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.

Basil Henry

A majority of my learning came through trial and error. I’ve spent thousands of hours over the last 4 to 5 years trying different techniques and applications to challenge myself and continue to grow as a jewelry maker. Most of my lessons came through my “failures,” although I don’t see them as that. Read more>>

Keidra Quillin

I chose learning the craft simply because while singing and writing songs came natural to me the technique and the science behind it didn’t.. I wrote my first song at about 7 years old. I later started writing again in middle school. I’m not sure if I knew that songs contained or required verses and chorus’s and bridges and breakdowns and so much more.. so I had to learn that. I had to learn what vocal range I sang in and if I was a soprano or an alto. Read more>>

David Sofro

I studied apparel manufacturing management at FIDM in 2003. FIDM taught me the fundamentals of running a clothing line. The craft of creating apparel is a process thats developed gradually over time. Working with pattern makers, grading, marking, cutting, sewing, finishing takes time. I absolutely love seeing my designs come to life. Read more>>

Adam Silvestri

Learning the craft of songwriting is a lifelong endeavor. You never fully figure it out, you just uncover different layers as you go. Songs are written in so many different ways. You never know how or when one will come to be. I only know this through experience. Read more>>

Citizen Snips

Each of us had different methods of learning damn near everything. Elliott went to college for piano, Trevor just sat alone in his room for years and learned beatles songs on piano and guitar, David immersed himself in math rock drumming at a young age, Erik took up bass and guitar seemingly on a whim and it all just clicked immediately for him. Read more>>

Jules Stewart

Learning the wide variety of skills I’ve needed to record my own drums has been such a fun process! I love playing drums and never intended to become a recording engineer, but it’s all part of the game of being a recording drummer in today’s remote-heavy world. Read more>>

Darla Harmon

I learned Interior Design by attending an online design school called Interior Design Institution, IDI. It is out of San Francisco. I did this later in life, when my kids started to attend college. I have 5 children, so when the first 3 were heading to college I thought what am I going to do with my time? I still had two kids at home but the 4th was just about on her way to art school in Chicago. Read more>>

Rachel Dampolo

I took a film photography class back in high school, so I learned a bit about composition and camera settings back then (a million years ago). It wasn’t until years later that I picked up a digital camera and began messing around with it. I always felt like a had an eye for it… but relied on “auto settings” for a long time. Read more>>

Colleen McGregor

I started my cake journey with the gift of a birthday cake to one of my friends. It was a spur of the moment decision that changed the course of my career. The cake was strawberry filled pound cake covered in quilted fondant accented with pearls and flowers on top. Looking back it was ambitious for a first cake, but it turned out great. Read more>>

Andrew Spedick

Finding a mentor was important for me. Having a teacher who can show you how to avoid making the simple mistakes helps leapfrog some of the growing pains of learning a new skill. I had an excellent mentor who was a few years older than me but always willing to share new tips and spend some time teaching me how to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. Read more>>

Nick Smyth

Very, very early on I felt like I knew what I wanted to do. I was obsessed with movies for as long as I can remember. They just connected with me immediately. Movies made me feel everything .. happy, sad, angry, curious, confused, awakened, seen, inspired. Filled with people and stories I could relate to. That’s the power of art I think – it makes you feel something. Read more>>

Josh Shaw

I very much learned through doing. I don’t have any formal training or degrees in directing. I came up as a singer, with experience in both opera and music theater. After several years of both good and bad experiences, I thought, “There must be a better — more efficient — way of doing all this.” Read more>>

Rowell Concepcion

I studied millinery at The Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. Not every class it taught every season, so it was a longer process to finish the program, but for anyone interested in the craft, it is 100% worth it. Everything I learned from FIT created a great foundation for my work today. For anyone interested in speeding up the learning curve, I recommend experimenting over and over. Read more>>

Jared Masters

I left home at 14, my dad gave me two options, “get straight A’s or go get a job”. I started working construction doing odd jobs, then I joined a traveling zoo working cleaning up a petting zoo. I did the dirty work. Cleaning poop all day, feeding animals, cleaning up all of the hay flooring each night and doing it all over each day. Read more>>

PLU5ONE

When we started our DJ journey, we knew we had to invest in the equipment that would better prepare us as professional DJs. Additionally, we studied how our favorite DJs prepared and performed sets from every musical genre you could imagine. By doing so, we dramatically strengthened our mixing techniques, tactics, and ability to make any crowd of people dance. Read more>>

Lyndon Laveaux

I have been writing since I was 12, poetry mostly. I always wanted to do music but I was extremely intimidated by it, it was exasperated by the fact that all other artists I grew up with were severely talented, but when I meet Dooley, my big brother in many ways but particularly when it came to the craft of hip hop and what it meant to be an MC, he encouraged me to rap and told me I had no reason to be scared, I read comic books and all types of nerdy stuff, punchlines should be easy for me. Read more>>

Brittany Christine

It’s such a specific and unique path, not your everyday job. The easy answer is, I had been living on an isolated island in the middle of the Puget Sound called Vashon back home in the Pacific Northwest. It was only accessible by boat, and I didn’t have one, so I’d have to pay to take the ferry every time I had an audition in Seattle. Read more>>

