[Dismas]

When I started I just played around in photoshop, experimenting to see what everything did. Then, I went through a magazine and tried out some of the tutorials in that (You can find great beginner tutorials at PsdTuts or Abduzeedo) and from there, got more familiar with the software. After that, I just tried to copy others works: I'd look at their works and try to recreate what I see. I'm still far from being good at graphic design, but I'm still improving.
Here's a great quote to work by:

Spoiler:

That is a very good quote. I've done graphics for a few years and I can definitely say it's true.