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?

Isabella Angelucci

I was always known as the art kid back in high school. At that time, it was learning the basics; principles and elements of design, perspectives, and color theory. A lot of these concepts I already had a good grasp of from previous years, but it was really around this period that I started to test my ability. Read more>>

Taylor Krassa

I’ve always had a love for photography, starting with those early days snapping pictures of friends with my point-and-shoot film camera. The turning point was when I took my first photography class as part of my graphic design degree – that’s when everything clicked. Read more>>

Kevin Embleton

It was my older brother who showed me how to write songs. His main discipline has always been illustration, but when I was nine and he was eleven, I observed him writing these funny rap songs. I don’t know what possessed him to do it, but it made me think “wow, you’re allowed to write songs?” Read more>>

Hannah Marianetti

I’ve taken acting classes since I was a child. Filmmaking has been an autodidactic journey — how I got my first job in film (not my first dollar) is a good story. Read more>>

Danielle Nicole

I’m a self taught jewelry designer. I was in college and needed jewelry to match my outfit for a cabaret. I searched high and low, but was unable to find what I was looking for. I found a design that I liked, but it wasn’t in the color that I wanted. So I decided to purchase 2. Read more>>

Paul Bearmon

I have lived on the left side of my brain for the most of my life. .I have always had a scientific bent and pursued a 50-year career in clinical practice and teaching medicine. When my sons were born 33 years ago, I started taking photos. When my youngest became interested in baseball, I would take photos of his team and games. Read more>>

Peter Littlefield

I wanted to work in the theater, so I moved to NYC in 1974. Rent was cheap, and if you were willing to work for little or no money, you could work with some of the great theater artists of the time. The New York theater world was divided between Broadway/off-broadway and Downtown. Read more>>

Ryan Pierce

I went to film school & started off working in the film industry on films & television. So when I decided to start creating content for myself I had some advantages in knowing the filmmaking process but I also had to unlearn some things. It’s a lot more DIY for content creation. Read more>>

Kellie Ann Krouse

I went to art school and was so lucky to stumble upon glass during my third year. It quickly became my favorite material and slowly took over my life – in the best way. I was initially drawn to a process called kilncasting – making molds to replicated objects in glass – ad still am. Read more>>

Jaran Huggins

A lot of things within the creative space require time and experience for growth. My story is no different. You get better by actually doing the thing you want to do in the industry. Read more>>

Rachel Notini

The craft: Silversmithing Read more>>

Shemar Gyce

In the beginning I learned how to shoot just by watching videographers who I looked up to. I would download their videos and re edit them to see if I can make it look like there’s. One big help was when i decided to intern at the university of Oklahoma which really expanded my knowledge into professional production and working with a huge team. Read more>>

Julz Laforest

How did you learn to do what you do? I started painting about 6 years ago and it was really the desire to try something new that kick-started my journey. My early works were nothing remarkable, they were just simple portrait paintings which were an easy place to start. Read more>>

Rachel Rogers

I’ve always been a student of music. One of my first memories was being three or four and singing along to Stevie Ray Vaughan in the backseat of my dad’s car. Not long after that he gave me my first Beatles album to listen to in my very own Discman. Read more>>

Hannah Eason

I work with epoxy resin. I’ve watched a couple youtube videos over the years, but it’s mostly been trial and error. Whenever I’m selling my art at pop up markets, at least one person comes up to me and says “I tried to work with epoxy before and I just didn’t have the patience ,” or something along those lines- which is always funny to me because I don’t think of myself as a “patient” person, or maybe I’ve just been thinking about patience the wrong way. Read more>>

Char Marie McKenna

I am primarily a self-taught artist. While I have taken a few workshops, and I am blessed to have a wonderful mentor, everything I have learned has come from a strong desire to grow and progress in my craft. As with any creative craft, practice and repetition are essential to growth. Read more>>

Jeffrey Sun

Learning photography seemed extremely ambiguous. Creating a beautiful image felt so fluid with multiple variables I couldn’t control such as lighting and weather. It seemed to be it’s own language. Photographers that read light well, their subjects well, and felt in control of editing software seemed like wizards to me. Read more>>

Benji Stiles

It’s interesting to me thinking about art and learning because it is so much a part of my life now. As a full time teacher, full time artist, and as MFA student I am surround by creative people all the time. Read more>>

Cait Maltbie

I learned to do various forms of printmaking through college courses. I started out learning offset lithography and screen printing before moving on to learning relief, intaglio, stone lithography, and risograph. The main thing I have learned to do to speed up my process is to take a deep breath and just collect everything I need before starting. Read more>>

Sarah Beck

For me, mastering creative disciplines involves starting with basics before pushing boundaries. Photography and pottery both follow this path of learning the rules first. Having this mindset is likely a product of my formal instruction in photography. I was taught that to break the rules, you must learn them first. Read more>>

Lauren Dunn

I’ve always been sensitive to scents but loved the look and feel of a candle burning in an interior environment. The feeling that a space can be filled with any scent you want it to and that scent has a lasting effect, both physically and mentally. Scents are extremely important and have such connection to memories for me. Read more>>

