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?

Maria Gall

I grew up being photographed and recorded by my parents. They were adamant about recording my sister and I since we moved around a lot and didn’t live near relatives. They wanted to remember the places we had lived and share the memories my extended family had missed. Read more>>

Quianna Wilson

Model Career: I’ve always wanted to become an model when I was younger. I was petite with beautiful features. My aunt used to tell me that I would be an perfect model someday. Back in 2016 I’d started taking photos to help build my portfolio. Over the years I begun to take pictures of myself. Read more>>

Christiana Sylvia

I feel like I got to where I am through the back door. I’m not signed with an agency and I did not take any modeling classes. Yet I still manage to land paid jobs as a self-represented model. I attribute most of this success to my dance and theater background. Read more>>

Ezra Ardolino

The origin of my craft… Digital Fabrication. My journey with Digital Fabrication began back in 1993. I was a sophomore in a high school that had an Industrial Arts program, and one of the components of that program was a “tech lab” where students could be exposed to a variety of technology-related crafts (soldering, casting, hydroponics, etc). Read more>>

Iggy Monda

In today’s media industry, I think one of the most valuable assets you can develop is versatility. I’m a journalist with experience in print, audio, and video. I made it a priority to learn how to tell stories through each medium because – once you develop your storytelling – certain narratives are best told with intimate tape in audio, with extensive reporting in writing, or through a more energetic lens with video. Read more>>

Fe Bryant

As a creative, learning a new craft is invigorating…at first. It comes with many failed attempts but, I will say, I always come back to it. I started my creative content journey back in college (2012). It all began when I started watching MadeYewLook on YouTube. Read more>>

Valerie Fox

I was interested in art from the very beginning, but by the age of 10 I knew I loved photography. My parents have always encouraged me to explore my interests, even when I was never any good at it. They also pushed me to try new things, explore new places, and be independent. I believe this built the foundation to my career. Read more>>

M. Spano

When I was seven years old, my grandfather surprised me one morning with a First Act guitar and a scheduled guitar lesson within the week at the local music shop. After that, the rest came naturally. I’ve learned multiple instruments and spent some time off and on with various instructors throughout my high school and college years, but outside of guitar work, most of my learning came from practicing on my own and learning as I go. Read more>>

Cole Redalen

There is a way more to learn in the sport of disc golf than I could have ever imagined. Between the mental and physical sides of the game; it will challenge your body, mind, temperament, and character. Many will say the game of disc golf is 80%, some even 90% mental. They perceive the game as rather simple in a physical sense. Read more>>

Novella Cooper

It all started with a passion. I loved drawing ever since I was a kid and wanted to learn more about it. The older I got the more I became obsessed with my hobby of drawing characters and cartoons that I decided I wanted to go to school for it. My education wasn’t that smooth with moving from one city to another and parents who didn’t understand the academic route. Read more>>

Tajianna Okechukwu

I started on-camera acting around age 9 or 10. I shifted into theatre and learned the craft of performing on stage when I took drama in middle school and then high school. At my high school, there were “small learning communities” and I was in BADA (Bay Area Digital Arts) which introduced me to video production. Eventually, I went on to double major in Theatre & Cinematic Arts in college. Read more>>

Natisha Mosier

I took ceramics in high school, but it wasn’t until many years later that I started taking classes at a Non Profit Art organization with my son, that I fell in love with clay. The organization offered many art classes such as drawing, painting, photography but we decided to try ceramics first. Read more>>

Jason Snell

I started writing raps in the 5th grade. It all started with alphabet rhymes and just kept progressing over the years. By the time I reached high school I was starting to freestyle and learn to improve more in the moment. During these years I began to realize I had a photographic memory and all of them words and raps where just in my head waiting to be used. Read more>>

Bennett Atlee

I had… not a traditional learning opportunity to get into cosplay. I had started out by learning how to make wigs and do theater makeup from an award winning makeup artist and wig maker. I had started learning around 10 years old when I had first done the opera “Madame Butterfly”, where it takes place in Nagasaki, Japan. Read more>>

