Often there is no book or course to learn how to do what you want to do – so how artists and creatives overcome such challenges? How have some of the most talented artists and creatives in the community managed to learn their craft?

Nikhil Korula

Music has been an ongoing journey for me to learn different instruments which first started with me learning how to sing from the age of 5, eventually as a professional as a chorus and soloist with the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus from the age of 7 to learning how to sing opera in high school and college to learning how to sing blues, funk, world music, reggae and rock ‘n roll in the outside music world. I also had to learn how to play piano, guitar and produce my own albums which has been one of the greatest gifts that keeps on giving. Read more>>

Jaysson Li

Unlike many food enthusiast, instead of only enjoying food, I chose the route of actually creating and making the food behind the scenes in the restaurant industry back when I was 17. Started from being a dishwasher to attending culinary school, to basically sweating in every station in the kitchen, I have met different people that have helped me in becoming who I am today. I can’t say the road was easy but it was a fun one. Read more>>

Emma Cerovich

I vividly remember being in a voice lesson a few years ago. I was twenty years old, just finding my voice as a classical voice student. I was singing through an Italian aria and relishing every high note, every run, every luscious, indulgent sweep of the melodic line. Finishing the song with a flourish, I looked over to my voice professor, with expectant pride and confidence. Read more>>

Carminia Panlilio

Problem solving was what drew me to start my career in management consulting after grad school. During some of my more challenging projects, I was fortunate to work with creatives from awesome agencies and my eyes were opened. These wound up being the projects I loved the most. The solutions were innovative and the processes to arrive at them didn’t feel like work at all. That’s what started my journey towards design strategy and UX. Read more>>

Darlene Olivia McElroy

Learning your craft is not only about putting in 10,000 hours, it is also not being afraid to experiment and to fail. I consider myself the mad scientist when it comes to art techniques. I am always asking myself what will happen if I do this or that. It keeps me free and I become both the teacher and student by experimenting. If I fail, I may end up with a happy accident or I have learned something important. With every art piece I create, I try and learn something new and push myself  Read more>>

Lin Sun

I learned how to be a standup comic from taking standup comedy classes with teachers who truly cared about their students. I did everything the teacher told me to do. Open mics, writing, pauses, how to write a joke, how to edit a joke, etc. I paid attention. I went to a lot of comedy shows early on to support fellow comics and learned from the shows. As a single parent, I did as much as I could with the finances that I could afford. I had to win with the cards that are dealt to me. Read more>>

Cathy Cooper

I am a Learn By Doing sort of artist. Even though I have a shitload of technical training, there have been numerous times when I have been met with a project where I just have to imagine my way to a solution and have confidence that my skills will get me through. Read more>>

Vivian Chen

Industrial design, furniture design, ceramics, and photography. Read more>>

Derrick James

I had to learn different skills to do what I do: the subject of prepping itself and the skills surrounding the different platforms to bring my content to different people. The former, prepping, came relatively easily because I was playing in the woods and teaching myself bushcraft skills for as long as I can remember. This was well before the days of cell phones – thankfully! Read more>>

Karter Ware

Hey, foodies! It’s Chef Karter here, your 7-year-old kid foodie, an aspiring chef, entrepreneur, and influencer. I’m super excited to share with you my love of cooking and food, and why I think it’s important to learn the craft of cooking and share it with the world. Read more>>

Geetha Rao

I have always been an artist. As a child I would spend hours using watercolors to captures scenes and memories. My further college education as an architect led me to learn other techniques like rendering in pen and ink, perspectives and a foundation on drafting and drawing. Read more>>

Jody Friedman

Opportunities abound in our lives. Throughout my journey, I’ve encountered many such opportunities, and I’m thankful they were there, even more so for having had the determination to seize them. Had I not done so, I wouldn’t be pursuing a career I adore or be a part of this amazing community. But let’s take a step back in time to 1994. Read more>>

Mat Brown

I kicked my journey into the community off in very much the same way that many people do in this industry. It wasn’t my original plan – And that is the cornerstone of my experience. I originally sought out illustration. And failed. From there it was going to college to be a Math Teacher. And I failed. then It was music. Read more>>

Jesse Chapman

The journey to being a songwriter has been basically a life journey for me.I began playing music young but didn’t write a song until college. I’d record voice memos on my phone and write lyrics in my Notes app. Nothing ever saw the light of day, everything lived in a little folder in my pocket. Read more>>

Raymond Montoya

This may be the same for many. For me I felt a need to expressive myself creativley since I was a child. Music was the first memory of this feeling. One of my buddies from highschool and I started a Record Lable for a rap group we put together. We taught ourselves everthing from building a recordoing booth in his parents home to ascap royalties and artist contracts. Read more>>

Dustin McKamie

I started writing songs after an injury to my knee in high school. If it wasn’t for that, I’m not sure I would have ever picked up a guitar. I played piano classically for 7 years and was in the drumline in school so music was already there just not in this form or fashion. Knowing what I know now, I could’ve sped the process of songwriting and performing by just believing in myself from the beginning. Read more>>

Giorgi Khokhobashvili

I started taking violin lessons at the age of six. Back then my home country was still called the Republic of Georgia. Violin school was a very old, classical based, all-encompassing institution. Besides violin performance classes it also provided theory, soulfege, choir and listening comprehension. Read more>>

