One of the most daunting aspects of pursing a creative or artistic career for many aspiring artists is not knowing how to learn the craft. So, we asked some very talented artists and creatives to talk to us about how they learned their crafts and we hope their stories will help you in your journey.

Tyler Hartley

I started studying harp at the age of 6, and my teacher helped me immerse myself in a wide variety of musical experiences, including private lessons, harp ensemble, orchestra, summer music festivals, attending concerts, and teaching others. I think there’s a common tendency for kids to engage in a diverse collection of extracurricular activities; I would not have become as proficient at harp if I had not narrowed my focus. If you want to become really good at something, you have to spend a lot of time doing it, and you can’t let a million other things pull away from that. Read more>>

GaiBi Vollbracht

One of my clearest childhood memories of creating art is of a cool Montana evening in Paradise Valley, I had set myself up with a large pad of paper and a couple of pencils, determined to draw every tree on the mountain in front of me. The mountains there are magnificent, forever reminding me of how small we are in the grand scheme of things while simultaneously singing to the immense possibility of our own grandness. I remember that evening, drawing my mountains and their garments of trees in a trance-like space, a space of infinite possibilities, this beautiful relationship between the mountains, trees, and my pencil. Read more>>

Bailey McKarns

Learning photography is unique because not only do you need to understand your camera, but also how to pose, lighting, locations, angles, etc. I learned through consistent practice with my camera and through amazing mentorships from other photographers. I began by just taking photos on “auto” mode while slowly introducing myself to manual mode, and I offered sessions for free or at a very small price. I also became observant of the other photographers I worked with and tried to ask them as many questions as I could think of. Read more>>

Khris Audio

At first, I was ONLY interested in making beats to shop to industry artists. And to be honest, I underestimated how challenging that could be. Then I decided to go to school to become an audio engineer. My thought at that time was that I would be able to work in a studio and make connections with several artists. On top of that, I figured everything I learned as an audio engineer would help improve the quality of my production. Read more>>

Emily Swan

Learning photography started in college for me, when I was getting a degree in Film and Video Production from the University of Memphis. I minored in Art so I could take photography and drawing classes, but it was the photoshoots I did outside of the classroom with my friends that taught me the most about photographing people. During my last two years of school I ran a little online magazine about style, Read more>>

Dhir Jakharia

One of the most important things in wildlife photography is the ability to stand out. It took me some time to create unique pictures, and I am still trying to create my own style that stands out from the rest. I wish I had known how important consistency is. The reason I am able to take photos and have a high passion for it is simply because I push myself to get the best photos possible; I have always prioritized quality over quantity. Read more>>

Sachem Dahn

About everything that I do creatively has been self taught. From photography to editing to graphic designing and so on. I’ve taken a couple courses in college on graphic designing but it was only the basics. But before then, I really didn’t have any technical learning experiences on a lot of these things. It’d always be through spending countless hours, messing around with softwares or gear I had, that would help improve my knowledge. Once I started to learn the technicalities of certain things, Youtube University became another major sources of my learning. Read more>>

Sebila Kratovac

I believe that we intuitively know how to express ourselves, and each of us has a unique way of expressing what wants to come to light into the physical world. We are naturally drawn to certain kinds of colors, creative tools, music, dancing, cultures, landscapes, sounds…and with life experience, we develop our own ways of expression. We also seek out inspiration through classes, apprenticeships, tutorials, books, etc. to help us unearth what wants to come out from the inside. Read more>>

Michael and Carshénah Siegenthaler

Michael- I learned to do what I do by reading books. No one taught me as a kid at the time until high school on how to do art. I was trying to read all the books I could to teach myself how to draw, but then I had a couple of good teachers in Jr. High and High School. There was no control in what was being taught at school, but I had teachers that were really good and steeped in tradition. Read more>>

Meggie Jenny

I’m blessed to have been given an opportunity to start young. I saw my first theater show at 12 and fell in love with it immediately. I auditioned for their next play and was cast as one of the supporting leads. It was so wonderful to start out with local theater because the environment was so supportive and allowed me to grow through school performances as well. Read more>>

Ruben Carrillo

I Started off writing lyrics to popular rap song instrumentals. Mirroring my favorite artist’s flows and cadences. That’s how I started putting together songs. I got a laptop and got FL Studio and started learning how to record and edit the vocals to make songs to put out. Watching YouTube to teach myself the program I got a little more proficient in the program. But there was an issue, I realized that you can’t just use instrumentals without permission and you have to pay to sell music using other people’s beats. Read more>>

