I was inspired to begin drawing again after listening to the "Braving the Elements" podcast in which guests Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino discuss creating Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. Both shows involved hand animating every single character and carefully illustrating a wide range of environments.
If you haven't watched either of the shows, I urge you to start as soon as possible! Aside from being fun "cartoons" to watch, they include heavy topics such as politics, social-economic issues, interpersonal-conflict, and mental health. Each episode is beautifully animated and thoughtfully written that'll leave you with wise lessons learned.
This digital illustration is a self-portrait I created using Procreate on an iPad Pro. It's the first illustration I made using the app which I've been wanting forever! Throughout the progress of the illustration, I kept repeating to myself "trust the process, trust the process" in order to not give up. Taking a couple days to complete, I was more than certain there were more efficient techniques to illustrate it faster. However, I avoided looking up tutorials so that I could leave room for exploration and discover how to use Procreate on my own. Then, I would look up how other artists approach their illustrations. Being somewhat familiar with the app, I would suddenly get that "ahh, so that's how it's done!" realization. The way I think of it is like attempting to assemble furniture without first reading the instructions. Often, playing around with stuff is the best way to learn how to become proficient at it.