Tools and Techniques
Pen tablets
Pen tablets are an important tool for any graphic designer. They allow you to draw in a more natural way and they also support things such as pen pressure and customizeable buttons unlike your typical mouse. If you want the most bang for you buck, I'd suggest the wacom intuos pro small. It has two customizeable buttons on the pen, and another four on the tablet aswell. Its average retail rice is around 100$, but you could get it for even less if you buy it while its on sale.