Tools and Tutorials?

[SolarParhelion]

I am on a -very- limited budget, and I'm not really looking into web and graphics design as a professional full-time career so I'm concentrating on teaching myself web coding skills in my free time.

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for any sorts of web development and graphics tools that are available out there for cheap or free that are relatively reliable, OR if anyone knows of any good deals on more well-known tools?

I'm learning to use Flash, but.. let's face it, its pretty darn expensive and my free trial is ticking away; for web graphics, I entirely depend on MS Paint and my cheap Wacom pen tablet.

 

[the_king_dollars]

Try Adobe Photoshop. I know it's expensive, but probably it is the best suitable for graphic and web design. You can try it out for about thirty days before it expires.

 

[Trixter]

Adobe Photoshop is the best but like King said its expensive. you could use The Gimp its free and arguably second best to Photoshop.
For 3D Use Blender also free but extremly powerfull

 

[Torch]

I would recommend Corel Draw (PHOTO-PAINT) over Photoshop. It's more powerful than Photoshop (at least outofthebox, since there aren't that much plugins for it as for Photoshop) and it's cheaper, but a bit harder to use. But as less expensive substitute for them, you could try Fireworks.
As for the free graphic tools, like it's been mentioned, The Gimp is best.
Since you also mentioned you would like to work on your coding skills, the only thing you would need is a syntax highlighter and the best one (and free) would be ConTEXT.