I tried to practise drawing but sketchbooks taught me what practice really meant

‘The scribbles weren’t all good, but they have become part of a whole,’ Josh Nicholas writes. Photograph: Nadir Kinani/The Guardian

One of the hardest things about learning anything is figuring out how to practise. Or even what it means to practise. Repetition is often key. But you don’t want something that sucks all the joy out.

I’ve been teaching myself to draw for a few years. I had improved a lot but for a long while was going nowhere. I’d tried lots of books and courses, and filled endless pages with boxes, parallel lines and figures.