I think about this stuff a lot--so much that instead of giving you my two cents, it'll probably be like my five or six cents. So here it goes: Proko and the other four "P"s. Proko First of all you're here on Proko. Here you can learn from some of the best art teachers in the world. To reiterate what Yashwardhan suggested, start with the basics course. Even if you have some art experience, the course is so thorough, that if you have any cracks in your foundation, the course is a great way to patch them up. Many of the concepts introduced in the course will be echoed in other courses, but unlike the other courses, the basics course assumes you know nothing. After that, there are lots of other courses to choose from--from figure drawing, to portraiture, to perspective and more. I'm a big fan of not relying on only once source. So after taking a course on figure drawing with Stan, it's a good idea to see what Michael Hampton has to say on the subject. Having missed something important early on in my career due to not consulting enough sources, I can't recommend this habit enough. Practice It's not enough to just do the courses. Completing a lesson on gesture drawing is not enough to drive it into your muscle memory. It takes thousands of gestures--maybe more. Figure out how and when you are going to develop a habit of practice. Personally, I use the two minute rule. I practice at least for two minutes a day. Most of the time, it's more than that, but I intentionally keep the bar for getting by seat in the chair to draw very low. It's not just about knowledge. It's about training your skills like an athlete so that they are there reflexively when you need them. Projects Doing tutorials and practicing endlessly can also be a trap. What are you practicing for? Don't put it off! Start that comic, or portrait, or master study, or painting. If you don't like how your early efforts turn out, just call it a draft and do it again later. Don't wait to do your projects until you feel ready. You will never feel ready or good enough. As frustrating as it is, almost all artists feel this way regardless of how much skill they amass. Also, interesting art doesn't need to be perfect. Peers Bring a friend or make a friend to study with. Learning art is a hard thing to do in a vacuum. I participate in a few community threads here on Proko and do Zoom calls with other artists that you are welcome to join. Or start your own with your own group of friends. Scheduling time to draw with other people is a commitment device that will help keep your butt in your drawing chair even when you don't feel like it. Persistence I don't know a single artist that is highly skilled that hasn't worked at it for years. Trying to see progress from drawing to drawing is like trying to detect the movement of the hour hand of a clock. It's happening, but it's hard to see. This is a long-haul endeavor. Okay, so that might have been my eight cents. I wish you luck, and you are welcome to join in on the threads we have going in the community area of this site. I hope to see you posting regularly!

I am assuming you are completely new to drawing and painting with no experience at all. In case I am wrong, you can elaborate as to how long have you been practicing and what you have studied so far. And of course you need to start with basics, that much should be obvious. But a newbie would usually have no idea what that means, because they have no experience. One of the hardest things about getting started is that, art isn't exactly something that can be taught. Even with all the help and guidance one can get, one still has to understand it by themselves. Another important thing to keep in mind right now is patience. If you are wondering how long it will take; it usually takes about 5-10 years of dedicated practice in order to reach mastery of the craft. This platform sure has a lot of material specifically for beginners which could be a good starting point. I had started my own studies with the western classical approach, which forms the basis of most courses on this platform. It's a very good place to start as the exercises will directly help you practice some basic skills. But one mistake I had made back then was that I had kinda locked into this approach. With western classical, the approach to drawing seems to be very "Constructive" or "Technical" I would say. You may not understand what I mean because you are new. But I will still try to explain it. Whenever I approached any kind of subject, I would start thinking how to "Construct" it. Let's say I am doing a character illustration. The first thing I will think about is how to construct the figure. The first step would be to draw some boxes and cylinders for the head, neck, ribcage, hipbones and limbs. Then I'll draw the anatomical details over that. And finally I'll draw the clothing and then I'll shade in the shadow shapes. That's how I would "Construct" the character. Along with this I had also locked on to realism, another common thing in western classical. After a couple years of practice, I found it very difficult to draw intuitively in a more cartoonish style. It took me a while to break out of that mindset. Now if you want to draw this way, then that's good for you. But I am just giving you a heads up from my own experience as to how one can get locked into certain mindsets. As for "learning order", I don't think there's such a thing beyond the basics. Once you have got the hang of the basics, then you'll have to decide for yourself what you want to do and move forward accordingly. Like you said you are interested in Manga, so you will definitely study the human figure. You will also need to learn scenery drawing for drawing backgrounds. And let's say there's a pet cat in your story, then you have to study cats as well. Lastly, good luck.

In my case the drawing basics course on Proko helped greatly, not only to improve my skills, but also to figure out what else I need to learn.