Caleb Maxwell

If you want to learn a craft you must first answer to the call of your soul, answer to that thing within you crying out for expression. There is something within you that is beyond you and outside of you, something you cannot understand and couldn’t properly articulate with words. Read more>>

Javier Gonzalez

When i was 13 i knew that i was determined to be an entrepreneur. Growing up poor and living in the Bronx, New York City influenced me. The first risk that i took was when i purchased an ounce of cocaine for $300, cooked it up and converted it into a addictive drug called Crack. Read more>>

Caterina Clayton

Embarking on my various endeavors always began with a simple yet powerful decision—I was curious about it, so I pursued it. In today’s era, the abundance of free or inexpensive resources facilitates exploration of interests. For instance, my coding journey started with LaunchCode, a nonprofit organization. Read more>>

Amari Alexander

As an artist, I feel it’s very important to learn and study your craft. Growing up I didn’t have any formal vocal training or coaching, and I first learned my craft by singing in the church. I had some great music leaders and directors in the church who worked with me and guided me in choirs, groups, and as a soloist. Read more>>

Yasmeen Mustaklim-Pico

Although many photographers boast fancy art degrees, mine are in marketing and horticulture. I didn’t go to school for photography. I learned mostly by watching famous photographers I worked with as a fashion stylist. I also learned a lot working 5 days a week as a product photographer. Read more>>

Brandon Lenzmeier

A little over 2 years ago, I picked up a camera basically for the first time not knowing anything about it. My first outing was at the Minnesota Wildlife Refuge in Bloomington, MN and I started taking pictures. I had fallen in love. With the camera, how it felt in my hands, to press the shutter button, to the excitement to upload the pictures to my computer, to the finished edited product. Read more>>

Nilawan Levy

As a child, I was greatly interested in arts and crafts. I was always sketching or gluing random trash I’d find together; quite literally creating something out of nothing. However, It took a while for me to recognize music as an art form. Though my dad’s side of the family is musically inclined, I failed to acknowledge that because it was so normal to me. Read more>>

Rachel Romero

No lie, before I was able to develop any sort of instinct or expertise, I Googled everything. Marketers and digital content professionals are notorious for slamming together strange acronyms and nomenclature. I am guilty of saying stuff like, ‘Hey, can you get me a proper CTA on this email so that we can try to increase our ROI? Read more>>

Timothy Guerra

i have always been eclectic hobbyist. learning new skills drives my passion for innovation and has helped shape my future in many positive ways. my main resource for learning any new task is probably the internet i pride myself as a self starter. anything ive wanted to learn i have immersed myself in. Read more>>

Gabriel Scott

Originally I had bought a an analog camera for my partner and she had shown me the basics of using a film camera, ie loading and removing film . Just the very basics. Photography was never her main interest, so I decided to pick up the camera and actually try and use it. Read more>>

Jamie Newitt

It’s funny because I’ve spent so much time learning the craft by honing musical skills, learning the rules, proper technique, theory, the do’s and don’ts etc – having gone to music school and all that. But now I’m trying to unlearn a lot of that engrained training. Read more>>

Jared Berger

From the mobile video side of things, I grew up with a giant RCA VHS camcorder (which I still have) and simply loved recording life. I have tons of old home movies and always cared about telling a visual story. I never went to school for any film making, instead I went for Music Business. Read more>>

Viki Stark

Sometimes when I’m at my day job I stop and consider if maybe I would have benefited from going to a school out of my hometown, and really immersed myself into some photography/ art program. I’m sure it would’ve given me a different life, but I am truly grateful for the chaos of my teens and 20’s. Read more>>

Charlie Smith Jr

I learned my craft by constantly drawing as a child, eventually receiving formal instruction at the Rhode Island School of Design. The arts have always been a source of meditation for me, so I consider the length of training a crucial spect of personal growth. Read more>>

Ellen Jo Ljung

My husband and I backed into creating art glass by accident. I had purchased dichroic glass pendants when they were newly on the scene and strung necklaces with them that I sold. We decided to try making our own, and that first class with a 9″ kiln22 years ago evolved into our selling work through galleries. Read more>>

Peter Breitmayer

I started very early…Middle School… just because I discovered I loved the outlet and the attention. Ha. I continued to do many plays, musicals, choir, declam tournaments, the usual “theatrical musical high school faire”. College was a big leap for me, creatively and in terms of honing my craft, but I did this by DOING not so much by going to an Arts School and formally studying acting. Read more>>

Courtney Bingham

I am self taught. It’s wild, because who just gets into beadweaving? I went to a concert and this woman had a STUNNING beadwoven cuff bracelet and I just knew I had to try and make one for myself. I did a bit of research on supplies, bought them and then binged youtube videos and through trial and error I was able to get it down in about a week. Read more>>

Mark McKenna

When I first started to do ink samples to show to editors at Marvel and DC Comics, most of us trying to break into the business did our samples over tracing vellum, which is a thicker tracing paper. It allowed the editors to see the pencil work in the underlying copies while examining the ink on the vellum. Read more>>

Brian Adler

My foray early began with a video production and broadcasting class I took in high school. I learned to write, produce, direct and edit short subjects about school and the local community which were then packaged together as a high school TV show and broadcast on a local cable access channel. Read more>>