How did you ACTUALLY learn to draw?

Question here for anyone who would say they’ve improved, can draw, or are just happy with their own work! How did you actually do it? I’ve seen so many Youtube tutorials about basics and tips suggesting literally just practicing drawing circles and cubes all that as a beginner. I’m new to art, so maybe it’s just me, but it just seems kind of unrealistic in my opinion. I get understanding some fundamentals and perspectives but can’t you also just kinda learn as you go through experience? Basically, my question is how useful is it to actually go step by step and spend weeks or months practicing fundamentals compared to drawing what you want to draw? My goal is to hopefully make my own Webtoon someday, but I need to work on my art first. I just find the idea of practicing something not that interesting repeatedly to be boring, but if it’s something that will genuinely help me improve quicker as an artist compared to if I was just drawing what I wanted I wouldn’t mind pushing through.