Jasmine Corytte

My experiences and lessons in womanhood have been the teacher that is allowed me to be a student. As I have gotten older, I have learned to accept every facet of my journey through womanhood and with accepting it, understanding the strength and power that it holds. My courage and ability to be vulnerable served as a catalyst for wanting to connect women all over the world through womanhood. I believe womanhood is the language that all women speak and comprehend, regardless of race, nationality, or geographic location. Read more>>

Lauren Sudak

I’ve been asked by a couple of people “How did you start a career as a CG artist?” or “Do I have to go to college to learn it?” To quickly answer the second question, no you absolutely do not have to go to college to become a great CG artist! But to answer the first is a little trickier. I’ve always enjoyed creating physical art, and throughout college, that’s where I was able to find what I enjoyed and hone my craft. What I found really helped me pick a specific part of the animation pipeline was relating it to real-life artistic processes. Personally, I really enjoy drawing and painting, as well as designing both clothes and jewelry; Read more>>

Noah Archangel

I think the saying goes, “the need creates ability”. In college at Jackson State University, freestyling with the crew, we needed beats to rap on. This is before the PC software music era. You either had the money for keyboards and beat machines or you had a Playstation with the Music Generator game. I started with the latter, making beats in the dorm and recording cyphers on a handheld tape deck. Read more>>

Paul & Tiffany NuRoyal (formerly Nutall)

How did you learn to do what you do? Paul: Surprisingly, although we both came into the production/entertainment industry at different times of our lives we both had no prior knowledge of filming any show, how to edit, place cameras or angling, lighting, and all things in-between. I just so happened to meet and work with a well-known executive producer in Hollywood who was guiding me on how to film a sizzle video that would have been pitched on her network called KATA Adventures ( https://www.instagram.com/p/BKexkRoDOEL/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link ), which was how I met my wife who I reached out to be one of the girls on the show. Read more>>

Leah Walther

While I have always been into different creative forms throughout my life, I fell in love with painting during a scenic painting class in college. That was truly my only “formal” training. I found I had a knack for replicating pictures with paint for theatre sets and pursued scenic design and painting for a while after college. When my husband and I started a family, I needed an outlet for that creative itch. I began to paint at home, first with acrylic, and then with watercolor. I am self-taught in these mediums, with a lot of trial and error, and a few Youtube tutorials thrown in the mix. Every piece I create is an opportunity to learn more about the craft and the materials and what I am capable of. Read more>>

Ian Banks

I really learned through a combination of observation and trial + error. In the past, I’d see art techniques and think, “I want to try my hand at this,” and I did this multiple times with different art forms and styles until I settled on a few that I liked. I think the most important part of finding your voice as an artist is experimenting with different styles and techniques and seeing which ones you gravitate towards the most. Read more>>

Bill DiLuigi

I’ve heard it said, never forget what you already know . When I started writing and playing songs for myself as a kid, I followed my feelings and my heart . It was all discovery because I hadn’t been anywhere yet ! These skills came in handy when I became a pro .In learning to write commercially I just had to expand and improve what was already there . Read more>>

Marissa Stewart

I learned my craft from my time in undergrad at Bowling Green State University. I tried all the other mediums: painting, glass blowing, ceramics even printmaking and just never got the hang of them until I tried photography. I don’t think I could have speeded up my learning process, or do I think I would have wanted to. Taking the time to really dedicate myself to the process and the medium, allowed me to respect it. Read more>>

Bryce Cobbs

I learned a lot about my own creative process through trial and error. Just experimenting with different tools and materials really helped me learn what i was most comfortable with and what i wasn’t. I think it was a blessing that i had such an interest in more than one style of art as it really opened me up to educating myself on numerous techniques. I think patience was the most important “skill” i could learn at that time. Just knowing and understanding that i was relatively new to what i was trying to do, and being okay with that and learning along the way. Read more>>

Matt Huitt

I went to school and received a Bachelors degree in Music Business, but the vast majority of learning audio engineering and mixing/mastering music has been on the job training. I feel I did not take advantage of opportunities given to me in the past, I was a bit too timid, too afraid of making mistakes, which we all do. Sometimes the best teacher is making a mistake while under pressure because you’ll file that in the “never make that mistake again” bank. Read more>>

