Warming Up To It

I find myself with a bit of free time these days, and when that happens I am almost overwhelmed with the multitude of options there are for me to better my craft.  

I want to be a better artist, so I am always tempted to just draw; I feel behind in my ability to use software to manipulate my artwork, so I am tempted to dive deeper into the depths of Photoshop, or Painter, etc.; I want to be a better animator, so I am tempted to dream up something to animate and just go at it; I'd love to have a better understanding of colour and be able to achieve these incredible speed-paints and background designs that I see online.  The list doesn't end there.  It's all exciting and fun stuff, but also incredibly daunting.  Where in the world should I start? 

I decided to take some time to again attempt drawing on a Cintiq tablet/monitor.  I've been reluctant (to say the least) to embrace drawing or animating entirely digitally.  I thought I had given it enough of a chance long ago, and I didn't enjoy the experience, so I moved on, back to my paper and pencil.  I do believe all of the artists and animators out there who swear by their Cintiqs, who insist that it speeds up their process greatly, and frankly, I love the work that I am seeing from them.  It feels foreign and a bit uncomfortable for me, and the results have been hit and miss, but I am warming up to it.  I plan to learn the digital animation tools in TVPaint next.  

A small part of me suspects (hopes) that I might come out of this 'experiment' marveling at how stubborn I was, and wondering why in the world I didn't embrace this tool far, far sooner...