Someone recently asked what one nugget of wisdom I'd offer a person looking to get into visual storytelling, but just starting out on their quest to draw at all, much less do so for dollars.
My first instinct-- being a largely self-taught "artist" (we'll use that term loosely)... who's really only just working my way into the industry myself... as my second career... while rapidly approaching 40-- was to run and find an actual responsible adult to field the question. Because who the hell am I to be doling out advice?
Actual responsible adults, however, tend to have the good sense to not take my calls, so... I did the advice thing.
Sorry.
I think it's going to be OK though. I told the person something someone once told me:
When you get up in the morning (or afternoon, evening, whenever-- I'm not here to judge, and in fact, most of the time, I look like I haven't seen sun in days and maybe recently woke up on a bar bathroom floor) and you make yourself the customary cup of coffee, draw it while you're drinking it.
Draw it over and over until you've filled up a page in a sketchbook, or whatever digital equivalent you're using.
Turn it, tilt it (don't spill it), and use whatever things you have handy that make marks (pencil, pen, marker-- if you have a clean brush you could use the coffee).
Do it every morning, until you're sick of it. Then do it some more.
If need be, you could probably swap out the coffee cup for something else-- it's less about the object and more about the act.
We're habit-building here.
Sometimes, especially during stretches where you feel like everything coming off your pencil is crap (and there will be many of those days-- they don't ever actually go away, you understand), getting started is the hardest bit.
By drawing your cup of coffee, you've gotten that first volley of visuals out of the way before you've even shaken off the fog of sleep.
You've studied shape and form, and a half-dozen other things critical to progressing as an artist, and you've snuck it in before you're even all the way awake.
You're now warmed up for whatever else the day's doodling might throw at you.
Do it for a few weeks and tell me your work's not at least a little stronger. If nothing else, you'll be better at drawing coffee cups, and there will come a day when that exact thing will come in handy.
Sooner or later, someone-- someone paying you to do what you do-- is inevitably going to say to you, "You know what this image needs? A coffee cup. Right there."
And so you're going to have to draw a coffee cup. Or whatever thing they want.
Your mileage with this exercise may vary. Again, I'm largely self-taught, and that means, beyond any “style” I have that a client or company might really dig, I also have foundational gaps I have to watch out for and stamp out as they make themselves known because they've simply never popped up to be dealt with before.
Pretty much every time I draw something for someone, there'll be some bit I'll have to pull up references for and learn how to make work on the fly.
If any of that sounds familiar, consider giving yourself the head start and draw that cup of coffee in front of you in the morning.
Cheers,
Damien