okay. i just want to help any one who needs help. i know the questions. where should i start? what should i do, but mostly, theres just a whole load of HOW???? i only started drawing this year, so i still know the questions verry well. and all i ever find is the common "practice practice practice" but WHAT am i practicing????? my ultimate goal has allways been to drasw photo-realistic. the idea of producing photolike drawings always seemed "wow" to me. and after a year, the drawings are starting to look like 'a person" but how did i do it??? well, firstly i started with manga, which is a style of anime. the drawings are simple, clean and theres not a lot of shading required. ir si simple, but still challenging when you start of. . it also helps that the style is very VERY popular. i did that for around 6 months, trying, tsting, getting an understanding of the body shape, the placement of facial feaures, and so on. but i grew bored, and i wanted more. so i started realistic. i learnt how to draw the eye. then hands, feet. i went onto hair, face shapes, noses and mouths, ears and clothes. learn each of these one by one. learn atonomy. read books (a great book is -"the new drawing on the right side of the brain"-) pracice shading (for skin, draw lightly with a 5b pencil then using a cloth, tissue or paper towel, rub in a circular motion, smudging the pencil) spend a lot of time on each drawing (something i found very hard. i rushed, and skipped bits. but now i just want to spend longer on each picture!!)
draw pictures from photos, as real life subjects continuosly move,. *sigh*
if you must, trace the outline of pictures, the shade in the rest. this will help teach you the placment of body parts.
the hardest part is every now and again, you cant draw right. you think that you have'lost yu touch, or skill" this isnt true. its because u think u have lost it, that u cant draw right. just keep drawing, and u will break through.
oh, and a great little exercise, draw popcorn!! include shadows, and when u r done... EAT IT!

thank you for spending ur time to read this, and i really hope it helps!

Thx, marmarlaid!