Hi, I'm Eli - nice to be part of the wonderful beginnings of an art community! :D 1. About 3 years of regular practice, but always been a lifetime doodler. 2. It's always nice to see other people's process/thinking. There's is such a giant umbrella when it comes to art fundamentals, and I love learning each person's balance between fundamental truths and intuitive choices of style. 3. For a rough guideline and reminder of the fundamentals, I like "Radiorunner's curriculum for the self taught artist." It's a great loose guideline packed with diverse resources that allow one to pick/choose/experiment with what clicks and what does not. Following that up THE most useful resource for growth has been drawing with other artists better than me. Make friends, draw in discord calls together, kindly ask someone to paint over current work. 4. Tbh I haven't bought many expensive courses/resources to have regrets. I really think there are so many fantastic free/low cost resources online that it almost isn't necessary. Especially with learning the fundamentals. I think spending bigger bucks is worth it once a firm understanding of fundamentals is established and you start to delve into design theory (30-70 ratio, big medium small, shape/color/value hierarchies). At that point the experience of a more advanced artist is very valuable. I also would like to add that for me - Finding teachers/artists who "click" in my understanding was part of the journey. Someone can be incredibly skilled but if their teaching style doesn't fit for you, that's okay.