Our Sea

It takes time to develop a skill and even longer to develop a host of skills to provide professional services to the public. I started learning music very young with the piano and trumpet. By the time I was in High School I was writing music for my band director. Learning the skill of music, photography, and design are the tip of what it means to be a mogul. Read more>>

Trishtan Williams

Being a creative person, most times, we are told we only use the left side of the brain. However, I tend to think I use both sides of my brain. Because right-side brain thinkers are more analytical and logical, and I think I’m that as well. I learned how to be your favorite producer by knowing my lane as a creative and every aspect of the entertainment business. Read more>>

Lenka Padysakova

I never finished learning. There is always something new to learn or being curious about. First I started how to make my clothes. Very early in my teenage time. Then I learned how to draw by constantly drawing fashion models from magazines, objects, figure drawings. Read more>>

Philip Noyed

Learning the craft has been a fascinating journey as I frequently pivot from one artistic practice to completely new artistic directions. I love learning new technologies to create new art forms. Read more>>

Lauren Young

My brain – a downspout of information. After a heavy storm of inspiration, its wave of ideas could flood the county. For years it would rain down idea after idea, to which I filtered down to mediums fitting well within the box of what I might find at a local craft store. Until one fine day, when my super-graphic dream became too rounded to fit within the constrains of my painters tape… Read more>>

Shawn & Roberta King

We learned by combining our corporate experience with a passion for authentic communication. We received formal training in filmmaking and photography, but our real learning came from hands-on projects where we grasped the art of storytelling and trust-building through visuals. Read more>>

Dylan Heidt

For me, personally, learning my craft(s) is what I could and would describe as somewhat of a never-ending journey. I was fortunate enough to have started playing guitar around the age of eight and from there my love for music and my drive, or need to learn more both as a songwriter and producer only grew stronger as I got older and started to pick up more instruments. By the time I graduated from high school, I was quite comfortable with my abilities as a guitar player, bassist and drummer, but I knew I still had more to learn as both a pianist and electronic music producer. Read more>>

Crystal Miller

As an artist, I’ve learned the most from interaction. Engaging with art in various forms, attending exhibitions, visiting museums, and participating in workshops are invaluable experiences for any artist. They expose you to different styles, techniques, and ideas that can expand your creative horizons. Read more>>

David Uzzardi

It was a mix of on-the-job and school. I started shooting in high school and learned the basics there and then got my BFA in Photography. I studied when Digital Photography was still in the future and I would love to go back knowing how quickly Digital Photography became standard and start learning that earlier, instead of having to re-learn. Read more>>

Mirella Espino

I’m originally from rural Wisconsin and moved to the Twin Cities in 2019 – 6 months before the pandemic started. A lot had changed, and being new to Minnesota, I felt disconnected making me wonder for a minute, whether I should pack my bags and go back. While deciding to wait it out, I acknowledged that I was no longer in a small rural town. That’s when I started googling different dance studios. Read more>>

Jalen Sorrells

Like any creative endeavor, learning photography involves a lot of trial and error. When I first started photography, I stuck to what I was comfortable with, which hindered my improvement. Initially, camera settings can seem daunting, but understanding how they work together is crucial for your growth as a creative. Read more>>

Jim Sherwood

When we first started The Canvas Project, I had never painted anything before in my life. Read more>>

Debra Oh

I learned how to be an entertainment reporter and content creator by just jumping in head first. Although, I did go to school for journalism at Howard University, I understood earlier on that respect for the craft develops more in the field. So I began running social media pages for different platforms on campus as well as became a public relations and media relations intern for the University. Read more>>

Kristin Wilson

If you would have told me five years ago that I would be an author, podcaster, videographer, and DJ, I wouldn’t have believed you. Throughout my childhood, I thought I wasn’t creative and couldn’t be an artist because drawing, painting, and playing piano didn’t come naturally to me. For more than two decades, I focused instead on sports and academics, and discounted the arts as a career path. Read more>>

K. Noel Jordan

As a speaker I have been speaking for quite sometime now, I started off as a preacher. I remember in high school I had a friend who used to tell me I would be a preacher. Considering where I was then I felt that was very far fetched. I have always been one to study people in whatever path I was going. Whether it was speaking, writing, leadership or content creation; I learned from those ahead of me in the path. Read more>>

Cindy Latin

Though I’ve been studying various forms of the arts and performance since I was very young, I owe so much of my skillset to the time I spent at Berklee College of Music. Prior to college, I had studied a lot of voice and had very extensive musical theatre training. I studied at Berklee for both my undergraduate and masters degrees, but it was really during my undergraduate studies that I was exposed to all the different avenues of music one could pursue. Read more>>

Na young Yi

I have always been what you might call an “art kid,” always wanting to create and fulfill any creative endeavors whenever possible. For the longest time, I couldn’t find the art medium that truly spoke to me, so I mainly stuck to what I had in my school district, like painting and drawing. It wasn’t until the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, my Junior year of high school, that I stumbled into the world of photography or, more specifically, self-portraiture. Read more>>

