When you mean by "imitate you favourite artists" what does that entail exactly? Like tracing their artwork? Drawing it free hand? Trying to copy a picture free hand and the same picture over and over until it looks like it exactly? Because there are styles I wish I could imitate but I have no idea where to start.

Imitate. Just do what they do or you think they do. Study/Copy/Freehand/Sketch/Paint etc. Try and reverse engineer their style and see how it works. Even just absorb small quirks from their style and integrate it into your own.

Like how a baby copies the words from it’s parents mouths, it then goes on to create its own sentences. Same way I got inspired by Full Metal Alchemist and Azumanga. You just amalgamate what you learn from around you and make something different. You innovate.

Go to whatever extent you want, but imitation is the key to building better communication, because you’re learning to create something appealing and familiar to communicate to other people with.