Work for the sake of it

Recently felt that I was not getting any real work done. I go through page after page of paper, practicing how to make a line, trying to duplicate what I see in other works or in real life, and then trying again. I talked to a friend who studied oriental painting. She said that, for the first year, she did nothing but grind ink and coloured pigments, and was allowed to only make single brushstrokes on a page. A whole YEAR of single strokes, over and over. I am beginning to understand why.
Anyway, practice is not really work, and I was starting to get the feeling that my peers were wondering when I was going to produce any more than crappy chinese letters and shaky sketches of trees. So I did the sketch above to simply have something to look at in the studio. I was told that it was timid. Supposedly the one below is better, but I still can't entirely figure out why.

Basically, everyday is like trying to figure out a puzzle for which I have not been given the guiding rules - its like being given a five-star Sudoku to solve without being told that you cannot use each number more than once in a row.

I am starting to make some good connections. I have met this Chinese guy named Ryang Sung Kim(김량성), or Curtis, as he intruduces himself to English native speakers. He is fluent in Korean (his parents are of Korean descent), and comfortable in English and Japanese. He is studying Western painting at Hong ik University, and has good ties to the Chinese contemporary art scene. He is currently curating an exhibition of 50 asian artists for a show in Beijing. He is also going to introduce me to a sculpture professor at the university the week. His art is similar to my tighter work, and I hope to do some work with him, or to see how we can help each other out in the future. I am also setting up appointments with various other professors at the university for this week and next. Connections, connections, connections.