What a great composition! It describes exactly what I experienced too, when I was starting to learn how to draw at the age of four (in 1974).

In my case, I was influenced by an uncle who would draw Superman and other superheroes for me and my sister.

I just picked up a pencil and started drawing on paper, that's what my Mom told me. It was like automatic.

I'd just draw and draw anything, and everything interesting I saw. My uncle did not even need to teach me. He just left me alone to do things on my own.

I learned at my own pace, and there was no rush to get better right away, like what I see with most kids nowadays.

Most of the kids I see want to get into realistic portraiture right away, eschewing the learning of basic drawing to learn how to use a grid for accurate copying of pictures.

A lot of them end up becoming too dependent on grids that they don't bother to learn freehand drawing anymore.

I'm a freehand artist, and have been one ever since. And in 1998 I entered the animation industry and became a traditional animator. I did that job until 2003, and then I switched to 3D animation in 2005.

Here's a colored pencil drawing of a wolf that I made back in 1996, before I became an animator.

And a portrait of a friend I drew last year.