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.

LaDarius Calhoun

I believe that design is intuitive for me. I have loved it since I was old enough to remember what channel the home improvement shows were on–old enough to operate a remote control. Designing a space is mainly like storytelling, as I also always enjoyed writing and getting things out of my head and onto paper. Read more>>

Elise Lyon

The best way to learn something is to be consistent, figure out what comes naturally and build on that. I grew up around textiles, wood and learning the importance of anything made from scratch. This has reflected immensely in my practice. The process of learning how to utilize these skills came with time, growth and understanding of the world around me. Read more>>

Asiya Nouretdinova

I have always enjoyed doing things with my hands ever since I was a little child. My mom would take me to different activities such as knitting, crocheting, sewing. Ultimately, I chose to continue with Art school. It was truly a blessing to have incredible teachers guide me in the world of Art, learning from different artists and their techniques. Read more>>

Cassell Archinuk

I have always liked the outdoors and my dad was the one to have that influence on me at an early age from hiking to fishing and even rock hunting. But it wasn’t until 10 years ago that I found the photography bug. I discovered that I could be creative on my hikes and capture the beauty of nature , rock formations and sunsets. I started on my phone and within a year took the plunge to buy my first proffesional camera . Read more>>

Nataly Manary

Painting is a perspective of the world around us, and a way of interpreting your vision and sharing it with others without words. Iv’e always enjoyed art and wanted to share my interpretation of beauty and symbolism. I wouldn’t say that I have “perfected” the craft of painting, because it is so open and free with out expectations of perfection. I never went to art school or studied art as a professional. I thoroughly enjoyed it and messed around with art since I was in elementary school.The more I painted the better I became, especially with having confidence in myself as an “artist”. Read more>>

Derrick Tre

I learned through practice and experience. I started styling in early 2018, I really had no idea what I was doing, I just knew I liked putting looks together and looking cute lol. I wish I would have done an internship while I attended university, I had no guidance or a mentor when I started. Read more>>

Jas Rogers

My great grandmother was my first teacher in the kitchen. I have memories of growing up watching her bake a wide range of pastries, Sunday dinners and hosting gathering for family and friends. From her teachings and my love for cooking I furthered my knowledge in Culinary School. I do believe timing happens how it’s supposed to happen and in the culinary world there is no such thing as “Speeding Up the learning process.” To excel in a medium like this one must take all the time they need. Read more>>

Trystan Grisham

Learning the craft comes from many various areas of what you want to go into. In my case, I have always wanted to work in music, so I learned everything I could about all aspects of that business. Many would consider this to be just knowing how to play songs and knowing your instrument, but it actually becomes much deeper as you invest more time into it. Read more>>

Roman Anthony

I first learned to do what I do by joining the church choir as a child. Then several school choirs leading me to theatre and musical theatre and now to actual movies. I think had I known then what I know now, I would have started working with an acting coach and vocal coach sooner. Read more>>

Eva Lacy

“When did you start drawing?” is usually the first question an artist is asked when showing their work to a stranger. I always respond with, “since I was 5 years old”, but I know their actual question is “How long have I been good enough to know I’m an artist?” The truth is, I really have been drawing since a very young age and my skill grew as fast as I could grab a pencil, paper and “How to Draw” books/VHS tapes. Read more>>

Carson Cook

I watched a movie the other day that focuses on time over matter. What I mean by that is, time matters and time is key in developing your craft, and that is what I have realized a couple years into the music industry. When I first started making music, it felt like a hobby to have fun with some friends on my downtime. But as time went on, not only did I figure out I had potential but other people did as well. Read more>>

Roberta Montagnini

I’ve always had a natural inclination towards creativity. From my earliest memories, art has been an integral part of my life. Growing up in a modest family, I learned to be resourceful and creative in order to bring my visions to life. Drawing became an escape for me, a way to paint a more beautiful world where everything felt perfect. It was during these moments that I honed my imagination and learned to create with intention. Read more>>

Kylie Nugent

Epoxy resin is very finicky, and it takes time and research to figure out how to make it work. I have learned from a variety of Facebook groups and tutorials from other artists, but it takes a lot of experimentation to really understand the best way to do things and how to avoid mistakes. I think the most essential skill that I have developed is patience. Read more>>

Zach Feemster

It takes Relentless devotion. I’ve learned over time that figuring out what doesn’t work will streamline you to what does. After you figure out how to make that work for you the rest is up to you. Read more>>

Shani Nyelle

As an upcoming stylist and designer, I’m still learning every single day. I’m most proud of myself for learning how to work and deal with people who have all different types of personalities, styles, attitudes, titles, etc. Knowing how to speak to people is one of the most important things to learn in this business. Aside from that I’ve really been working on learning how to produce clothing from scratch. Read more>>

Jason Damico

Everything I’ve learned thus far is a byproduct of everything I’ve been exposed to and personally experienced, as well as the countless mistakes I’ve made—a concoction of all of that truly is I believe the greatest teacher. But I’ve been blessed by dozens, even hundreds of incredible teachers & mentors along the way—some I’ve worked with personally and others I’ve never met at all, or who have even been deceased for quite some time. Read more>>

