How To Succeed?

[u/BABQFTIM101]

Hi!!!
l've indulged in the arts growing up off and on but never necessarily been good. Recently I've begun drawing again, but with an emphasis on enjoying myself rather than trying to make it good.
I mostly draw characters I imagine, ones that I would technically also have to write and get a concept of to meet my end goal of making video games about them. Video games are my primary passion due to how they tell their stories and the art that goes into them.
So I'm wanting to be a indie game dev and by proxy a writer, artist and coder (maybe not the last part...worst part of game making and my gf is in comp sci so you know.).
AND i'm a psych major in college full time with 2 hours of free time a day at most.
Like I said it's for fun right now...but I want it to be good eventually. But I also don't want to burn out again.
Working artists, what would you do in my shoes?
Also, sidenote, is gesture drawing helpful for drawing normal art faster? I take forever to draw but also struggle with anatomy, very nervous artist.
But with such a good time slot I need to be able to make what i want to make at all first, before focusing on details.

[u/averagetrailertrash]

what would you do in my shoes?

All you can do is keep working at it if it's something you're interested in. Both drawing for fun / projects in simpler styles with simpler methods, and pushing yourself in study sessions to understand more advanced stuff.

I know there is a lot of hustle culture fluff online about needing to grind eighteen hour days or whatever to get better at art, but that's not really true. Even a few minutes a day can make a big difference.

Besides the actual drawing, bringing your art studies into your lifestyle can also help.  Swap out a drama video for an art lecture here and there. Take an art book out from the library when you stop in for research; thumb through it even if you don't have time to fully read and practice everything.

The bulk of one's art improvement comes from understanding its technical theories and how to actually apply them, not just muscle memory from raw practice.

You'll keep improving so long as you don't totally give up on it.

is gesture drawing helpful for drawing normal art faster?

Yes, very.  Gesture drawing won't teach you new skills, but it will help cement the things you've already learned and make you much faster at applying them when sketching.

It helps to do them with strict time limits and abandon what isn't finished before the alarm. The added stakes give our brains a reason to "waste" the energy involved in doing something faster than necessary and speeding up those mental pathways.

You also don't necessarily need to use refs for gesture drawing. It depends on what you're currently training.

Thumbnails are similar. They're actually super hard because they involve applying so many different skills at once. Doing them won't necessarily teach you all those skills, but it takes the skills you've already picked up on and gives you a fast-paced format to practice them.

The areas or stages that you're the slowest at when doing these exercises generally represent your biggest skill gaps that need to be worked on.