I am pretty much learning to paint in photoshop, if you see my gallery there is a jacksparrow i painted on it, tried painter once and was frustration frustration frustration some good tip for a newbie?
I think you should just use whatever you feel comfortable with. Painter is not that hard, you just have to find the right brushes that meet your needs. In the end its the artists that makes the difference, and not the application. I`ve seen artist painting amazing stuff with just one brush in photoshop, the crappiest one.