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.

Brock and Boston Mikesell

When we were younger we would watch a bunch of YouTube videos and thought it would be fun to start up our own channel. We posted our first video which was a small Q&A. We learned a lot of YouTube skills from our older sister Alyssa Mikesell. She taught us how to edit our own videos. Knowing what I know now I wish we would’ve put up some more content on our YouTube channel. We were always dong something random and I wish we filmed all of that to look back at all of those childhood memories. Read more>>

Rachel Mercer

I walked into my first classroom as a nervous 22 year old, freshly graduated from Michigan State University and ready to jump into my next adventure teaching English, Newspaper, Yearbook, and Video Broadcasting at a small rural high school near Lansing. My principal showed me drawers and drawers full of DSLR cameras and lenses for my student journalists to use, and I had a small panic moment of, “Oh! I don’t know how to use these! How do I teach them?” before taking one home to practice. Read more>>

Brittany Hawkins

When it comes to the creative process and life in general you never stop learning. As I continue to grow and follow my path, I continue to learn more skills and my style adapts based on new experiences. Although I have my degree in visual arts and learned a lot in school, I’ve learned that honestly, trial and error is where I develop the most skills. Taking a risk to try something new even if I haven’t successfully mastered it, is where growth comes from. Read more>>

JD Farrell

I learned to digitally produce and DJ through a collective group of friends and the internet. As a drummer, I was naturally inclined to beat matching and looping which is where my curiosity was peaked. I leaned in on dj sessions of my friends in the local scene and bought a Pioneer XDJ to teach myself. I would play around in my off hours from work, and within the first couple of months I was playing a Tuesday night show every week for my friend Josh at Red Martini. Read more>>

Jerry Bodrie

Advertising is my day job and it’s been a wonderful career path for me. I primarily work on the account side meaning the business side of a creative enterprise. Over the years I’ve always tried to be a true partner to my creative department colleagues and that has been satisfying, but I still wanted to do something myself; I wanted to make things. Read more>>

Sasha Johnson

I learned photography by simply putting a camera in my hand and shooting; every chance I got. I joined a group of black female photographers in SC, “The Queen Photographers’” and participated in different photo walks, and other educational workshops that would eventually help me along the way. There was really no “education” when it came to learning photography. Trial and error is really what taught me. Youtube has helped a lot, and connecting with other photographers was my biggest help. Read more>>

Angelique Vaccaro

When you grow up in France and you are 15 years old, you have to choose a path after middle school. Whether you go to high school or a professional school with specialties like Pastry school for example. When it was time for me to decide on my future, I didn’t know what I wanted to do or become. I had no idea. I thought It would give me more time to think about my career if I went to high school and then pick a specialty at the university… But life decided otherwise. Read more>>

Megan Huggins

Oh, wow, do you need to know? Okay, well, when I first learned my craft of stained glass mosaics, I was broken in many ways. I stayed at a women’s residential treatment program/house. We would get outsiders volunteering their time and supplies to teach us different things. One time, we actually painted rocks! Anyways, Don Myers comes one day and teaches us how to do stained glass mosaics. I was hooked! I was the only one, which isn’t surprising, statistically. Read more>>

JOANNA PURVIS

It’s a lifetime learning process for artists or art businesses. I have a Bachelor of Art and design degree from Tsinghua University Beijing, China. I’m learning from every project and client. My interest in art started at an early age. From the age of 5 or 6 I showed my interest in sketching and doing simple pieces of art at home and in school. Read more>>

Ally Nelson

For my filmmaking I learned by watching every movie I can and analyzing every shot I liked, and reading my favorite genre to get an idea of the stories I wanted to create and how I could change them to fit what I would like to see. And Youtube was, (is still) my best friend when you want more help or different perspectives.  Read more>>

Tiffany Hale Carter

I learned about interior design from my family. My mom and grandma could make any space feel warm and inviting. My aunt and uncle could make any space feel luxurious. I never knew interior design was a career because the people around me always did it so naturally. I actually discovered the field of interior design in a space planning class. I went on to study at two of the most well-respected colleges in my state and earned both my Bachelor and Master of Interior Design. I also studied Biophiic Design extensively and earn LEED accreditation. Read more>>

Sean B

Well I wouldn’t say i learned to do music, it was a passion attached to it so I was drawn towards it. I believe once you have a passion for something it’s not much of a race. You fall in love with the journey and within that journey you notice that you progress overtime. Even though on the journey there can be a lot of obstacles. For me my biggest one was going viral and dropping out of college with a “bad song”. Trying to take the first step of my music career and getting 2 million views of mostly hate comments would make anyone reconsider. Read more>>

