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Hey, glad to hear you're getting into it!

Regarding progress,

Here's the first sketch in my first sketcbook,

here's the last sketch in my first sketchbook,

and here's a recent piece of mine, about a decade later.

You're right about it being largely a matter of practicing and sticking with it, but there's definitely some stuff that can help the process go smoother.

First off, having some educational material aimed at your level is a huge asset. Andrew Loomis has a series of (free, public domain) books that would be my top reccomendation, starting with Fun With a Pencil. I also really like Matt Kohr's ctrl+paint, and his traditional drawing series does a good job addressing some of the art fundamentals. I personally started out with Burne Hogarth, which had some great info but would probably not be my top pick for a beginner. Pick one and read it, watch it, skim it, come back to it later- however works best. Don't feel like you need to get everything in one read, just pick a topic or two that seems manageable and approach it at a comfortable pace.

Also, be sure to have fun with it. I started out drawing anime with a friend, and it was great. It taught me a few bad habits which I had to work through down the line, but I don't think I'd still be an artist if I hadn't started with something I enjoyed. Find a way to enjoy drawing early on- post online, do fanart, find a friend and develop characters together. Don't feel like it needs to be all "practice" all the time. Use the books and the resources (and critique communities like this one) to get you through the frustrating patches, and use friends and fan communities to get you through the boring ones.

Good luck getting through this first rocky patch, and enjoy the process!

If you're talking about the Christopher Hart ones (they guy who does all the "How to draw manga" books), then yea, they are pretty bad. They are so dumbed-down, and not in the good way like to make it easy for beginners, but to the point where they are flawed. They're OK if you want references for designs and ideas, but don't get them for instructions. And as for specifically drawing hyenas, I seriously doubt you'll find one that specifically shows that.

I'd recommend anything by Burne Hogarth (the details can be a little intimidating, but he's spectacular with teaching form and composition) for learning basics of anatomy and how the body works. Here's a link to his blog for a list of his books: http://burnehogarth.com/blog/books
If you're looking specifically for animal instructions though, there's one book I have that has helped, by Jack Hamm. It's not quite in the way of step-by-step, but it is good for hints on what to look for in finding the distinguishing details in animal anatomy. This one here: http://www.amazon.com/Draw-Animals-Perigee-Jack-Hamm/dp/0399508023

Without being dismissive about it though, really the best thing you can do is to practice and practice and practice. Looking to instruction books and "how to" books is OK for introduction and familiarizing yourself with a genre, but it's far too easy to get locked into bad methodology. Either because the instructions are actually bad (again as in the case of Christopher Hart), or because what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another, and you don't want to stick yourself into a way of working that's not right for you just because you're "following instructions." Everyone has a process that works best for them, and it's best to find how you work.

If you have access to it, I think watching streams would be a good idea. Drawing is a process, so seeing a process is a good way to get into the swing of things. Again, just remember that their way doesn't have to be your way. Give what they do a try, but make yourself comfortable.

Some universal rules that I think are helpful:

• Remember that everything has form. What that means is that everything is made up of shapes. It feels like a throwback to kindergarden to turn triangles and circles into detailed pictures, but it's really true. Find the large shapes in everything.
  
  
• Work big-to-small. Big shapes first, then small shapes. Whole form, then parts. No one part of your image should be significantly more detailed than another.
  
  
• If you're working digitally, you have the advantage of being able to easily flip your image to check for balance. If you're working with pencil and paper though, it can be a little tougher; hold up your paper backward to a light source so you can see the mirror-image of your drawing, or use a mirror. Some things look right one way, but when you reverse it will look completely wrong. If this happens, fix the reverse side to make it look good before flipping it back the right way. Keep doing this back and forth until you like both the forward and reversed versions equally. That means your image is properly balanced.
  
