An Extra Note:
When saving pictures do it in .PSD so that you can keep your layers for later usage.
When you decide to save as .JPG, do so at the highest quality, which is usually 12.

This is a culmination of my first 5 years of working with Photoshop [I'm a slow learner]. These are things that I picked up from various tutorials, put together for your enjoyment.

Some things are really basic, but I remember when I first got Photoshop after using MSPaint...so I decided to make this Newbie safe.

I'm aware of the fact that it's really friggin long. I tried to incorporate as many visuals as possible for easy learning.

I also make use of many corny jokes because I can't stay serious and I'm not funny.

All imagery, unless blatantly disclaimed, is [c] me.

:edit:
If this tutorial helps you in any way, spread the love.
You can fav it, or just link back to it when you post your first experiment.
I'd love to see what you did.

:Super edit:
I reworked the tutorial. Used a new picture and reworded things.
I'm a crazy person who seems to edit her work a lot, so I'm sorry for updating my tutorials millions of times

I found a really cool reference tutorial for Color Theory that goes into detail about light source, choosing colors, and how to shade [link]