Everyone has to start somewhere. I started with cats.
When I was 11, I managed to land myself on a roleplaying cat website through a friend. (Reserve your judgements until the end, please.) I loved the community so dearly I wanted to become a manager of the site, so I did everything I could to be worthy of promotions. This included drawing cats. About two years later I achieved head position on the website, with the member count at about 5000. I got bored. Besides that, I realized "cat website management" may not be something employers are looking for. Wait -- employers? What employers?
Where did "cat art" evolve into "art career"? Great question. I was becoming bored of cats, so naturally I became obsessed with cartoons and anime. After all, weren't humans supposed to be a challenge? However, in freshman year of highschool I got a harsh but truthful review of my strictly anime portfolio from a Digipen professor, jumpstarting me into the world of real life drawing. I loved it.