Interesting case about myself: I don't want to draw anymore, but I have to because I'm not making enough money to hire artist for my projects. I do have some art skills, but everything I do is self-taught, so maybe it's not the best. Still, I feel like I have a good grasp on making some good artwork.
In this case, I needed to improve my line weights. This is something I was struggling with and am barely getting to grasp with. I also realized I needed to create a new way of setting up a foundation for my characters, i.e., the frame that the characters will be drawn upon. After going through videos and looking at other artwork that inspires me, I started practicing. Practicing, practicing, practicing.
All of these was me just trying to figure out what exactly I'm suppose to do about my line weights. Then, eventually, I figured something out: you need to get the sketch right first. If your vision does not come out in the rough sketch, then it's not ready to proceed to outlining. So I started practicing that.
I felt like I was correct. The proportions on the face look a lot more structured compared to my previous attempts.
I then worked on another model. Once again, I was satisfied with the rough outline.
But now came the original problem: line weights. What am I suppose to do? I had no idea. I decided to experiment and ended up doing two versions: one with thin lines and one with thick lines.
And that's when I realized that, I need a mix of both!
Thus I came up with a system: get the rough draft the best you can structurally and then add both thick and thin line weights. I then asked a Discord friend of mine for a model and gave me an OC. Thus I gave him some fanart in my style.
This is old and I'm seeing somethings that need changing, but I am surprised at how well it came out. It's even better than my old style. Now time to color it.
OOf.... looks like I got some work to do on that...
But pretty much, I just noticed my own weaknesses, got curious about what needs to be improved, and experimented a lot. I now have a better idea on what I need to make my art "good".
I'm not an actual artist, but I hope this could give you some ideas how an non-artist does their thing.