I started illustrating when I was 18. I went into studying art and had to make money. I kept doing it, but wasn't able to focus on it.
The advice they give you in the field is, if you're an artist get established as an artist first and then once you are established they are more apt to look at your work. Never team up with a writer; they like to team up the artist with a manuscript.
It wasn't a question of if I was doing it. I was doing it. They told my mother I had talent and she put me in art classes.