well as for the software a lot us us use a combination of Gimp and Inkscape both free to download, so you may start there
there are many tutorials, Steve himself has some and there is a very good series over at the scroll saw village
other than that I know that Ray (EIEIO) and Pete (JRPETEO) have some written versions, I am sure when they come on they will post them for you.
after that just try and ask
and dont forget " The only stupid question is the one that was never asked"
have fun
Dave