Ren & Stimpy animator John K. sends fan illustrated how-to letter

I can't begin to imagine how great that kid felt opening a package with a book, some artwork and a nice long letter from one of his heroes. Probably the best day of his life to that point! Not many people have the kind of power where taking an hour or so to do something for someone can have a lasting and profound effect on that someone. Kudos to John.

He spent probably multiple hours to show a kid he would possibly never see or hear from again a very valuable lesson.

There is a good chance that this is not the only time he's done that.

Draw everything you can. Figure out what, of all the things you'd like to be able to draw, you're worst at drawing, and draw lots and lots of those until you're not as bad at it as you were. Then move on to the new "worst thing".

Also, I would differ with the Ren & Stimpy guy in advising you not to trace stuff. Copying master art is good practice, but do it with your own eye rather than by tracing. You'll learn a lot more that way.

When drawing, look a lot more than you draw.. look really carefully and try to make each stroke as accurate as possible.

Experiment with lots of different media, tools, and materials.

Meet up with and hang out with other art students and artists. Doing so can provide a lot of inspiration and motivation.

Staying motivated and fighting past self-criticism are probably the hardest parts of being a serious artist. Which reminds me of this story, told by Lawrence Block:

A young man once cornered a world-famous violinist and begged to be allowed to play for him. If the master offered him encouragement, he would devote his life to music. But if his talent was not equal to his calling, he wanted to know ahead of time so he could avoid wasting his life. He played, and the great violinist shook his head. "You lack the fire," he said.

Decades later the two met again, and the would-be violinist, now a prosperous businessman, recalled their previous meeting. "You changed my entire life," he explained. "It was a bitter disappointment, giving up music, but I forced myself to accept your judgement. Thus, instead of becoming a fourth-rate musician, I've had a good life in the world of commerce. But tell me, how could you tell so readily that I lacked the fire?"

"Oh, I hardly listened when you played," the old master said. "That's what I tell everyone who plays for me -- that they lack the fire."

"But that's unforgivable!" the businessman cried. "How could you do that? You altered the entire course of my life. Perhaps I could have been another Kreisler, another Heifetz--"

The old man shook his head again. "You don't understand," he said. "If you had had the fire, you would have paid no attention to me."