Keys to Drawing is really good! I only got the book in the last couple years after not being very active creatively for a long time. I drew a decent bit for a few years from middle to high school. I think I posted some of the comic books I drew on select button 1.0. It was neat getting the book and finding out that which of my self taught drawing habits were bad and which ones were worth keeping.
I have never been actually satisfied with anything I’ve produced but by the time I reached high school I did notice I had improved from when I got started in middle school. Occasionally I will doodle in a sketch book but I haven’t made a real attempt at drawing in a while. Technically I draw everyday because I produce plans and details in CAD for engineering stuff but that’s almost always top-down or side views though occasionally I get to produce something in an isometric view. So I do stay exposed somewhat to drawing from that angle but I don’t do nearly as much free hand sketching or anything as I need to if I ever want to actually improve.
One of the last times I made a serious attempt at drawing I did sketches of my hands because hands are hard to draw in general because they’re composed of like five different shapes. I can’t find those sketches but I think a couple came out okay in that you could definitely tell they were hands and were even kind of in the right proportions.
What got me started was Spawn and wanting to draw cool figures like Todd McFarlane so me and my friend I had at the time who had been drawing longer than I had would draw Spawns. Lots and lots of Spawns. Sometimes we would reproduce someone else’s art, either by eye or by doing the thing where you make a grid on the page or split it into quadrants and make a similar grid/quadrant on the image you’re reproducing and using that as a guide. I got pretty good at reproductions that way and it was a great way to keep everything in proportion.
I’ve determined one of the things I need to focus on to improve is keeping in mind the volume of an object I’m looking at and not just what the silhouette or profile of it is, as well as how to properly use light to simulate depth. I can usually get the right shape drawn but making it actually look 3D with proper shading and stuff is still difficult for me to grasp.
Keep drawing! You’re well on your way already and if you keep it up a year from now you’ll be blown away at what you’ll be able to do.