Melissa Renee

I’ve taken lots of college level art courses but none of them prepared me for working with resin. A random acrylic pour video on Youtube led me down a rabbit hole where I discovered resin art. I watched countless videos from various artists for about 3 weeks until I gathered the courage to purchase all of the materials needed to get started. I had no idea how much I would love working with it. My only regret is not having found it sooner. Read more>>

MØNARCH

I believe most people in my field would answer this question by saying “through trial and error.” And I entirely agree with that sentiment. Being a musician means making mistakes, playing the wrong notes, not being in time, it’s how we learn what works and what doesn’t. It is an essential part of getting better as a musician, no one is perfect, so understanding that I’m not is helpful and takes some unneeded pressure off of me as well. Read more>>

Aaron Adams

I have so much more to learn about content creation and influencer marketing, I don’t think I’ve even scathed the surface. I’ve gained skills from years of posting on Instagram and Facebook, which is basically no different than anyone else. However, I do think I have remained consistent with how often I post and the type of content I share. Read more>>

Elizabeth Alan

I began designing in 2002 in High School in an Intro to Design course. I honestly can’t even remember what program it was a part of since our High School didn’t even have Photoshop. I didn’t really hone in on what I love to do (film related work such as posters and pitch decks) until the past 7 years, but I consider the experience I recieved along the way, in both digital and physical media, to be indispensable in rounding out my outlook on my work today. Read more>>

Chris McFrazier

I learned to do what I do by listening from a young age and trying to imitate those who I looked up to. To speed up the learning process I wish I had someone really from the industry to take me under their wing. However I feel that the best skill that’s essential is having a genuine and pure heart. You can have whatever skill in the world you want but without that it’s purposeless. Read more>>

Gigi Gustin

I was born into my craft, booking my first National commercial for Chuck E. Cheese at five years old, while also singing on stage and starring in plays in front of hundreds of people. My parents split led to a halt in my child acting career, so I lived a normal life as a teen although my love for movies has always been there. As I grew up and everyone started discussing college, I knew it wasn’t for me and that what I really wanted was to pursue acting as an adult. I think something you can do to “speed up the process” is not just practice your craft, but learn how things work on the opposite side of the camera. Read more>>

Vincent Merys

I was 19 years old when I first Started getting tattooed. That was in 2007. We had cell phones but social media was just starting to hit the mainstream and there wasn’t a ton of exposure to tattooing outside of one tv show and magazines. Styles of tattooing were still a mystery to the general public and tattooers were like wizards. There were fewer people in the profession and they seemed to exist in a sub culture all their own. Read more>>

Jeremy Bryan

I’ve learned how to create music through repetition and variations for each song. One track may feature bass and drums while another features more soundtrack instruments. This method has worked for me throughout the years because 1), it gives me infinite inspiration to make music and 2), it’s just fun to do. Just like the universe is practically infinite with no one particularly thing being the exact same, so too I want my music to be the same. Read more>>

Vy Nguyen

My start in film and photography formed out of my interest in traditional art, but I’ve always just loved art as a whole. When I first moved to the United States, I couldn’t speak English very well which left me spending quite a bit of time alone. Naturally, I was met with a lot of boredom and had to get rid of it somehow, so I made art! I did anything from drawing to painting. Read more>>

Jyrek Royalty

In my opinion, learning about Art and pursuing it is a constant state of educating yourself. Rather it be from drawing to painting. I started out practicing writing in cursive at a young age (5-6). At that time I used my mothers signature as a reference. I eventually excelled in that so I gravitated towards graffiti. This led to me getting into sketching, drawing cartoon characters from my favorite tv shows. Read more>>

Kimberly Mitchell

I have always loved marketing since I was a child. I decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in communication studies with an emphasis in public communication and media as well as a minor in journalism. However, my education hasn’t stopped there. Read more>>

Alexion

I’m 90% self-taught, and one thing I’ve learned is that you have to learn from your failures and have people who you can go to for advice. While I used my previous knowledge in music to help me get my sound to where I am today, I’ve had to use the other 10% collaborating and talking to other local and international artists. I thought I could solely watch tutorials on YouTube, but I was mistaken. There are simply some things videos can’t teach you that hands-on experience can. Read more>>

Tracy Green

I am still learning! Truthfully, I don’t think that I will ever been finished with the learning process. There are so many facets to being a travel blogger and content creator (writing, photography, video, social media, marketing, etc). I think investing in yourself and your business is crucial to the learning process. I have invested in several courses that have helped me learn about SEO, Pinterest marketing, blogging, email marketing, social media marketing, manual photography, and more. Read more>>

Asif Lakhani

My day job, which pays the bills (for now:), I landed—like anything else—with good luck and hard work. I went to school for magazine journalism (MIZ!) and took an elective called Digital Production during my senior year. At the time, no one knew how monumental social media and the Internet would become, but that one course is what my job title is now: Digital Producer. Read more>>