Maxim Pronin

My composing and acting interest arose when I first watched La La Land in 2017, however peculiar it may sound. As both things were of interest to me prior to watching the film, I was overwhelmed by their (perhaps magically exaggerated) representation in the musical (and I like musicals). I got an old piano from my grandparents and started improvising as much as I could daily, without learning the theory. Read more>>

Hunter Reece

Knowledge is power. There is no way around that. Practice is the basis of everything, but “focused” practice looks different for everybody. Is your skill woodwork, do you know the weight and maneuverability of your saw? Do you understand the difference between hardness of woods? Are you a basketball player, have you mastered the amount of push and finesse it takes for a free throw? Read more>>

Greg Greber

I started making beats when I was 19. My friend introduced me to Fruity Loops for the first time. That was 22 years ago. I have practiced, experimented, studied, and created music since then. I went to college and got my Bachelor’s degree in music production and engineering at Full Sail University. Read more>>

TuT TuT

My journey in music began in 2018, marked by a quest to discover my distinctive sound. Initially, I lacked a defined style, but I immersed myself in daily songwriting and vocal practice, frequently experimenting with various tones, pitches, and personalities during studio sessions. The process of identifying my musical identity was challenging, and it took several years of continuous effort. Read more>>

Elvis Sharp

Learning how to portray a character, or really involving your audience into a scene, or to feel what the character is feeling is a very challenging process. Learning how to do this meant really diving into the background of the character and being that character. Being personal, and emotional creates a connection that can be felt by co-workers and viewers. Read more>>

Ibbi Too Vicious

I developed a love for reading at a very early age and that eventually evolved into my love for writing. A common pattern in my life is when I find something I really enjoy, I urge to become a part of it, rather than just remaining a spectator. Reading turning into writing was probably the first the occurrence of that pattern. I started writing short stories in elementary school and selling them to my classmates for $0.50. Read more>>

Otto Markel

I’ve been learning to make Jell-O through trial and many errors. I don’t think I would do anything different to speed up my learning process, simply because to me the primary focus of my project is to learn. Read more>>

Hunter George

I started my music pursuit when I was 17 years old and have continued to evolve & hone my skills for the last 18 years. Early on I did not know how songs were created & recorded and would watch the Music Videos or behind the scenes clips with the giant consoles and had no idea how, coming from a small town like Reno Nevada, I could find myself in those rooms. I thought the best way to produce music was through DJing. This was during the Hip Hop Sample craze. Read more>>

Cristina De Vilches

For me, something that I find really important is not feeling the pressure of having to learn something and turn it into perfection right away. Learning to bake was a hobby, I failed and found different outcomes just by playing. Research is part of the process and no matter how Many hours you invest, it’s always enlightening! Read more>>

Xierra Itayem

In 2021, after finally realizing and accepting that my passions did not solely lie within the realm of fine art, I applied to Savannah College of Art and Design for their Masters of Art in Illustration degree. I had never considered going back to school, but after a year of a pandemic, and feeling like I was spinning my wheels creatively, I decided to take a chance on myself. I only applied to the one school, telling myself “If I don’t get into this program, then it wasn’t meant to be” (especially since I had no real emotions tied to it). Read more>>

Rob Alicea

I can’t speak enough about the importance of craft. Art comes from within, and a certain amount of talent is innate, but skill(s) can always be increased by developing and honing your craft. I began my career as an actor. Directly after college, I went to study at the incredible William Esper Studio. Read more>>

Aveda Adara

I literally call Youtube my drag mother, because anytime I need to understand something I run to the internet to help me. Forums are my drag aunty, I’ve utilized forums for learning things like how to quantize a synth and a drum machine. Also had help from amazing friends who took time out of their schedules to help me understand music. Read more>>

Richard Darshwood

My first experience witnessing magic was watching my Uncle (a professional stage illusionist) perform sleight of hand mysteries in our kitchen when I was just 7 years old. Later that year, I was so inspired by magic that my family got me a magic kit for Christmas which allowed me to learn tons of tricks all on my own. Read more>>

Alec Hoogland

I went to a small school in central Indiana where I earned a bachelors degree in ceramics. My professor at the time, Nick Roudebush, was an adjunct professor that taught one day a week. While we had limited time, he was a great teacher and delegated most responsibilities to me and a few other students. These responsibilities included – making clay, loading/unloading electric kilns, firing gas kilns, mixing glazes, and firing the soda kiln. Read more>>

Vanessa Martinez

Learning the design aspect of my job came pretty easy to me as I’ve always had a good eye for design. The rest I learned and the more I practiced the craft the better I got. I can now say that I love what I do and the people I’ve met along the way. Read more>>

Richon Martená

I learned how to model from just jumping right in front of the camera. From going through photos learning what my strong poses were and what angles worked for me, to recording myself and seeing where I could improve. There were a few models I studied as well to sharpen my ability and execution when it came to bookings. Read more>>

Meg Dwyer

I’ve always wanted to be a teacher so I went to university to become a band director. The first school I was teaching at had an afterschool New Orleans brass band program. When the high school teacher asked me if I would help teach it, I said yes. However, considering I spent most of my university career as an orchestral bassoonist, I most definitely was learning the music with the kids, lol. Read more>>