well the school pen is based on traditional japanese manga pens used for inking
its like a fountain pen but for drawing instead of writing
and as for your mum hehe exactly, noone is good until they practise, you cant just pick up a pen draw something and instantly have mona lisa on your paper lolz
just keep drawing what you wanna draw like (you know, fave characters) and then when you've got that down, adapt it!