Cas Rodriguez-Miranda

Art, to me, was always a matter of messing around until you got something. Even as a kid, I’ve always liked telling stories and making stuff up as I went along until I was sitting on something I felt was good to share with those around me, and the process hasn’t really changed. Sure, making art nowadays is a little more complex than sketching comics on the margins of my notes in high school, but at the end of the day I’m still messing around until I get something, same as it ever was. Read more>>

Sophia Hanna

I was interested in art early on, but by 10 years old I expressed that I was seriously into it. I ‘ve always had incredibly supportive parents, so they started getting me into local art classes around the Springs. We also took advantage of any opportunity that came along, like technically my first art show was at age 11 in a little store in Old Colorado City. From there, I kept taking local classes and grew up around professional creatives in my city, like painters, poets, and musicians. Around 13-14, I aged out of the school where I was taking classes, and got into adult ones. Read more>>\

Katharine Hudson

I began singing at a very young age, and was so blessed to have my parents encourage me to pursue that passion. I think one of the first times I sang on stage, I was 3 or 4 and sang a little song from O Brother Where Art Thou at a local Bluegrass festival! My mom is a beautiful singer and musician and she would always perform with me at church or local coffee shops growing up. Those are truly some of our most precious memories. She told me some great fundamentals growing up, and I’ve always loved to try and emulate some of her stylistic elements. Read more>>

Alice Chung

When I tell someone that I’m an opera singer, I think people usually think about the glamor and the glitz of being on stage, making loud sounds, and being dramatic. On occasion, I’ll have someone who takes a step further and asks me about learning and singing in different languages or sometimes even being physically prepared to sing in any pose, sitting, standing, running, upside-down, etc. But when singers talk with other singers, the shop talk shifts to topics that many people don’t think immediately think about when discussing show business: Mentality. Read more>>

Andrew Weaver

I learned a lot about what I do from the internet, specifically YouTube. It’s where I learned to sing and play guitar. I would spend hours (and still do) watching guitar tutorials and vocal warm ups from random people across the world on YouTube. Many musicians I’ve met throughout the years have benefited from what we jokingly call “YouTube University”. Any skill a person would like to learn is probably on YouTube somewhere as a tutorial, much like studying in College. Content creators on the internet are an amazing resource to young musicians and artists everywhere. Read more>>

Clifford Koufman

I learned what I know from reading, listening, watching, and most importantly, from my teachers. Early on, lack of information was an obstacle. When I first became interested in the drums in the late 80’s, there were magazines such as Modern Drummer. I loved reading the interviews, and I learned so much from them. You could also find notated rhythms, but nothing beats hearing and seeing what you are learning firsthand. Read more>>

Carley Pearson

Becoming a “Doula-tog” — a doula and photographer — was something that I now realize I’ve been in training for my entire life. My maternal grandmother was an artist so I’ve had the great privilege of being saturated in creativity and beauty from the time I was born. At the age of 8, I graduated from making elaborate houses for my Barbies to photography when my dad gifted me my first camera. Read more>>

Mike Miz

I learned to play music from my family. Growing up, there was always music being played, my Aunt Mary and Uncle Paul play in a band called Old Friends and my Dad is a great guitar player. I remember sitting at band rehearsals with Dad as a kid. Eventually I learned a few chords and never looked back. Playing and writing came easy to me and I found myself endlessly inspired as a teenager. Read more>>

Tammy Keller

As a gifted girl growing up, I was encouraged by my parents and teachers to take the path of a professional degree. I chose Pharmacy and went to college to become a pharmacist. I don’t blame the adults in my life for that. They were not creatives and really didn’t know what I could do with my artistic talents. It was always considered to be a great hobby, so I never fully expressed or explored my creative side. After having my first son, I started taking adult education classes at the Cincinnati Art Academy and became a closet painter. Read more>>

Jamey Price

Motorsport photography in terms of of learning the craft, simply takes doing it to get better at it. The more races you attend, the better you get. You learn to use the camera, lenses, follow the light, understand racing. It’s very much a 10,000 hours to become an expert type profession. Read more>>

