[EN] Proper tools?

Hey there! I want to learn some graphical design and a few other things. I'm a novice when it comes to this stuff, so I have a couple of questions. Don't worry, I won't ask for any of you to tutor me or anything like that.

A good way to learn?
Seeing as there are a lot of great artists on epvp, I'm interested in hearing how you got into this and how did you learn. Is it better to take classes or will a couple of books do?

External equipment?
This is rather important, as I want to learn this stuff and I obviously want to do it right, I'm ganna need a special piece of hardware, correct?
I was thinking about a "WACOM BAMBOO" pad, what's your opinion on this?

Anything else I should know?

Thank you for your time.

Well hello there.

At first it'd be nice to know in what kind of graphical art you are interested in. Editing, photo-editing, digital painting, signature making etc. There's a lot of different stuff.

I myself started here on e*pvp, with tutorials about making signatures and such, so there's a lot of free stuff in the WWW. If you want to go deeper into something you sure have to pay for professional content, but you'll get off lightly for now without buying anything.

A graphics tablet (wacom bamboo for example) is no need if you're just starting with it, except you want to learn digital painting, it's a must-have there.

I'm probably ganna study graphical design or animation (it all depends on where my study application passes). Generally, I'd like to do some 3D modelling, (3D) animations and all that fun stuff.
So this is a great example of what I want to learn:
Making an object mesh in a certain program (let's say it's a chair).
Making textures for the chair I've made.
Make a different object.

I'd prefer the tablet to the mouse, since I want to do this properly.

I guess Photoshop is a good place to start.

I would say, Photoshop is the tool for 2D. If you want to make 3D things which you explained then you have to use other tools (Cinema 4D, Maya, 3ds Max).

At first I watched YouTube Videos but then I chose some more professional ways to learn something new. There are a few great websites on the internet, so there you don´t need to buy something. In the last time I watched some training DVD´s of Video2Brain or GalileoPress, so maybe thats also a way to learn it.

And yeah, I think you only need a tablet if you want to do digital painting, because in my normal photoshop workflow right now the mouse has more advantages.

I won't jump to 3D right away, knowing something like photoshop would have it's own advantages in the long run.
The tablet doesn't cost an arm and a leg, so I think it's a useful item to have, I guess. The learning process is something difficult, books get outdated, and online tutorials are hard to pick, since some are good and some are a waste of time.

It´s your decision if you buy a tablet, of course it´s a great thing ;) I think online tutorials are great to get knowledge for free, but you´re right, it´s difficult to choose. I think this website is for beginners very good (choose "Basix" Section)

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

Here some tutorial searching machines:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

But, I think, the really important thing on tutorials is, that you can control the technique, so you can create pictures in this style - so maybe try the new techniques on other projects!

Thanks a lot. That's really helpful. I'm open to more suggestions, the more the better.