Rough draft but here goes:

Step 1: Identify your end product and your role

First you need to figure out what it is you want to make. What you end goal is. Eg: Do you want to make films? If so, in what way? are you a director that wants to adapt a vision you have? Do you like doing vfx that goes into films? etc Are you a illustrator? If so do you like painting details? Do you like doing concept arts that are quicker but less detailed? Do you like doing technical drawings? Do you prefer working with 3D? or more expressive freeform drawings?

Its important to understand what your end product is because your workflow will differ based on this factor. For example, if you want to produce a film and your main role is a writer/director, you dont need to spend as much time learning how to model objects in a 3D scene. You can instead use premade assets and learn how to integrate that into scenes in a cinematic way. Getting great at modelling will be a waste of time and you wont be able to develop the other skills you need.

If you're doing VFX, your model quality may also not matter as much. You'd be better off splitting your attention between things like compositing and colour correction because anything in your 3D scene will be taken out and will eventually exist in a video editor as a 2D video.

If you're doing concept art, you're likely trying to depict a scene or a moment and will have to paint over it. This means you can be super sloppy as long as you have the form and general vibe down, usually also lighting and some basic texture.

Fields like product visualisation or game development will require you to pay a lot of attention to modelling and texturing because the quality of the model is the most important and has the most technical constraints.

Step 2:

The next step is to identify what your strengths are as well as your preferences. This is an iterative process so this step helps identify aspects in step 1.

For example, I like the rendering phase of painting. I like painting details, textures, lighting, effects etc to digital artwork however I dislike and struggle with anatomy, perspective and other drawing fundamentals. I am however pretty okay with 3D software. I'm not great at modelling though. For my needs, I do not need to be. I am not making animated films or games which means my models do not need to be high quality and do not need to hold up to the constraints of those mediums. These factors helped me understand that I can combine what I can do with what I like. I can block out a scene in 3D, render it, and then paint over it. This workflow combines what I am good at with what I enjoy. Whats important to consider is that you're not limited to doing something in one way. You should combine your skills and use what you know to enhance or cover up what you dont. This is why its good to have an understanding of what you want to create.

Step 3: Assets and resources

This is less of a general step and more aligned with specific workflows that make use of 3D. Create an asset library of standard assets. Think of Bob Ross tutorials. They typically consist of the same elements in different arrangements. Trees, mountains, water, skies, clouds. By painting them over time, you become better at doing them and once you know how to construct it, it's less about creating individual features and more about the compositional elements, storytelling, capturing a specific feeling, etc. This is where you branch out and start making your own works.

3D works in a similar way but it has one advantage: anything you create once can be reused again. This is why I advise creating an asset library of assets you think will be used often. Look through artworks or scenes that you like and identify what elements are in them. Then follow tutorials on how to create them. Then try creating a scene, either from your mind or recreating an existing scene. What you'll realise is that you're able to spend far more time working on the piece as a whole and less time on the nitty-gritties of making elements. This allows you be far more productive and hone the more important skills such as composition, cinematography, art direction. The things that make or break a piece of media and separates good from bad. You can make something amazing out of bad or limited supplies but you cant make something amazing even with the best supplies if you dont know how to apply them.

The same applies to other workflows as well. Gathering brushes, websites, tools, LUTs, etc is the same. Hoard resources.

Step 4: Study references

This cannot be stated enough. Study. References. Break down elements and identify what makes them work. The mood, the features, the relationship between things. Try recreating it and then seeing why yours doesnt work in the same way.

• Behance is great for design (mostly). Things like motion design, product/industrial design, architecture, graphic design, UI/UX etc.
• Artstation is great for art, vfx, game design