my best advice to folks who want to become artists is just to do it. so much time is spent thinking and theorizing about stuff that could've been spent drawing. keep it fun. draw and draw and draw and if you truly love art you'll keep drawing.
now i will contradict myself by theorizing and giving my thoughts ๐ค: you're gonna suck ass if you've never drawn before. it's just a fact. sucking ass is awesome. how many times have you played a game like rimworld or something where sucking ass and learning is part of the fun? it's that way for art too, it's just different because people have ego tied up in it. accept the suck and the unsuckitude (when it is eventually achieved) will feel much better.
praise is nice to receive but praise can only really motivate, it can't help you improve (most of the time anyway). on the other side of the coin, receiving criticism can be extremely helpful but it can also demoralize. i recommend trying to surround yourself with people who are nice but aren't afraid to tell you if something looks bad.
how do you learn? there are millions of tutorials online. it's easier to become an artist than ever. just don't buy a tiny tablet for your first one if you want to do digital art. your wrist will thank you.
i recommend gravitating toward works that feel fun. what is fun for you can wildly vary from what is fun for me. even if you're just drawing shitposty doodles or memes, you're going to be learning. hell, tons of artists have gained lots of skill and popularity from being meme makers. you don't have to be rembrandt to be successful and happy with your work.