  
• This is probably a little advanced for this stage, but will come in useful anyhow; again if you're working digitally, check your image by lowering the saturation slider to look at the picture in black-and-white. This will show you if your color scheme is too flat (you won't be able to tell the difference between differently-colored areas), and will make sure your areas of focus are noticeable. There really isn't a way to do this if working pencil and paper, unless you take a B&W photo of the picture to check. Also important, when shading, put about 50%-60% of your image in some sort of shadow (this is more for realistic styles though, so disregard if you're doing a simple flat-color cartoony style). Doesn't have to be super dark, but having prominent shadows helps lend a 3D effect to your shapes and adds a lot of depth.
  
  
• This is something I still struggle with; don't worry about a design looking "right." What this means is, don't get too caught up in anatomy and correctness. Artists take liberties with form all the time, and not to mention you're creating a creature that doesn't actually exist, so you're going to have to wing it a little bit. Worry more about the image being what you want it to be, that you have a piece you're happy with, not one that's perfect.
  
  
• And in the same vein as the last note, make sure you know what style you want to draw in. Do you like a more cartoony style, or do you want it to be more realistic? Study and reference art in the style you're going for. And don't be afraid of trying other styles, even ones you don't like. You never know what may end up working.
  
  
• Don't force yourself. Just starting out can be a hard thing, and a quick way to make it worse is to stress about it and try to force your way past it. If you find you're having a tough time, take a break. Go do something else for a little while, let your brain recharge, take a nap, and then come back to it with fresh eyes.
  
  Most importantly, and you've heard it a million times, PRACTICE. No one becomes an expert overnight. For many of us it takes years to get into our own style and even then, it will continue to change. Don't worry about what you're doing wrong, especially at the beginning, but retain what you do that you like. Look to others for inspiration, but in the end, make it your own.

Inking is hard, you mess up. Get ready to hate yourself for killing great sketch with a derp pen move. BUT when it works it looks super awesome.

I use :

http://www.amazon.com/Sakura-38062-8-Piece-Assorted-Colors/dp/B002PNP9L0/ref=sr_1_10?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1368415000&sr=1-10&keywords=Pigma

Pigma brush tip markers. They really help give weight to lines, not just the same thickness all the way around. You can use anything though, I have had some cool sketches with just normal ball point pens before too! If you have a local art store go in and ask around, people are super nice.

I also use a super cheap mechanical pencil most of the time. Not saying they have the worlds best eraser butttt XD

Hope that helps some

Awesome, thanks.

I don't know which laptops are good these days, but the brands I trust are HP, Asus, and Acer. Since you're not going to be doing anything resource-intensive, you could look for anything under $400-ish. Check out this article for some recommendations. If you're going to look on your own, be sure to check the reviews and make sure there are no huge, common problems.

For drawing tablets, the Huion H610 Pro is recommended often, but you can get a good beginner drawing tablet for under $100. Popular brands I see are Huion, XP-Pen, and GAOMON.

For programs, I would recommend GIMP or MediBang Paint Pro. I've personally used both for various projects. They're both free and they work well. Should be easy to understand if you mess around with them.

Alternatively, if you got anything off the Microsoft Surface line, you would be combining the laptop and the tablet, and possibly saving money. Something to look into. The new Surface Go starts at $399.99.

Hope this helps a bit. Feel free to ask if you have more questions. I'll see what I can do.

The importance of fundamentals cannot be understated. You wouldn't start construction on a building without understanding the underlying architecture, would you? I know it's difficult, but you really can't afford to skip the essentials when studying any field. You've already seen that taking shortcuts lowers the quality of your finished works, and if you don't change your approach, you have no expectation of changing that outcome. Discipline yourself and build good habits now, and your hard work will pay off in dividends later.

I don't mean to imply that you should banish yourself to the realm of figure drawing and line work forever; nobody should. But it's important to familiarize yourself with proportion and anatomy if only so that your particular artstyle is consistent. Even if you only learn how to make the same mistakes consistently, all your art will improve at once when you learn to correct those mistakes later. Critique is a huge part in identifying weaknesses in your technique and improving your work, but if your work is all over the place, your critique will be, too.

