There are a few main ways I have developed my drawing skills over the years, and a few things that allowed me to show major improvement. Sketching regularly people, objects, and animals from life and from photos has yielded incremental improvement for me. One of the things that has been the most helpful to me has been to receive critiques from artists who are more skilled than I am. Particularly for drawing people, critiques have helped me learn to draw less idealized versions of people and refraining from censoring features that would not be considered beautiful. It is often tempting to draw different humans with a homogenous, flattering style but interesting drawings show the ways that people are distinct, and their stranger facial features can give a drawing character. Noses are something that I am continuing to work on and draw in a way that encapsulates the full character of a face. There are a lot of tutorials that show how to draw something, and I am skeptical of their impact without a component of receiving feedback for one's work.
Another thing that I think is helpful for people who are beginning life drawing - drawing from a usually nude human model - is that I found it easier to draw models who I did not know. This eliminates part of the temptation to make a "pretty" drawing of the person that censors things like wrinkles or belly holds or distinctive features. The drawing is not for the model, but for the artist to refine their drawing skills with a neutral, realistic perspective of their subject. Drawing people I know tends to bias the way I draw them, because it can be difficult to separate my own feelings about the person I am drawing from the subtleties of how I am drawing them. I have a tendency to draw cute drawings of people that I am fond of. In short, starting with models I did not know allowed me to see them as closely to an object I could, and until I became comfortable with drawing human proportions, it is something that I tried to stick with. In most cities, the figure drawing models tend to cycle through the same groups and most of the models that I draw nowadays I have spoken with at least a few times and are no longer strangers to me. Since I have reached a place of comfort with human proportions and life drawing circles are also a social activity, this is fine with me, but it is always refreshing to try drawing strangers, especially with different body types and features.
I am so grateful for my artistic friends. One of my favorite things to do whenever I visit a new city is to check out the art museums, and it is always so much fun when I can go with other people who appreciate visual arts and are very opinionated about it! Going to art museums is something I very much enjoy doing by myself, but there is definitely a 1+1=3 effect when going with other visually creative people. I love having artistic friends when I stop into an art store, and they understand how I can spend such delicate time ruminating over which new pencils to get, marveling over the different styles of illustrative markers, and brainstorming painted media. I think it essential for everyone to have friends who share the same deep hobbies and activities that they have a passion for. I adore the friends that I have who I can philosophize with and share opinions and perspectives on other aspects of life, who share many of the same values I do. From my friends who I have other wonderful things in common with, sometimes I get a blank stare when bringing up artworks that electrify me. Nothing can beat gushing about esoteric details in artistic exhibits and new creative works and being met with that synergistic (yes, I had to use a buzz word) excitement from another other visual artsy friend that blossoms into a brainstorm of even more ideas building on that first perspective.