What should you do to prepare?

Hi, I would like to know what I should do to prepare myself.
I am still in school and my art is not on par with the stuff I see on the web.
I know the people that show there art on the web (eg. this site)
are profetionals BUT thats what my art should look like if I want to work as a concept artist one day.
I live in South Africa and there is not a lot of art schools hear that I know of.

So how should I better myself in art now?

[MadSamoan]

What I would recommend is what you're probably going to hear alot.

Draw from life. Draw your friends, family, still lifes, and if you want to be a conceptual artist one day, draw alot of architecture. I would also try to get enrolled in some kind of figure drawing class even if you're still in high school. You'll need this if you're going to be a character artist. Don't worry about whether you need to show different media like watercolors, oil paints, etc.. Most schools want to see what level you're draftsmanship skills are and for that all you need is charcoal pencils and newsprint.

[Laeng]

My advice is:
1) Keep your eyes open and exercise. Take a close look at everything.

2) Don´t look at other peoples art and just copy. Try to understand why they did It like that, what´s their system, their idea?
Advanced artist know the essantials of quality. Without that you will reach an unbrakable wall, and It will take a lot of time for you to get through! So try to find out what´s the essential, the dividing line (Those are mostly small details which make the difference)

3) Set your goals! Define what you wanne do and find out what´s neccessairy to acchieve it.

4) Don´t start too detailed. Start rogh and fast. If you made a mistake you will see It very early, and you can go back without having lost to much time. Then add more detail

5) Change style and topic. Don´t focus on one thing. A lot of people limit themselves by always making the same.

6) Don´t be afraid of failure and mistakes. It will keep you from making decisions, and If you make no decisions, you make the wrong ones. Mistakes are important, cos you learn a lot from them.

7) Find your own style and be patient. There are a lot of things that make a good artist, and no one will ever be the best one in all of them.