Consider this: what about practicing your fundamentals bores you? What can you do to make it more engaging for yourself? Have you attempted more interesting subject matter or working from more challenging references? Are there any particular perspectives or poses that you like more than others, and if so, why? Have you tried shifting the focus of your work to suit your particular tastes? There are different figure drawing approaches and techniques out there-- how many of them have you tried? Is there anything stopping you from collecting your finished sketches in order to refine them later on?

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As to where to start, you already know about the fundamentals so I'll link another comment of mine to reiterate their importance and move on.

If you're not going to be working digitally at first, I'm a huge fan of these dot notebooks. They're inexpensive, lovely quality, nondescript, and portable, and the dot pattern is convenient for measuring lengths and widths without the visual clutter that actual graph paper can sometimes give you. I carry one with me for doodling, taking down random thoughts, and drawing maps. The covers aren't super rigid, mind, so press lightly or have a firm, flat surface like a hardcover book handy.

If you want to work digitally, you'll need an entry-level tablet of some kind. The Huion Inspiroy H950P is decent for its price point; it's got a fair-sized workspace, eight programmable express buttons, workable pressure sensitivity, and its pens aren't battery-powered so if you lose them, replacements are comparatively inexpensive. My one complaint is that, because I have large hands, I find I hit the tool-swapping button on my pen by accident unless I hold it just so. I work from a laptop, so the fact that it's not wireless doesn't trouble me but is something you may want to consider. Its little brother, the H640P, is about half the price with a smaller workspace and two fewer express buttons.

Digital artists also need software to work in. I highly recommend Adobe Photoshop CC if you can afford it (or are willing to sail the high seas, so to speak) for its feature set. Photoshop is not strictly for digital illustration so making it work just so for you will take more effort than you'd experience with a more specialized tool, but having its powerful features in my back pocket has never been a disappointment. Paint Tool SAI and Krita are the only other software options I can recommend; I don't have enough experience with other tools to give them a shout-out. If you're on a budget, by the way, Krita is completely free and has a fantastic feature set. Whatever you choose, learn it and learn it well.

I use the Surface 2, and I can attest that's it's quite fine for drawing (although, TBH, I use it more for handwriting and calligraphy, but just from doodling around I can see how more talented people than I could use it).

It is much more expensive, but I bought mine coming from the perspective of "I need a full-fledged laptop, not a mobile OS tablet", so it didn't hurt so bad. If nothing else, it's nice to be able to play games on it, too (Civ and Beyond Earth are so much more fun when played on touch screen)

(FWIW, I hear the Surface 3 works nearly-or-just as well as the Surface 2 for drawing, but I erred on the side of the surface 2 because it was cheaper while the hardware was virtually the same, the only difference was the display)

Edit: The other big difference between the MS Surface 2 and 3 is the stylus - in S3 it's their own, but in S2 it's a legit Wacom stylus, which means you can buy stylus such as the Bamboo feel stylus and actually have something that feels like a pen. It's not something I've done yet, but I've heard other Surface owners praise having a real thing in their hand rather than just a stick of plastic.

There's no substitute for practice, but there is one book that was highly recommended to me. It's called The Natural Way To Draw, and its focus is on gesture drawing. I'm sure you've done gesture drawing in the past, but perhaps this book can provide some new insight into the process?

My second recommendation is to keep track of cartoonists online. There's a whole community out there of blogs and tumblrs that circulate tutorials, student films, book recommendations, and other things that catch their eye. Some of my favorites include Izzy's Scribbles, The Living Lines Library, and The Pencil Test Depot.

There's so much more out there, covering not only animation, but character design, storyboarding, layout, etc., but part of the fun is tracking down these resources, so I'll leave you to find the rest. You should always be on the lookout for more reference both online and offline, and make sure your intake is balanced. Going outside of your comfort zone may provide that one insight or edge you need to land that job!

