Great lessons here - things I've seen borne out again and again.

I have a nephew who barely graduated art school and is now working as a full-time illustrator because he never stopped practicing. Gradually his awkward renditions evolved into their own distinctive style. And then there's the artist Shitty Watercolor who started sharing primitive doodles on Reddit and now does stunning work.

The hardest part is finding something you love enough to do on a regular basis, even if you don't like doing it on a particular day. Or just being bull-headed enough to keep trying in the face of discouragement. I think being traditionally "intelligent," in a lot of cases, gets in the way of this kind of persistence.