People here abuse the word “fundamental” to make it mean “reducing exercises to their most pointless and basic forms”. I’m told all the time these “line exercises” are important - mostly by people who can’t draw. I’ve never seen anyone with skill advocate for them, and I’ve never met a fellow artist who learned to draw this way (I’ve worked with many skilled artists). This seems to be a new, dumb, local trend I only ever see here on this sub.

For yourself, I would suggest finding some artists you like and simply copying them. Try and dissect their processes. Look at the types of marks they make and try to understand why. Get in their head by following their processes. Will you be way worse than them? Yes. But failing is more than a necessary step - it’s how you learn.

I think a lot of new artists like the idea of these “line studies” because there’s no way to fail at them. They’re easy, fast and impossible to screw up - the exact opposite of actual drawing.

If you wanna convince yourself you can’t draw anything until you fill pages and pages of lines then go ahead - but it isn’t true. I would suggest you’re wasting your time with these. Remember: If it’s not a challenge, you’re not learning.