Katie Vonderheide

I studied painting in college and that’s when I really fell in love with this medium. I started a mural and sign painting business in 2011 and wanted to be a really well-rounded craftsperson. In 2016, I went to LA Trade Tech for their Sign Graphics program. Up until that point, I was a self taught sign painter and it wasn’t as easy to find instructions and “how-to” videos as it is now. Read more>>

Griffin Loch

My passion for learning the craft of filmmaking came at a very early age. As in neighborhoods all over, I was the kid with the camera. My parents encouraged my ventures by giving up their weekends to project after project. Although these shorts did not speak much for the craft, they did give me hands-on learning experience. Read more>>

Shiva Honey

I was self-taught in many of the areas I work, including music. Aside from a few guitar lessons when I was 13, I really had no formal training. Both my parents were musicians and I all of it just came to me easily. My mom had horror stories from some of her formal training – she told me her teachers discouraged her unique style and instead encouraged her to blend in, which harmed her voice in the long run. These stories made me weary of formal training. Read more>>

Yaoting Wang

When I was young, I loved drawing characters from Japanese anime and Disney movies. That was the starting point of my artistic journey. I majored in industrial design in my undergraduate studies, and I have worked in various roles such as a graphic designer, game designer, and storyboard artist. These different experiences helped me clarify my preferences: I enjoy storytelling, fluid visuals, and the interaction of different art materials. Read more>>

Carrie Cleghorn

In my time spent as a photographer, I have thrown myself into many different genres. Initially only wanting to photograph things, not people (I don’t want to talk to strangers…ew). Once I met other photographers, I decided to try as many things as possible. I was part of a meetup group for photographers in my area, my first meeting was a studio shoot with models. Read more>>

Lauren Glover

I have always been good with drawing, and basically anything with my hands. So I guess learning to create textured art was something that came second nature for me. Being honest, I don’t think I would want to have sped up the process. Each piece has helped me to learn more about myself, and therefore capture my free spirit within my art . Read more>>

Jennie Mizrahi

I was very fortunate to have exposure to good art instruction all the way back in elementary school extending through college. I had my hands on paint and clay from age 5 onward. When I got to high school, I didn’t take any art classes the first two years, feeling that now I had to get serious and focus on career oriented things. Read more>>

Jia McMillan-Shipley

The fitness industry is currently experiencing a surge in popularity, with many individuals identifying as “fitness enthusiasts,” including myself. While this enthusiasm is commendable, it’s important to recognize that it doesn’t automatically bestow expertise. I am currently on the path to becoming a Certified Personal Trainer. Read more>>

Adam Treasure

Learning the art of acting has been a profoundly enriching journey, marked by its gentle yet captivating nature. It extends beyond the memorization of lines or the imitation of characters; it’s an exploration of human emotions and storytelling that encourages self-discovery. Read more>>

Ray Hwang

On the technical side of art-making, I learned how to draw from watching cartoons on t.v. growing up but I didn’t learn to paint until later in my life when I was at community college. It was mostly trial and error, making a lot of bad paintings and figuring out my interests and inclinations. I don’t know if there was something I could’ve done to “speed things up” other than make more work and fuck up more times. Read more>>

Kerry Young

A lot of my knowledge and skill was obtained by watching videos, specifically Youtube. While in cosmetology school, we did learn about makeup, however, it was seen as more of an esthetician based skill so we did not spend very much time on the subject. I began focusing more on makeup artistry in 2018 and still find myself watching videos to learn and grow. Read more>>

Britney Bautista

I learned how to make films by watching movies and YouTube videos. I was heavily influenced by the media I absorbed every day. With just an iPad, iMovie, and some crazy ideas, I was able to make some stop-motion animation videos with my American Girl Dolls and my Webkinz. My love and passion for filmmaking grew from there. Read more>>

Tania Moldovan

Learning the craft! There are many stories I could think of, but one of the most memorable and impactful ones happened right after I came to continue my studies in violin/music in the United States. I was fortunate enough to receive a full scholarship at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. I was about to study with a great professor who also grew up in Romania, like me. I started playing the violin at an early age and have always been a hard working student. Read more>>

Max Marshall

I realized early on out here that its going to take more than just admiring and loving a craft, you have to give it 110 percent and show up. Taking the baby steps and the growing pains throughout it all in the beginning. For acting and or music everyones different about their own ways and progress. For me all of the rehearsals throughout the week before classes I went to, running audition scenes with my actor buddies and staying up late or waking up early to study more of the script made a huge difference. Read more>>

Neema Naz

You have to want to dive in deep and do whatever it takes to learn about your craft. Do research, write, read, talk to people in your field or outside of your field. Doesn’t matter, as long as you’re putting in the work to be better at what you do. Read more>>

Shannel Resto

It’s been quite an uphill journey transitioning from my career in dance to photography. I started photography at a young age, alongside dancing. I was the friend with the camera capturing any and all memories. My eye for photography was discovered by attending my mom’s college courses at the age of 7. Read more>>