New at this...
 

Hi. I've been interested in making graphics for awhile now, and I've decided to give it a try. I have never made graphics before, and I would really appreciate some tips. Is there a particular program I should use at first? And how do you shade? Anything I need to know before I start?

Start out with a simple program, to shade there are two ways you can either Do it manually which I personally prefere, or use a program and do it.. however doing that usually makes it very sloppy.. another way is if you have adobe photoshop you can blur two shades of colors into each other for a nice smooth gradient from one color to the next. Always outline first, then color. use simple colors at first then add details

so it should go.. outline.. simple color fills.. then detail colors. and tada its done. if you want to get advanced... thats just trial and error and feeling your way around the programs.. but never let a filter do all the work.. and practice makes perfect.. so the more you make the better you will get.

regular paint is the best.
when you want to shade, just double click teh color then move the pointer up or down a little, keep doing this and you will have a well shaded shador

Alright, thanks you guys. Tomorrow I'll try shading/blending a ball to make it look 3d-ish. Then I'll post it and see whacha think.