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.

Prolific Wone

Everything I’ve learned has been “on the job”. From recording and writing music to organizing and hosting live events, it’s been a process of growth, discovery and learning. Read more>>

Molly Hill

Learning the art of camera work and cinematography came in tandem with finishing out my final year at Georgia Tech. My way of making it through my college classes was to memorize, memorize, memorize– it mostly worked, but if an exam ever deviated too far from the original material, I was somewhat doomed because I didn’t truly understand the principles of what I had “learned”, Read more>>

Brendon Wilkins

Learning to be a musician is a process that requires dedication and hard work. Quality instruction from experienced mentors are an essential part of the journey. Most of all, it requires time to absorb and assimilate all the information learned along the way. There is no shortcut and one cannot rush through the process without all the necessary musical and artistic growth required to create a career in the arts. Read more>>

Alexia K. Orozco

I have always been a creative person, I remember as a kid I felt like I had so many ideas my imagination would never stop running. I never really thought I would become a model, but I always knew deep down I would find my way into some creative outlet in my adult life. I first learned how to runway model while I very briefly attended some classes at an academy. Read more>>

Somer Stampley

I work primarily with colorful pieces of paper. Cutting, arranging, and gluing the pieces to make a large still image or using those cut papers to make stop motion animations. I’ve always been making art since I can remember, but I decided to go to college for anthropology. I would take some art classes here and there throughout my college years but for the most part I am a completely self taught artist. Read more>>

Armin Basha

When I was 11 I heard the band Kiss for the first time and knew I wanted to play guitar in a band for superficial reasons. That was my first perception of a life of an artist. Not long after I experienced that, my parents bought me a cheap classical guitar from a random store and I couldn’t get my hands off it. I strummed it every day and was driving everyone crazy around me as I didn’t even know that you actually have to tune the guitar before you start doing anything with it. Read more>>

Paige Sechrist

I was so lucky to have the most creative mom growing up! We did crafts literally every second of free time we had, from sewing plushies to helping her renovate our house. She has always taught me how to use what I have or be thrifty instead of buying new & expensive items. She has always inspired me to use my creativity & I wouldn’t be where I am without her! I never went to fashion school, I learned sewing from her, YouTube, and trial and error! Read more>>

Renee Goodwin

I’ve learned to do what I do with content creating over time. I would always post photos however; I didn’t realize the other things that went behind taking actual photos and having to plan it out, finding locations to match outfits, learning different strategies. I honestly think the most important skill is having confidence and not caring about what others think and also just being creative and relatable to the viewers. Read more>>

Brianna M

Originally, I started crafting as a way to destress from a long day. I had no idea what I was doing. It was fun to try and figure things out, just as much as it was frustrating when things went wrong. Most of what I have learned came from trial and error and watching youtube channels of other professional clay artists. Read more>>

Qamar Brooks

Ever since a child I’ve always wanted to create animations to be able to see your own creations become motion for me is dream like. As a child I absorbed all of my inspirations that I see from shows, video games and movies to spark my own inner world from within. I was able to learn to get where I am now is constant practice, practice creates automatic muscle memory where things starts to flow easier. Read more>>

Douglas Herle

I’ve always had a desire to tell and craft stories and build interesting characters. I’d usually be working in spurts on different pieces that generally went nowhere. While working full-time, I earned a degree in Communications and Professional Writing from Grant MacEwan University. It gave me the opportunity to improve my craft work by writing a number of short stories and essays. Read more>>

Luísa Dalé Silva

What I love about filmmaking, and especially cinematography, is that it’s a never-ending learning experience. There are some rules (not recipes for a successful film, though) and you got to learn them until you can break them. But it’s imperative to know the foundations of it. I’ve been learning it for the past 10 years when I first started working on film sets as a make up and hair assistant in shorts and feature narratives. Read more>>

Flavio Carvalho

I am self taught 3d designer. I think one of the most important skills is being curious about something you want to learn and follow through. It’s easy to get hang up and lose interest. At the time when I was learning 3d, there wasn’t so much places to learn from, like video tutorials and things of that nature. I had to brute force your way in the software. Read more>>

Hippy Mann

That’s a real good question and I definitely went through a “self teaching” phase in the beginning of starting this music making endeavor. I purchased the DAW and slowly made the larger purchases to build my own personal studio, and pretty much pressed every button and turned every knob until I figured out what was where and did what. It hasn’t been easy, and YouTube came in clutch anytime I couldn’t figure out something on my own. Read more>>

Shadia Amin

I learned thanks to my teachers at SCAD, they taught me what I know today! I always recommend that outside of any education you take, always look for more! Online tutorials, courses outside your degree, etc. I could have drawn more, in order to speed up my learning process. It would also have helped to go beyond my comfort zone with my art and draw things I had never tried before. The most essential skills are persistence and patience with yourself. We get frustrated because we don’t see results immediately, but our style is not going to be the same a year, a month, or even a week from now if we keep on practicing. Read more>>

Sohil

For as long as I could remember, I’ve always been connected to music. Starting around 10-years-old, I knew I wanted to be a musician. I started playing guitar and writing songs as a hobby that quickly turned into an obsession. Learning to play guitar never felt like “I have to practice” because I genuinely enjoyed learning. I was learning songs that I enjoy, not songs that I was being forced to learn. Read more>>

