Ha
Naw Dave....quality is a very subjective thing.
example in illustrative art materials and view : I started out as a child to my late 20's early 30's before I figured it out...
started with crayons, oil/ chalk pastels and fingerpaints...
I went to pencils,
then pencil crayons,
then markers and pens,
then insanely fine point 000 drafting pens for madly wrought execution,
then acrylic painting,
then watercolour,
then oil painting,
Alllll the while thinking the better material and more refined technique the ultimate.
Refinement is great ...
Technical ability is great...
Both should be honed...
But in the end it is the raw exuberance of emotion applied and perfection of natural line ...A few other artisans concur ...
It's the perfection of what a kid does...
So in the end for me I found (at times) the random unpredictability of watercolours fabulous ...and when I rediscovered oil pastels as more exacting than oils and more fun to boot...I got my hands back into them.
Hehe full circle.

I really enjoy technical ability ...drawing as perfect a circle as possible by hand is a good start.
having someone who can model for you...or many people is great too...drawing the human body ...hands, faces, eyes, mouths,
real good practice.

But there also comes a point in my opinion where the purpose becomes trying to execute a picture which can fool the eye...
hyper-realism so to speak. (in Canada we have scads of artists that do wildlife painting and illustration...they are perfect at what they do...but innately the viewer can tell the artist was not present to paint the scene....something seriously missing...so to speak) but at that point a camera does it better.

Personally I think exploring the emotion in the line, brush stroke, whatever....in such illustrative work... trumps the technical...surpasses it and elevates the work.

I think it a diff matter when approaching the field of sculpture and carving..there...it is a different set of principals at work.

In the end with 2d its about intent... with illustrative work...

You'll have more fun and find it far more fulfilling if you skip the middle and just head back to the crayons Dave