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.

Karen Walker

I feel I’ve been blessed to have this innate artistic touch, that artsy vibe. This is not to say that there was little learning to do because I do credit all who I have studied under for what I am able to achieve today. Read more>>

Valeria Guerra-Garcia

One of my first art mentors, Toto Fernandez, taught me a lesson about the craftsmanship of painting that I will never forget. “Every artist has a recipe”. I have always been a person who wanted to dive in headfirst. Read more>>

Annalisa Summea

I’ve always been a writer. I published for the first time at nine years old. I got to read that poem on the State House lawn of my home state of New Hampshire. Read more>>

David Luján

Learning to play music was done at an early age but learning to be a musician is, and will continue to be an ongoing process. Read more>>

Brooke Wright

I am a life-long stop motion animation admirer turned animator! I’m still in the midst of learning the craft, but before I got started, it was a foreign and intimidating medium that I assumed could only be undertaken by the professionals. Read more>>

Jeff Wilson

In the early days of my career, I transitioned from analog to digital art, grappling with how to translate my sculptural training into a digital medium. Read more>>

Stephanie Vigil

I have always been in awe of a fast talking auctioneer that encourages people to raise their paddle for a good cause. They’ve been known to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in a matter of minutes. Read more>>

Darryl Sharp Jr

I’ve been using Photoshop since the 10th grade in high school. I took Graphic Design because it was a prerequisite for the animation course I really wanted. Read more>>

Kiéla Adira

Throughout my childhood, I loved to sing and would perform for family and friends at school events any opportunity I would get. Read more>>

Meghan Christine Figlewicz

I always loved photography, but truth be told, I really didn’t believe it was possible to actually earn a living doing it. It didn’t seem “stable”, so I never considered it when thinking about my future. Read more>>

Arus Motta

I learned this “craft” through a combination of formal education, hands-on experience, networking, and continuous self-study. Read more>>

Krish Nihalani

My photography journey has been one of continuous learning and exploration. While formal education at the New York Film Academy provided me with essential technical skills and artistic insights, Read more>>

Saylor Brasseaux

Becoming a singer/ songwriter has been such a blessing in my life! I’ll never forget the day I wrote my first song. I was about 13 years old. Read more>>

Bonnie (Anahata) Pettiford

Learning the craft of my art therapy talent coaching has been a life long process. Since a child and to this day I am an artist first; acting, singing and creatively writing. Read more>>

Isabel Glatthorn

From a really young age, maybe 4 or 5, I have always been drawn to clay. I remember the elation of being told that it was “clay day” in art class in elementary. Read more>>

Rafael Navarro

I am mainly a self taught artist, I took some art classes at several community college in Arizona, but most of all I have learned by actually doing the work, Read more>>

Gianna Cocciolillo

Most tattoo apprenticeships are not easy to come by. I was fortunate enough to know my mentor since I was a kid. I was in my last semester of art school, pursuing a degree in Art Education when my mentor, Read more>>

Jeanne McGee

This topic comes up for me when I’m trying to learn something new creatively. At this point I feel when it comes to printmaking, I can now work at an intuitive level and work in a zone where I don’t always have to think about technical issues. Read more>>

Cory Tauwoo

The act of songwriter took me a long time to really harness. Everything I needed was inside of me, at a very simple and primitive level, but the language to define the nuances of the space took me a long time to recognize and develop. Read more>>

Mary Anne Carter

I’m largely self-taught in the realm of art. I opted for a “more practical” major in college, which I quickly abandoned because of my untamable draw to the creative. Read more>>

Lanee Johnson

I have been an artist since I could pick up a pencil. I’ve always had an overactive imagination and to this day rely heavily on it to be creative. Read more>>

Ethan Kline

I First started learning drums in 4th grade at Orchard Grove elementary school. My teacher Ms. Dé la Rose saw my potential in drumming and encouraged me to keep pursuing it. Read more>>

Paul Vu

I am a classically trained pianist and played piano for about 12 years. I finished the program during my sophomore year of high school, and I always wondered, what now? Read more>>

Natalie Espino

I use a variety of techniques/ materials within my work, and I am pretty much an entirely self-taught! To me, there’s a certain preciousness and “raw” element in learning to create with no guidance. Read more>>

Tim Abbott

I have been a musician, singer for most of my life since the mid 1960’s. I am mainly known as a guitar player and singer for The Chocolate Watchband. Read more>>

Brittney Hampton

In my undergrad, I took a course on combining textile techniques with metalsmithing. That course greatly influenced my practice, I learned to knit, crochet, and weave copper wire and fell in love with weaving forms. Read more>>

Sam Genovese

Like many people I was self-taught for many years. Electronic music is full of composers and performers who are autodidacts, so nothing unusual with my story. Read more>>

Allan Ginsburg

I’m a self-taught artists, that means that in order to improve my skill set I had to do a lot of research on my own, as well as a lot of trial and error. Read more>>

Larkin Ford

I have drawn since I was a kid, so I thought I had a certain level of aptitude by the time I started my undergraduate studies at UNC Asheville. Read more>>

Artevian Hall-palmer

Honestly, I learned from watchin my homies make beats. However, My brother Jordan $age is the one who showed me how to use FL Studio. Read more>>

Justin Fraley

Learning art has been a process of both trial and error as well as feeling. I ha e come to learn that Art is The Artist. It is what you feel, how you being forth what is within, and everything in between. Read more>>

Rachel Hendrickson

Not every business idea starts at 4 am, but mine did. I started Hendrickson Handmade (HH) during the pandemic (AKA small business boom). Originally, I had started with embroidery and wanted to expand to handmade crafts/different mediums. Read more>>

Brendan Buckley

I began studying music as a child, first on piano, and then on trumpet. When I reached the age of 14, I became hooked on MTV and rock music. Read more>>

Jake Louzon-Hadley

When I decided to start tattooing, I had been going to a smaller, more contemporary (weirder) shop in my area. I made friends with some of the artists there and would pick their brains about the practice whenever I had the chance. Read more>>

Christine Houston

My inspiration for photography came from my mother. She loved taking her camera everywhere and basically documented everything. Read more>>

Brittany Arriola

I learned to sew with a machine kind of late, in college. Before that I was snatching my grandma’s table cloths and using any means necessary to stick them to my body (usually safety pins or hot glue). Read more>>

Annie Thompson

Under the presumption that we can assume our own identities, I claim myself as a Painter. I began painting occasionally as a child under the guidance of my late uncle Barry Graves Jr., Read more>>

Akiane Kramarik

My painting style is a fusion of various influences, which I’ve termed “Akianism.” It encompasses elements of hyperrealism, impressionism, baroque, contemporary, and surrealism. Read more>>

Will Rollins

I am entirely self-taught with bladesmithing, blacksmithing, and knifemaking. I used every resource I could find on the internet to learn the techniques, methods, and science behind forging, metallurgy, knifemaking, and heat treating. Read more>>

Tairan Hao

I learned my craft through a combination of formal education, self-driven experimentation, and mentorship. My foundational skills were honed at art school where I acquired both the theoretical knowledge and practical skills needed in traditional and digital art forms. Read more>>

Mike Przygoda

I started playing music just as something social to do with my friends. They all were joining the school band and I liked music a lot, so I thought I would try it. Read more>>