Holley Woods

Being a photographer started at a young age for me, my mom also being of creative mind always pushed me to do what I loved, strangely enough I didn’t use to always be a photographer! Before stepping behind the lens, I actually did a bit of modeling for local photographers one of them being my moms’ best friend Phillip Campbell who was the owner of Creative Light Photography, Phil’s creativity and the beautiful images he captured inspired me to do the same, Read more>>

Kelsey Ogbewe

I’m a writer who finds his voice in rap, nurtures it with jazz, and offers it as poetry. Every time I sit down to write an essay, draft a poem, or record a song, I always consider the musicality and rhythm of language. It’s my most natural way to create. I first learned to do this when I was much younger, between ten and thirteen years old. Read more>>

Barb Morrison

i’m in my third decade of being a producer right now and i’m still learning new things every single day. a lotta people think you can take a master class or watch some youtube tutorials and just ‘become’ a producer. ive even seen offers that make me roll my eyes like ‘become a music producer in just 30 days !’ what those short cuts dont instill in you is the ability to have EXPERIENCE. the ONLY way to become any decent kind of a producer is to have the war stories under your belt. Read more>>

J’wan Morning

I was a student well before I had ever enrolled into my four-year university. That institution is where I fostered all my technical skills of crafting and designing. Before that, my sense of art, fashion, design, and style had already begun cultivating since my childhood whim of noticing and insisting upon my being different than all around me. In being me, I let my experience be my intent and purpose and hit the ground learning to create garments just as big and as long as awful and as awesome. Read more>>

Zach Galarza

I started from square one 5 years ago. I had no industry knowledge, no experience, no contacts, no mentors, no community, no particular direction, and a very limited skillset. What I did have was the curiosity and drive to hone my craft and develop a skillset that would grow and support a career in commercial photography. I took knowledge from many different avenues; from dissecting work from photographers I admired, assisting others, and testing. I did not go to school to learn photography. Read more>>

Jabari Wimbley

Everything I’ve learned with textile and fiber art came from YouTube. Once the pandemic hit I didn’t know what to do with all my time. Scrolling Instagram I saw my first rug art and wanted to buy one instantly, but didn’t have the money. Then I turned to YouTube to teach me and show what materials to grab and precisely how to map everything out. I could have started out by prepping all of my pieces and cutting all of my yarn before starting and stopping with it through out the whole process. Read more>>

Stephen Brooks

I’ve been continually learn the art of making realistic paper flowers over the last 6 years. I started with some online tutorials and YouTube videos that were very helpful for me, personally. I have quite a few paper flower books now that I reference often, and I’ve even created my own versions of most of the blooms I create. Read more>>

Jonathan Goss

Writing is like any profession. You learn by observing those better than you. And then you practice, practice, practice. I had been attempting to write novels since I was 12 years old. The Heavenly Realms project zapped me like a lightning bolt when I was 17. It took another twenty years to see it come to fruition. During that time, I never stopped writing. Discipline carries the day. Skill wins out over talent. Read more>>

Gabriella Guerriero

Everything I know now I have learned through many years and a long process of trials and errors. I have always been detail oriented, therefor all the hours spent in perfecting my craft have been essential. It is the reason why I am now able to crate high quality pieces! Read more>>

Cynthia Hunter

I’ve been fond of textile and bead art since I was a little girl. My grandmother is a master crafter in my eyes and she introduced me to crochet and sewing. I’ve taken community classes all around Baltimore. From the YMCA to Beadazlled or Baltimore Jewelry Center, I tried to learn as much as I could with the resources that were available to me. Everything I learn I add to my arsenal of skills, but the most important skills to me are dedication and consistency. Read more>>

Jakkar Thompson

Time and perseverance. I know there be some days that I want to give up and say f*ck it all, but I can’t and I won’t. Because I know that I’m built for this. There be days when I think my audition was the very best and I still don’t get the role I thought I was going to receive. I just take it with a grain of salt and continue to be hungry for the next role I’m trying to get. For every role I don’t audition for, someone else will take my place. I’m not going to allow that. Every closed door I knock on is bound to loosen and open sooner or later. Read more>>

Patrice Smith

Learning what I do took many years of training that was offered by my job at Charleston County Public Library. There was a lack of sources for African American authors/ books. I took the training and made sure that African American authors were represented to the best of my ability. Know what I know now, I feel the only way to speed of the learning process would be to attend college classes, Read more>>

Amy Annelle

From my earliest memories as a child, I would be carried away by hearing music on the radio or coming through an older sibling’s bedroom door. I was brought to traditional folk concerts as a child, and I started listening to experimental free-form college radio at the bottom of the dial as a young teen. I wasn’t encouraged to take music lessons, which would have given me more technical proficiency and confidence. Read more>>

Lesley Diana

My path to being an entertainment publicist came to me in a surprising and unexpected way. I was a host of a tv talk show and also owned four ladieswear boutiques across Western Canada. When the stores were sold and closed I was approached by fashion designers to do their publicity as I got so much publicity for the boutiques. I was then approached by a movie producer and director to do the publicity for his movie premiere. Read more>>