Dodie Wrocklage-Harp

When I was a student in the graphic design program, it was a requirement of the curriculum to take a class in each medium (painting, ceramics, printmaking, metals, etc.) From that first class in metals, I decided to take as many classes I could fit into my schedule as electives. I loved making jewelry and working with metal so much, I almost changed my major! Read more>>

Christie Melki

I learned all my fiber know-how from YouTube! I tell everyone who is interested in learning how to knit or crochet for themselves to start on YouTube; it’s an incredible visual resource. I would also recommend checking out your local library or craft store for free patterns that are available in books and magazines! Read more>>

Natalia Zamora

I’ve always loved doing anything with my hands, I remember when I was little me & my brother will opened up the broken electronics to see how things worked inside, my grandma also taught me at an early age how to sew, I just remember my happiest moments were getting my hands on some new skill, so floristry just felt right. Read more>>

Tyenesha A.Psymmetry” Sloan”

I am fortunate to be naturally gifted in so many ways. Many of my gifts are generationally genetic. Any genre of performing arts (singing, dancing, drawing, writing, etc) are all traced back to ancestors on both my maternal and paternal side. So I’m grateful for the gifts. Read more>>

Marc Wheeler

In learning to write—write, yes, but also—read. And don’t just read the best; read the worst. Read writing that makes you wanna set yourself on fire. (That can be the best or worst.) As a theater critic, it’s my job to analyze a show and figure out, amongst many things: what works, what doesn’t, and why. I can’t just say, “I like it,” or “It sucks.” Read more>>

Naomi Osborn

I have always had a knack for observation and a passion for possibility. Since the early days of the internet and meme making, I have been sharpening my skills at distilling very complicated subjects down to simple, digestible forms. Getting at the heart of something. Read more>>

Jim Pascarella

I’ve always liked being the center of attention. I’ve always enjoyed making people laugh and have done so since way back when. I would practice accents and faces in the bathroom mirror at home. In high school I was voted Best Personality (nee Class Clown) in my Senior year book. So I was always open to audition especially in comedies when they came up. Read more>>

Mike Martin

So much of the work I’ve done over my career was learned just from the creative brief. I’d always sign-on to doing whatever creative was asked and I’d just have to learn how to make it work, especially when it comes to the more technical works. Because of this, I do a lot of experimentation with new tools and workflows and constantly try to find new ways to make things. Read more>>

Jael Pettigrew

This is difficult to explain concisely but it Started in ninth grade. Tri Cities High And honestly before that, As a young child, I’ve always felt this “dramatic “ need. It showed up as intense cathartic feelings and would manifest in tears listening to a song, lengthy gundam wing battles full of entire stories, or knowing verbatim moments of a script.. to the point of accurate recall in real life moments; sometimes for humor and sometimes just for the pleasure of the allusion. Read more>>

Dave Dvorak

While I’ve done a great deal of songwriting and creative nonfiction writing over the years, playwriting is a new endeavor for me. In order to learn more about the art and craft of playwriting, I’ve been reading and talking to playwrights, actors and music directors. I also took a playwriting course last fall at The Loft literacy center in Minneapolis, which I found quite helpful. Read more>>

Darran Martin

Since I started DJing in 1995 things have certainly changed. Back then it was all vinyl, which proved a whole different level and certainly a steep learning curve for me! With no internet even back then, learning the craft was all about practice. I would spend hours in my small bedroom on my technics 1210’s. Read more>>

Adam Lifto

When I re-spawned as a musician and band leader in 2022 with my current group Twin Citizen, after a decade’s-long hiatus from the Twin Cities local music scene, I had no idea just how different things had become from a visual arts and promotional standpoint. Read more>>

Craig DeForest

I started to get interested in photography about 3 years ago after visiting Cataloochee Valley in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Taking pictures with my cell phone just wasn’t cutting it , so I purchased a kit camera from Canon. I found out quickly that that camera wasn’t going to meet my needs moving along. Read more>>

