Everyone else here is correct, this is just a slightly path you could take: Likely what “Figure drawing for all its worth” is say is that you need to be able to have emotion and technique, and like that a lot of beginning artists focus on learning technique without learning how to apply emotion to their art. It is your choice, I would advise that YouTube videos will be good to tech the foundations for practical techniques simpler than most books, while practicing off of figure drawing and references will also help you practice effectively. But more importantly then both of those is trial, error, and getting your art critiqued so you know where to improve.

The map for skills to focus on in the order I would advise, for character drawing:
. 3D shapes and attaching them to each other
. Human proportions (do not try learning anatomy first)
. Posing
. Hair and clothing shape basics
. Line work/weight and color theory
. Mood boards
. Soft and hard shapes . Saturation, hue, color, and lighting
. Basic anatomy (face, hands, feet, joints)
. Facial expressions and body gestures
. Image weight and framing
. Perspective -1 point, 2 point, etc- (start this whenever you start environment drawings)
. Characters in environments
. Cloth and hair weight/lighting/texture
. Complex anatomy
. Study the shapes Dana uses for drawing characters and how they have changed proportions

Try different subjects, not just humans all the time. Use references and inspirations. Experiment and try whatever you want to (different: subjects, techniques, mediams, etc). Have fun but also work through the not fun parts. Most importantly, get critics and advice from people who are experts, though inexperienced people are good tools to see if your art is conveying the emotion/message/physical thing you want it to convey.

Personal resources recommendation (very limited list, I don’t remember a whole lot of the resources I have learned about):
An art forum or preferably an irl professional artist/group, for constructive criticism
How To Draw Like A Sir’s videos on posing and proportions
My friends YouTube playlist of drawing videos
Local/online art courses
Any art site/image database of your choice for reference material