Lauren Garcia

With every opportunity, I studied whoever was leading me and the steps they took toward developing their ethos of the craft. After my first directing experience, I received feedback from a professor of that I do not have to be “so literal” when envisioning the staging/blocking for a piece. This food for thought allowed me to break free of any expectations of the artist I ‘had’ to be, and led me to think about the kind of artist I want to be. That’s the beauty of the artistic process. Every artist’s approach is unique. Mine is now led by the two questions: 1. Who is this work for? 2. What may be its impact of it? Read more>>

Raquel L Malave

The shortest answer would be that I am self taught. The philosophical answer would be that life has been my educator. The more nuanced answer would be that I’ve been blessed to be a child of wonder & curiosity and come from a family who understood the importance of creativity and nurtured it. I grew up in a time & place that still had the arts as part of public school curriculum and i encountered brilliantly creative teachers who taught us to think as if the box never existed. All this is how I learned that art was a powerful language to express myself. Read more>>

XL The Scholar

I would have to say that my first teacher was my older sister Jelan. She was always singing around the house and ALWAYS part of multiple choirs at once. Watching her made me believe that I could do it as well , despite already being heavily involved in sports. However, I think my biggest teacher was the radio. Growing up in the 90s and 00s I had the opportunity to listen to greats like Ginuwine , Mya , Tank , Usher and the list goes on . These were masters of the craft and you could hear it in every song they made . Read more>>

Katherine Botts Whitaker

I attended Missouri State University to earn my B.F.A in Design/illustration. Out of college, I was hired by a church to create illustrations to accompany music and special services for the liturgical seasons. During the pandemic, I bought Procreate and really honed my digital skills. I drew Little Red Riding Hood over and over again for an entire year. They were all learning experiences. I always knew I needed a long term, low stakes, self-directed project but it took me years to come up with the right thing to hold my attention day after day. Read more>>

Christian DiMaggio.

I actually am self-taught, I utilized Youtube University and watched countless tutorials, and read countless books on DSLR cameras, lighting, post editing etc. I could have been more consistent with my craft we as human beings learn from our mistakes, like a child learning to walk they learn how to stand up AFTER they’ve fallen down but they ALWAYS get back up. If I would have been more consistent, I could have made more mistakes earlier on in my career so that I could have learned from the “mistakes” sooner rather than later. Read more>>

Rachael Wright

I believe that the best way to learn how to write comes from reading voraciously. Throughout my life I have read widely and then re-read my favourites. I’ve always been drawn to fantasy and myths and legends and I recognized early on that great stories were made up of two elements: an immersive plot and beautiful sentences. Read more>>

Owen Bleicken

I’m still learning every day. As corny as it sounds, we’re all life long learners. The greatest way I’ve gained knowledge is having by maintaining an active interest in as many art forms as possible. When reading a book I ask myself how does the text inform the visual on the cover? or when listening to an album I might ask myself, how does this narrative show up in the artists personal fashion or visual style? Taking stock of creativity wherever you might find it will help you carve out your own personal aesthetic sensibilities. Read more>>

Michae Allen

I’ve actually always been a photographer, just didn’t know it was a career path. In ever club or organization I was in, I always picked up the camera. When I decided to take photography seriously, I was in my late 30’s so I felt a little behind the 8 ball. To ‘speed’ up the process, I took on a personal project that I called Project 365. The goal was to create an image every day. Life did what it did and it actually took me about 2 years to finish but there was a drastic difference in my work from when I started. You can actually see the whole project here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.796025580444921&type=3 Read more>>

Monti Hill

Q: How did you learn to do what you do? I used to work for a political organization in Missouri, and at the time, my position was the candidate recruiter. You would think my current job has nothing to do with recruiting people to run for office, but everything aligned so well for me to start working in marketing and graphic design. Read more>>

Jorge Casco

I learned to do what I do through failing & experiences. What I could’ve done to speed up my learning process? Nothing, you have to put the time to work on your craft, you have to go to the ups and downs to mold you into being a great creative and great businessman especially in my position, I need to be both. Read more>>

Tiffany Sebastian

I initially learned the basics of photography from watching my father. From there, a significant amount of my knowledge came from trial and error. I would meet up with models on my level and we’d spend a day working towards shooting our vision. I would try and mess up, they would try and mess up, and we would keep shooting until we were happy. When there was something that popped up during the shoot that I didn’t understand, I made it a point of studying at home and setting up another shoot to test out what I’ve learned. Read more>>

Sasha Shamsuzzaman

I researched a lot of existing food influencer pages when I decided to start mine. I also researched a lot of different photo editing apps to be able to perfect some shots. I’m typically a visual learner. I just wish I became a foodie way before I decided to! Practice is key! As well as dedication. It can be tiring at times because being a foodie definitely is time consuming. It’s basically a second job for me other than my full time job. Read more>>

