Hi Taj! I would recommend you to read Typography and layout Interactive handbook.

I've been designing a lot of stuff over 5 years when I found this treasure. The best introduction to typography and graphic design that I've ever read. It helped me understand what I do in a really novel way. The handbook structures your knowledge as a list of simple principles and templates. With those, you will be much more defined about your design decisions and be assertive on the review. It gave me a ton of confidence and my layouts got more robust. Also, it's packed with cool references and illustrations, It's a pleasure to walk through it even if you're a veteran. Worth every penny, check it out: Gorbunov's Typography & Layout

Thought the same, but turned out that it's really handy even in a one-man-band. For example, commenting on your commits make everything more clear and transparent even if you're doing it for yourself. Memory is a weird thing ;) Also, it embraces to think through your file management. And It's free for personal usage, so definitely recommend.

And whats wrong with internal tools? People still need to use them, and they also can be sexy ;)

Hey, Nusu! I'll try to distill it to a few points. Please be aware that Illustration is not my main professional trait ;)

– Do it everyday. A good way to plan it is to have some kind of a "daily doodle" project. A lot of my illustrator-friends leveled-up with this approach. Draw anything, just do it regularly. Speed is everything in a long run. At first, some complex pieces may seem overwhelming only because it takes a lot of time, not because you don't know what to or how to do it. So yeah, constantly practice.

– Embrace your own style. Explore a lot of art, try and copy everything that you like. Look at this like something less artistic but like something that is more relevant to your skill and domains that you're working in. Besides obvious identity, your style can reflect your own methods and tricks that you like to use. (for example some collaging or use of specific materials) This is a really long-standing goal, but if you'll complete it be sure that you'll be paid well.

Hang in there, mate.

Garage Band might be helpful