I know kids can learn things way faster so I've always been confused if it's really practical or not. i don't want to ask cringelibs because ifeel like i'm going to get generic "you can do it if you try real real hard!" responses
I know kids can learn things way faster so I've always been confused if it's really practical or not. i don't want to ask cringelibs because ifeel like i'm going to get generic "you can do it if you try real real hard!" responses
I attended art school in my late 20s, alongside other students who were right out of high school. One thing I learned from four years in art school, is that "doing art well" is a very broad thing that includes a variety of skills. Every one of my classmates had a few "tricks" they seemed to be innately talented at, and other things they needed to work on. Like, someone might be really good at rendering light and shadow, but terrible at capturing gestures and lines of action. Or they'll be great at detailed anatomical drawing, but terrible at creating an appealing composition for a storyboard.
So, the frustrating news is, no matter how good you get, there will always be some aspect of your art where you'll notice areas for improvement. The good news is, as an adult, you can learn how to analyze your own and other people's art and learn the different principles that come into play to make a good piece.
I don't know how you "learn" best, but someone in this thread suggested DrawABox, and I think that's a really good resource. I wouldn't want it to be the only way to approach drawing, but if you go through a few of the lessons and drills on that site, you're bound to come out the other side with a few new skills. I was doing some of the DrawABox exercises in my sketchbook while I was in art class, and to my surprise, some of my classmates looked at the exercises and were amazed at how cool they looked. It surprised me, because I thought of these classmates as being far more talented than me (I think I'm better at drawing than the average person on the street, but below average for an art school graduate).
I guess my big piece of advice for learning art as an adult would be to have a network of fellow art learners to share your experiences with. This might be in formal classes in person, or it might mean sharing art with other people online. If you're an adult, this means you may have to get used to the idea of learning from people younger than you, if you're not already accustomed to that. Admittedly, this is a piece of advice I'm terrible at following myself, and I tend to be a bit of an insecure hermit.
One more thing: I think an underrated advantage that adults tend to have over children and teenagers is the ability to understand the scope of a project, plan out that project, and follow that plan. This can be valuable for any artistic project, from a single painting, to a graphic novel. Probably the most common hurdle in art school was that some very talented students just weren't organized enough to hand their assignments in on time. There were students who were far better at drawing than I was, but got worse grades because they were either chronically late to hand things in, or because they would hand in work that, while impressive, didn't really indicate that they understood the assignment. I already had a previous university degree, so I would look at assignment descriptions, say "Oh, I see, the point of the assignment is to learn X" and I would consistently do pretty well, with each completed assignment being something I could add to my portfolio. My ability to manage a project also meant that I was able to complete my 4th-year project on time (a 6-minute film I animated pretty much single-handedly).