Digital art is just a different outcome of a different medium. Knowledge of art itself can be applied to all mediums. Practice with a pencil and paper will help your digital art skills. The only thing that changes is your knowledge to apply your art skills to different mediums. Knowledge of lighting, shading, volume, anatomy, composition... they will all help your digital art. Even if you practice on paper.

Take classes if you can. Art classes. And invest a lot... and I mean a lot of time into it. You know those "naturally amazing gifted artists" people see and complain how easy they have it because they're naturally talented? Nope. They just spent way more time than others practicing. Talent only gives you sort of a boost in picking things up faster, but where people fall short is they're not willing to invest the time to get better. Drawing something once a week will not turn you into an amazing artist. Drawing every single day for an hour+ will.

Afterwards, get a tablet and a drawing program and practice. Read tutorials on how to use said programs... you know, brush settings and the like and learn your way around.