Cathy SEll

My Graphic Design career came to me as a happy little accident. I was a triathlete and my coach started an event company that managed local running and triathlon races. I was asked to do the logo, print and medal designs for these races. I have always loved art, but at that time was more of a pencil to paper girl. We had to pay someone to vector my scribbles. So I started playing around with the software to do that part in-house. And that is when the bug bit me! Read more>>

Evelyn Streeter

I have the honor of being a third generation floral designer. Beginning with my grandfather’s passion to provide for his seven children he sold roses by the dozen on the corner of busy intersections in Detroit. My aunt then started her own floral company in Detroit with my mother beginning her own floral business not long after in our hometown about 2 hours west. Read more>>

Jakari Brooks

Everything I’ve learned in the performing arts or engineering has been taught throughout trial and error. You have to love the process; you gotta be obsessed with it. It helps a great deal to think that way. The largest obstacle for me, in my opinion, was learning how to play the guitar, right handed, even though I’m left hand dominant. Read more>>

Matt Groszs

I was influenced in cooking at an early age by my mother and grandmother. Then, as an adult I worked hard to learn new techniques and skills, by expanding my culinary knowledge. I think had I tried to experience more ethnic cuisine at an earlier age. There is much to learn from other cultures. Keeping an open mind is easily the best skill in the food blogging world. Always be willing to learn and sample. Read more>>

Jack Morris

I am by no means a master of my craft, but I work really hard to consistently improve my approach to photography every time I pick up my camera. I was very lucky, as a teen, to have a photography teacher who really took the time to challenge me creatively, and to drive home the necessary fundamentals that have become the foundation of my work. I also have had the real privilege of growing up with a dad who has worked as a photographer for many years, and who I continue to learn from. Read more>>

Morgan Davis

My interest in fashion/fashion design started at a young age for me. In late elementary/middle school, my mom would take me to sewing classes at our local JoAnn Fabrics. I didn’t start seeing fashion as a possible career for me till high school. Around this time, I used to frequent the thrift store constantly to find pieces that I could upcycle/re-invent. Additionally, outside of school, I was very active in my high school’s theatre department. Read more>>

Immanuel Alvarado

I guess you can say I was born with this talent. The ability to write, perform, and grab people’s attention have always been strong capabilities for me. The learning process is everlasting. In terms of speeding up the process for me, I would say networking with other creatives at an earlier time would’ve definitely sped things up for me. Patience, self confidence, as well as the willingness to learn and take constructive criticism have definitely been the most essential skills . Read more>>

William Mount

In 2010 I started to think about being able to make a podcast. I had reached out to one of my favorite podcasters at the time and asked what they used to make a podcast. They told me a zoom h4n and GarageBand. I then bought those things and started playing around with recording audio and figuring out how to edit. Once I got over the “my voice sounds like. this” barrier, I got more comfortable with the actual audio being recorded. Read more>>

Daya Brown

I recall gracing upon my parents’ church, Impact Church, and being immersed in the creativity that was intended to create an experience. During these times I understood to never silence an intrigued mine, therefore I asked questions until I fully understood and executed. My younger self was always learning how to make graphics and sets for upcoming themes. Read more>>

Cara Vance

I first learned macrame after seeing a picture of a beautiful wall hanging on Instagram. I was fascinated and really wanted to learn how to do that. It truly called out to me. So I went to the infamous YouTube to watch hours of tutorials. I learned how to perform each knot separately. Then I moved on to learning how to take those knots and create patterns with them. I eventually moved up to putting full designs together. Read more>>

Victoria Zelefsky

As a classically trained opera singer with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in vocal performance, it’s safe to say that I did not study marketing and communications at school. Learning the craft of digital marketing, copywriting, and navigating press and communications strategies was initially foreign to me. I found my very first job in marketing on Craigslist when I was living in Europe in 2015 and looking for extra income and I began creating social media content calendars for a marketing firm. Read more>>

Kristopher Adams

My education consisted of a few things: Theory Practice Living Life THEORY: Even though I viewed school as a necessary evil at the time, I was always a good student, so when I lacked the experience and the look to be the top actor at my high school, I compensated by studying the craft of acting more than anyone else. I read books, listened to interviews, and watched performances from actors I admired, which worked well enough for me to get noticed. Read more>>

Hannah Lori

Well, money was a big obstacle. It was hard affording training at first. But It got a lot better once I realized there were cheaper options that actually taught you more too. For instance, actual classes are more afforable than a workshop when you break it down by how much coaching you get and the hours spent in the class. Plus you can dive deeper when you have a class for 8 weeks witht the same coach than a one day workshop. Read more>>