I was hesitating to start following drawabox program a few months ago, and I had to put drawing as a hobby on hold for various reasons, but now I decided to give it a go, and I don't intend to follow any other course at the same time because it would be too overwhelming for me. I got myself a bunch of Sharpie fineliners, and will start doing the assignments. But regarding the free drawing (50% rule), what and how should I draw? I mean, I understand that I can assemble a few reference pictures and create something from that by combining them (without solely copying one, which would be like studying). But I barely know anything about shading/values/color theory, human anatomy and figures, loomis method, etc. Is it possible to get better in those areas just by drawing for the sake of it, without studying it beforehand? Should drawabox really be the first drawing course I take?

Also, I understand that I can do the free drawing digitally during the other half of the time, and I happen to be attracted to digital creations as it was my motivation to learn drawing. But since I got a digital tablet (and not a pen display), would it be counterproductive to do the free drawing on that? Maybe it would be better to just stick to traditional drawing for the time being?