lol, 9 years late and only saw it because of the new comment.

a lot of people will get a sketchbook but because they suck they will not use it because they need a good idea, and will end up not drawing because of that and it acts as a bit of an endless cycle of needing to draw, not drawing. the advice to just draw, is just that just draw, stop asking how and just do it. what I recommend is a bit more structured, get some news print, its paper that has 0 archival value and will likely not survive muck longer than you dying, so there is no ‘I have to make a masterpiece’ mentality, and I tell people to draw realism mixed with contours and shadow mapping. that means that they draw from a photo or something, they have a direct way to compare and self critique, and by mapping shadows, they are working on values without pissing copious amounts of time polishing turds, by the time they out grow this they will have a better understanding on what to do next so self search.