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.

Kevvy

Everything I’ve done as a career was something I fell into. When I was a little kid, I thought I would be an illustrator, and I drew and painted all the time, and was accepted into a fine and performing arts school in 8th grade. Read more>>

Jenny Fillius

After years of working in various media, I became addicted to tin work and obsessed with tin. Lithographed sheet metal that comes in the form of candy., tea and coffee tins and vintage broken doll houses and windup toys. Read more>>

Mark Riccadonna

My colleagues often describe me as a storyteller. I like constructing stories that link together and engage the audience. I also tell stories as an actor and writer. Read more>>

Yuxiang Dong

As an artist who work mostly with digital media, I learned my craft techniques mostly with open resources online, such as YouTube, GitHub, etc. Read more>>

Jacquelyn Markham

Learning to do what I do I learned to write poetry from living and reading. As a girl, I read everything—from cereal boxes to fairy tales and Hemingway novels. Read more>>

Ash Always

I learned probably 75% of what I know from the internet. When the main artist I work with went viral and I started taking this more seriously in 2021 it was probably closer to 95%. Read more>>

Sean Cancellieri

How does one learn to become an actor? “All the world is a stage and the men and women are merely players. They have their exits and entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.” Read more>>

Ron Andre Elvis Telford

Initially, I learned the business of music through an internship at Shady Records in NYC. I took extra steps to get involved or learn from every department in that office. Read more>>

Johnny Painter

I stumbled upon Scenic Arts by accident. As a child, I had never been to a live stage show, but when my big sister entered college for a Theatre Arts major, she told me, “You have to see this. Read more>>

Alice Zhai

I went to school for Illustration at the School of Visual Arts and I learned all I know from a mix of my amazing professors, looking at other illustrators that I admired, and practicing and being intentional about what I wanted out of my illustrations. Read more>>

Adam Simmons

I started learning how to produce videos during my time at the University of Oregon. I started as an Intern at the University of Oregon Athletic Department as a video producer which helped me grow my skillset exponentially in shooting and editing. Read more>>

Julia Knox

2024 has been an amazing year so far because all of the things I produced in 2023 are being released and they’re doing well! I feel like I can finally consider myself an indie-filmmaker. Read more>>

David Abós

It all started after an anxiety attack in 2018, as therapy and since I liked to draw and had worked in an architecture studio and then another design/animation studio that only composed the scenes, I enrolled in an art school and throughout over time and with patience, skills emerged that I did not know or that I did not yet have enough knowledge as I currently have. Read more>>

Joshua Keever

Most of what I know I’ve either taught myself or shadowed others that know what they’re doing when it comes to music performing, engineering, and production. Read more>>

Joyce Jennings

I learned to crochet in 7th grade junior high school in my home economics class in District Heights, MD. A class that is no longer apart of the curriculum. Read more>>

Valentina Piombi

My first acting class was when I was sixteen years old. I arrived at that small space not knowing what I would encounter. A mix of adrenaline and fear was what I felt when I introduced myself to the group. Read more>>

Spike Zhao

People always ask me what are the things I need to learn to become an action actor. Truth is, I believe the answer varies a lot and depends on what type of action actor you want to become. Read more>>

Emiko Saraswati Susilo

My training as a Balinese dancer/musician and voice actor were two very different endeavors. As a traditional Indonesian artist, my life was infused with the aesthetics and community of our Indonesian art forms and culture since before I was born.  Read more>>

Juniper Elyenchie

Looking back, it feels like art has always been a part of me. Maybe it was all those Saturday mornings spent glued to cartoons, or maybe there was just something about creating that resonated deep down. Read more>>

Jason Lambeth

I am largely self taught both as an artist and a musician. My main way of learning has always been to just to go for it. Whether it’s a new medium in art or recording myself. Read more>>

Jessica Salinas

I learned graphic design by teaching myself at 15, building personal and fan websites on places like Geocities and Angelfire. This foundation in web design led me to apply these skills to my own digital art. Read more>>

Ashley Collins

It sounds cliche to say, but I read a lot and I write a lot. I have always had a good grasp of language. When I decided to move from non-fiction to fiction books, I went to school for creative writing. Read more>>

Kid Astronaut

During the quarantine of 2020 I had the opportunity to not only ask myself a ton of questions regarding WHY I was doing music and the role it was playing in my life but also to take that energy of not being able to play shows and get out there as much as I wanted Read more>>

A.K. McIntosh

Learning to craft complex characters in simple ways is the first and most valuable tenet of serious creative writing. I had initially learned this from various screenwriting books I bought with my limited summer job budget.  Read more>>

Francesco Staccioli

“I’ve been playing guitar since I was eight years old, but it wasn’t until my late teens, around 17 or 18, that I started taking it seriously. Read more>>