Arden Coutts

Being a self-published author means that you are constantly learning! When I decided that I was going to start publishing my stories, I did what everyone does: I went to the Internet. I found an amazing coach who helped me learn the basics of how to build an audience, find my readers, and publish a book. But that was just the beginning. Read more>>

Jabari Brown

One of the facts about me that synergises the best with my creative industry career is that I get bored very easily. Animation and I started quite by accident. I was 10 years old and bored one afternoon. My parents are academics and had a study with a logitech webcam for their clunky CRT computer. Read more>>

Maeve Higgins

I learned through the best teachers and mentors! If I could go back in time, the only thing I would change would be learning to play instruments sooner, and learning to produce sooner. Some of the obstacles that stood in my way was simply the gate-kept information on how to produce when you are a teenager with no money trying their best to create music. Read more>>

Paul Vasey

Everyone thinks they have a book in them, and I was no different. I wrote short stories as a child, and as an adolescent I devoured science fiction, books, TV and films. I always knew that science was going to be my career, but wondered if I could ever mix the two fields. I went to University and became a doctor, and then a medical specialist and researcher in cancer medicine. Read more>>

Sebastian Hadl

I was introduced to the wonders of the music world early on in my childhood years. Growing up in a family with a rich musical background allowed me to become immersed and intrigued by it on a much deeper level from the very start. Before I became a Music Producer and a Recording & Mixing Engineer, I had to start from the bottom. In this case, this meant learning an instrument. Read more>>

ANA GIL

I am a self-taught visual artist who specializes in photography and videography. I was inspired by my father, who was a photography hobbyist, and my love for movies, radio, and television. To hone my craft, I studied both the technical and artistic aspects of photography. I found inspiration in various media, including magazines and Pinterest, but my creativity really flourished when I started taking business classes designed specifically for photographers. Read more>>

Grace Scott

I have always loved pressing flowers. I still have a collection of pressed flowers from road trips, hikes in the Sierra Nevadas, and flowers from significant others from over the years. In 2020 I started gluing them in frames or on paper – then I started thinking about more ways to keep them around forever! Read more>>

Erykah Massey

My style of writing is directly correlated to my feelings and how I experience life. When I write, I intend to include every detail of the experience through all six senses. I want to take the reader on an adventure and allow them the opportunity to imagine through the imagery I provide. Read more>>

Sun Luu

My journey to becoming a performing artist and educator can be traced back to my childhood tendency to being both a class clown and a people pleaser. The need for both attention and approval drove me to perform at poetry recitals, high school speech & debate competitions, talent shows, and poetry slams. Read more>>

Jue Lin

To bring the world or images in my mind to life, I actively learn software or techniques on my own. I don’t like theoretical learning much; those lengthy 4-hour software tutorials on YouTube don’t work for me. I prefer learning by doing, supplementing knowledge while creating to achieve the desired effects. Read more>>

Val Tobin

Stephen King says in his book On Writing that you can’t write well without reading a lot. I agree. I read dozens of books a year and have done so since I first learned how. It gave me an extensive vocabulary and an instinct for wordsmithing. However, that’s just one block in the foundation. Read more>>

Lauren Caudle, RID

I have been very fortunate with a wide variety of opportunities during my career path as an Interior Designer. I have been able to experience all most all aspects of the design field in various forms. I worked as custom window treatment supplier, as a cabinetry and tile manufacturer sale rep, a kitchen and bath designer, an in-house designer with custom home builders, and at Interior Design firms. Read more>>

Alex Bajos

Hi, it’s been a long process, going to different schools and private teachers, learning through experience on the job and being friends with good musicians always helps. The main thing I would have done differently to speed up the process is changing my practice routine, knowing that 15 min everyday help way more than a 3 hour practice session once a week, to develop muscle memory you have to play your instrument every day, at least 15 min. Read more>>