteller might be like. Read more>>

Sara Wilson

My parents put me in dance when I was two and a half years old, and it just kept going from there! I would literally beg my parents for more classes, to send me to intensives and workshops, etc. As I got older, my curiosity and love of dance continued to grow exponentially. I will constantly read and watch anything I can get my hands on to further my knowledge. Read more>>

Cami Cossa

In this question I’m gonna focus on my profession, I am an actress and there are many ways of learning the craft. I started when I was a kid, 9 years old to be precise, I took some classes in musical theatre in Spanish and continued with theatre classes, that’s when I discovered this art but it wasn’t until I was 11, when I got my first role on a play – A midsummer’s night dream in English- where I had to audition and everything, that I realized that I had a penchant for theatre. Read more>>

Greg Newbold

You’re so talented! If I had a dollar for every time I heard that, I’d have quite a nest egg. The truth is, being an artist has very little to do with what people equate with talent and everything to do with how hard one works at developing their craft. Read more>>

Mike Kinnebrew

On learning “the craft” of songwriting, one has to be careful (in my opinion) not to learn it *too* well. There is a line in the play, King Lear, that says, “the weight of this time we must obey, speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.” I think about that every time I sit down to write a song: Speak what I feel; not what I “ought” to say. Read more>>

Natalie Kalei

When it comes to learning how to write, sing, record etc. I feel like I always mention it runs in my family. My father was a musician and my Aunt is a musician as well. I learned a lot by always being around it. Growing up I also went to magnet schools for the arts, so I was always surrounded by creativity. Read more>>

Anuvis Jade

I learned how to be a musician through years of studying. Music for me has always been something that I loved, but never understood until I looked at the songs that I loved and dissected them. Everything came as a learning process. Every song I heard I wondered and asked why I liked it, and wouldn’t stop until I figured out why. I think I learned everything at a good pace, maybe even faster than most. Read more>>

SUSANA MATA

When I first started painting I was not familiarize with the medium. It was difficult for me at first. I received lessons in different schools but the only person that taught me the basics was my drawing teacher. At the different schools, learning was very slow, too many people attending classes at the same time. Read more>>

Stephen Kanka

Photography was a happy accident for me. When I was in HS I needed what felt like in my head would be an easy grade. I was playing baseball and figured Photography would be an easy “A”… how foolish and naive my 15 year old brain proved to be. I was quickly approached by the instructor who quickly and accurately sized me up. Read more>>

Suany Ortiz

I have been painting since I can remember. My style has changed throughout my life I found my signature style a few years ago which best shows what I’m trying to express through my artwork. I wouldn’t change any obstacles that stood in the way of me becoming the artist that I am today. Read more>>

Charles Humenry

I don’t remember not playing music, it’s always been part of my life. My parents started me in classical piano at a conservatory when I was 5 years old. I enjoyed it but like every other 5 year old French boy, I’d rather play soccer and build legos. Fast forward 28 years and I’m so thankful that they pushed me to keep going. Read more>>

 Abigail Ann

When I entered this industry, I was fourteen. The only experience I had prior to my internship at a media consulting agency was what I had learned from using social media for personal reasons. A lot of what I have learned since is from experience. Jumping straight into something might not always be easy, and it definitely will be uncomfortable at times, but there is a lot to be learned from experimenting and putting yourself in new situations. Read more>>

Kimberly Ni’Cole

I’m someone who is always eager to learn, evolve, and apply. I’ve learned runway modeling and entrepreneurship by intentionally getting around people who were already doing what I wanted to do. I understand that in today’s society the term mentorship or coach seems over-used however it really has been the life hack to advancing in my skills. Read more>>

Julia Parisi

Reflecting upon how I learned to paint and become the artist I am today, I find that learning my skills was intertwined with my personal experiences and genuine enthusiasm for the craft. My artistic journey began with a spark kindled by my father’s creative work, painting characters that danced on the walls of our family home during my childhood. Read more>>

Ben Salama

When initially starting the BenJammins brand, I had no previous experience in many of the essential skills pivotal for a successful content creator, such as marketing, public speaking, video editing, and script writing. Read more>>

Suyu Chen

I decided to study arts and crafts in college and since then, I have practiced arts for over 10 years, especially in art jewelry for about 8 years. My formative years within an academic framework furnished me with a comprehensive grasp of metalsmithing and the contemporary paradigm of jewelry arts. Read more>>

Joshua Morata

For as long as I can remember I’ve always been a self-sufficient person, so taking classical courses or studying music theory was never something that interested me. Before ever taking an interest in the piano, I aspired in becoming a guitarist- Growing up in the early 2000’s, Santana had this song out on the radio called “Smooth”. Read more>>

Marcus Omeish

Learning the craft was a lot of work. I really started off knowing absolutely nothing. A friend of mine was interested in making a song and he asked me if I could make the beat for him. I went out and bought a $400 software called Maschine and started playing around with it. All of the projects I made at first were awful because I really didn’t know what to do with it. Read more>>

Jeanie Whatley

Teaching myself to use silicone in paint was an experience lol Read more>>

Gemm

Each member has their own story but for me, Peter, specifically, I started falling in love with music when I was very young. There are photos of me constantly playing drums on pots and pans and my favorite toy was a drum. I thought for sure this is what I am gonna do. But the hard no way from my parents sent me in another direction. Read more>>

Yimin Zhang

I discovered my passion for animation pretty young in Middle School. I was fortunate in that my school had a news program that played videos in the school cafeteria and my social studies teacher recruited me to make title graphics. At home, I was also making videos for club penguins that gained popularity on a video streaming site. Read more>>

Rial Rye

Today, I am best known for being a sculptor, working in wood, resin, cement, dye, and fiber. But, I actually spent the first five years of my artistic career working primarily in acrylic paint on canvas. Looking back, I realize that a large part of why it took me so long to move away from canvas painting was that I was unaware of my own capabilities. Read more>>

Gina Torkos

I enrolled in many different art classes as a full time Speech Therapist, wife, and mother of two boys. Between my high school classes and community art classes, I tried to cover the fundamentals of art (drawing, composition, perspective, and values) as well as learning photography, watercolor, acrylic and oil painting. I think having these skills is so important and regardless of the medium you use, your understanding of the fundamentals can take your work from good to great. Read more>>

Aaron Reichert

You know you are in the right profession when you can work at the same thing for hours and not completely lose your mind. When you can come back to it the next day and feel an excitement at meeting the challenge fresh. Inspiration i have found to be fleeting, The joy that comes with solving problems within the craft has proven to be my greatest and most consistent reward. Honing and using talent (talent being a kind of little super-power that lives in all of us) is a joyous experience. Read more>>