Art Basics - Drawing

I've been ruminating on the basics of art. What does art consist of?
Art is basically a communication from one person to others. The communication will create a feeling in the viewer. Art consists of ways to communicate and includes : writing, dance, architecture, drama, painting, music, sculpture, film plus probably a bunch of things I've missed.
Fine art is separated by the other arts (film, drama, applied, etc...) by being judged only on aesthetics. It includes painting, sculpture and architecture. I personally see architecture as split between aesthetics and function, but that's another matter anyhow.
Painting and sculpture have as their most basic ingredient, drawing. By drawing, I don't mean pencil and paper but rather the term "line". Line in art is the way in which things are laid out in relationship. There is "line" in everything save for some of the minimalist's one color canvas'. The way things are laid out via line can be practiced with pencils and paper. It can be done in 3D as a "model" or smaller version, for sculptors.
"Drawing", that is drawing on paper, is the one traditional way to educate painters and sculptors to make art. Drawing includes: perspective drawing, proportion, and plasticity. Put another way: Getting the drawing realistic, getting the sizes correct, getting things to look like they have dimension or mass.
It is possible to be an artist today and study none of this. Modern art made that the way it was done in the middle of last century. Some abstract art has little necessary skills in drawing. Some abstract art has a lot of need for drawing, it depends on the work. Still, I think it important to have drawing skills in ones quiver to pull out when needed. I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
In summation, draftsmanship or drawing skills are the first building block to gain in the climb up art mountain. More next time.