Kathryn Salisbury

I was blessed to sign on with an amazing agency who really gave me great tools to getting started! It can definitely be tough getting through those initial steps of getting something new going and learning about it but it’s so rewarding. I’ve done a lot of my own research, listened to podcasts, watched YouTube videos, etc, to help me learn more about the travel agency business and grow my skill set. I think what can get in the way the most is your own mind! Sometime self doubt can be the biggest obstacle to overcome and it’s frustrating when things don’t happen as quickly, or the way you may want them too. Perseverance is your best friend in any business. Read more>>

Ryan Correll

Before I start I would like to Thank Canvas Rebel for taking interest in hearing my story. I initially learned the mechanics from watching performers better than me. Some of my inspirations are Micheal Jackson, James Cody & Marquese Scott. As far as progression, I could have taken lessons or Masterclasses from big dancers but I found some skills that were placed in my tool belt. From observing their mindset. Read more>>

Ryan DeSiato

I picked up the guitar around the age of 16. Initially, I learned a through a simple form of musical notation called tablature. I quickly began to shift away from tabs and realized that it was much easier for me to use my ear to find the sounds and chords that I was trying to emulate. At that time, my musical guidance was hard rock and metal. I learned riffs and chords on an old electric guitar and then gravitated toward the acoustic guitar. Read more>>

Greg Williams

Learning the many, many artistic and creative disciplines I partake in comes from a mixture of inspiration, the need for an outlet, opportunity and, at times, self-therapy. For example, I became a DJ in high school because I loved music so much, had seen DJs perform, and felt it was the missing element to my ability to deep dive and discover music. From DJng, I was afforded the opportunity to learn college radio at Southwest Texas State, which led to the networking and my eventual appointment as a frontman for .::liquidstereoproject. Once that band broke up, Read more>>

Silas Fiction

I learned to draw first and foremost from copying old comic books growing up. I was always impatient and skipped the drafting and sketching skipping straight to the final product. When I attended art school in my early 20’s I learned how wrong I had been doing things. The importance of design and composition cannot be understated. I forced myself to draw a certain way and it was very frustrating when it didn’t come naturally. Once I started experimenting with cartooning and branching out more, incorporating all the art styles I came to appreciate I found my natural flow. Read more>>

Tishara Williams

my craft by trial and error, ultimately learning and growing from my past mistakes. Being my hardest critic I learn from studying my photos (seeing what I like about poses, what I don’t like about poses) and also other models local and in major industries. I’ve even bought a 1,000 page photo book of unique poses that I’ve never even thought of in order to learn to be more fluid in my movements and expressive in my body. Read more>>

Gloria Stella

I had absolutely no connection to the entertainment world. I had no experience and I didn’t know anyone who had experience so every new task I took on I was forced to do the research myself and learn by trial and error. From learning what an acting headshot and resume was at 19 years old to breaking down a script when I started working behind-the-cameras to preparing legal documents for investors when I started producing – google was my best friend. And knowing that google is not always a reliable source of information, Read more>>

Krystal Aguilar

There is a big debate in business school and in the real world, “Are sales leaders born or made?” Many will argue that the right blend of personality and tactics is the trick to gaining business. Very tempting ideology however, throughout my tenure I have met outstanding sales reps; some reserved and soft-spoken as well as others who were boisterous and the life of the party. What is the secret sauce to success in sales? What I have learned through school, corporate training, self-guided learning and mentors is this – try – fail – and always have a growth mindset.  Read more>>

Aaron Davidson

3D art came to me during the pandemic, back in 2020. I can’t remember exactly how, but one day in early 2020, I ran across a commercial or ad online about zBrush, the 3D sculpting software. I gave the trial a try and was immediately hooked, the same way I got hooked on web and graphic design back in 2009. The extension of that feeling, the freedom it incited in my soul, immediately resonated with me in a way I’ve felt before, albeit less than a handful of times. And so, I began with the free trial of zBrush. Read more>>

Caly

A visionary with a passion for Photography… that’s the way to like to describe myself. Making my vision come to life through photography has truly been a journey. I always had a love for art since I was younger but wasn’t sure of where to take it. I always was excellent in drawing and was absorbed deeply when it came to analyzing all kind of other avenues of art. To make a long story short, in the summer of 2006, something just made me want to purchase a camera. I can honestly confess that I didn’t know where this thought of wanting a camera came from; all I knew is that I had to get one ASAP. Read more>>