SO excited for you!! Man, i really want to get back into digital stuff! X3

Here are some of my personal favs, though I've only briefly experimented with them. I like lots of pictures to follow and thorough explanations of tools (i.e. "tuts for dummies") when I go through tutorials so hopefully these'll help a little if you're that way too C:

http://gold-seven.deviantart.com/ar.....oshop-33788920
She has a newer tutorial in the description as well but I haven't checked it out much yet. She goes through a lot in this one; texture, shading, blending modes etc.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1183089/
I LOVE her coloring method, so much texture! Working with dark tones and then bringing out lighter ones is easy and helps me get a "balanced" pic, usually I don't go dark enough when I start out with the lights.

http://psd.tutsplus.com/category/tutorials/
PSDTuts helped me out a lot last semester. It's not for freehand drawing techniques, but gives you a lot of options when using photoshop to make manipulations, cool effects, and (my fav) typographical renderings! Sometimes you have to do a bit of digging to get what you need, but there's always a handy search bar :V

Ah thanks much Risu!!! *love*

oh you're welcome! I hope they help you out in the future!! *huggles* :>