Happy drawing!

Drawing from life. Theres gunna be drawing completely real animals, and then continuing your cartoony style that really lets you develop and inbetween. If you continue doing cartoony, you kinda miss out on the little details that makes, say..a cat a cat and a tiger a tiger. Its not just orange+ stripes.. totally different facial structure, etc.
Im not sure what species Len? is but, if you look at these 2 photos, try and see the differences in those 2 and see how you can put that on paper instead of a basic round head, triangle ears and nose. http://www.vetprofessionals.com/catprofessional/images/home-cat.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R616B3AD-hY/UTD0xdW3BgI/AAAAAAAAEHA/5MQ_ZptNxUA/s1600/Tiger.jpg



As far as shading......... drawing still lifes really help. They are super boring and tedious, but it HELPS! http://photographyheat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Still-Life-Photography-14.jpg Stuff like this... you can use photos, or just set something up yourself on a table and point a lamp at it. It helps you learn shading as well as different materials.


http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Sketching-Pencil-Zippered-Carrying/dp/B000UJFTJ8 a set of drawing pencils in different shades can help

There's one thing I always recommend for this: Drawing for Fantasy Artists. I know it says fantasy, but it's helpful in general. It's what taught me how to do complex stuff like shading fur and bark, building scenes dramatically, or just doing outlines. That aside, you should start by copying lots of styles you like and learning to draw those, then you'll slowly start forming your own. It'll happen quite naturally. Best of luck!

This is definitely a great approach! I wish more artists in this community would step back to study fundamental things like this.

I suggest looking at your references as you draw, and don't worry about memorizing it. That part will come with time. As you draw you'll become more and more familiar with the subject and won't need to use references as much.

Also I highly recommend the book Animal Drawing: Anatomy and Action for Artists. It's a collection of essays and detailed anatomical drawings of various species and has a ton of really helpful information. I go back to it any time I feel like brushing up on a species I haven't drawn in a while.

Example 1

Here is my red line, the legs was what I think could be improved on. I just put the legs in perspective and fixed it up.

Example 2

Here is the version showing the shapes to think about. Think about shapes and how they wrap around the body.

Another example showing the perspective.

Example 3

I would recommend is to practice drawing form. Here is a video explaining it.

The Basics: what they mean

Also read some books on animal anatomy I recommend :

Animal Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form

Science of Creature Design: understanding animal anatomy

Also here is a book about perspective:

Perspective Made Easy (Dover Art Instruction)

I hope it helps :)

Figure Drawing for alls it's Worth is pretty much my bible. I'm also pretty fond of Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth. I've learned quite a bit from opening either book to a random page a just drawing what I see.

Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (James Gurney Art) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0740797719/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_SJB2Bb2KHP47J
This one is great for understanding color and is really good if you're going to use traditional media.

This. Just invest in a Wacom tablet. You can get a great tablet from them for about 70$ right now.

https://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Drawing-Software-Included-CTL4100/dp/B079HL9YSF/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=intuos&qid=1555130379&s=gateway&sr=8-2

As an alternative to the Wacom brand, there is also the Huion H610 Pro, about 60 bucks on Amazon. My mate and I have one each, and so far they work well for us.

https://www.amazon.com/Graphic-Drawing-Pressure-Sensitivity-Carrying/dp/B074DTP2V4/ref=sr_1_6?crid=22UWZ82VIZWRQ&keywords=huion+h420+usb+graphics+drawing+tablet+board+kit&qid=1555160306&s=gateway&sprefix=huion%2Caps%2C200&sr=8-6

Here are two books I'd recommend, https://www.amazon.ca/Animal-Anatomy-Artists-Elements-Form/dp/0195142144

And

https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Sculptors-Understanding-Human-Form/dp/0990341100