Coffee Appreciation

Just to add, I'd say start super basic, make a blob. Get used to the difference between pouring from high up allowing the milk to mix with the espresso and pouring low and almost laying the milk on top.

After that, move onto a heart, lay a blob, then at the end of the pour, raise the jug up and draw down through the centre of the blob.

Once you've got that down, move onto a tulip shape, lay a heart, then another on top of that etc.

Once you're onto rosettas, the main thing is to not force the jug from side to side. Let it swing freely like a pendulum, only putting enough energy into it to keep it swaying side to side.

Granted, that's all pouting technique. Even before that, make sure you can get nice smooth microfoam.

Start with the steam tip just below the surface of the milk, turn the steam on full, bring the tip to the surface until you get that shh-shh noise. How long you want it there depends on how much foam you're after (flat white? latte? cappuccino?), how much total milk you're using and how much steam pressure you have. For a rough guide, I normally go for about 2 seconds for a flat white (though my machine is a bit lacking in steam pressure).

After you've done that, focus on keeping the milk circulating nicely until it's at the correct temperature. Keep the steam tip at a tangent to the milk pitcher to allow the milk to circulate as smoothly as possible. Quite close to the edge of the pitcher but not too close to the bottom (otherwise you tend to get the milk sloshing around which leads to the surface dropping below the steam tip and you get a load of bubbles in your milk).

Personally I'm not a big fan of practicing on anything other than espresso and milk. Take you're time, don't rush it and one day suddenly it'll just click and you won't be able to figure out how you couldn't do it before.

Apologies for the wall of text, hope some of it is useful!