How important is it to learn basic shapes? Can you do well without having to bother drawing them?
it's important, you can do without them as some grand masters did (like impressionists), but it would be senseless to ditch them
at least get an understanding of what you're seeing
Not OP but its not so much shapes but the shading. I need to spend a good 4 months doing nothing but learning how to shade. After im done with this month of drawring shapes.
Id say it's pretty important.