Getting started with Textures.

Hi everyone. I understand this is a massive post but I want to make sure I have the right idea/direction and not delusional with my overall goals.

So I am looking to start making textures for modding purposes for my most beloved games as purely a hobby.

I also am fully aware of how much of a newb I am, and this is a hobby I am seriously wanting to start (without digressing into the reasons I can say I am fully committed) and have taken the time to read up on how to approach this mammoth task.

It seems while there are a dozen or so programs used for different things like, Maya, Painter, Mudbox, ZBrush, Photoshop etc. My expertise or lack of, ends with basic Photoshop usage which will not do. In terms of the programs I think Photoshop will be the best place to start as it is great for a lot of things and is able to do many things while the other programs seem to be aimed at doing specific things better.

I have got myself Photoshop (I love the subscription) and have signed up to Lynda.com as it’s a highly recommended site. Lynda has a series called one on one made by Deke McClelland who seems to be pretty bright when it comes to Photoshop. It starts off with beginner level slowly building you up introducing features and has plenty of exercises to work along with. These 3 (beginner, intermediate and advance) span 35 hours or so of video. I plan to work through this so I understand Photoshop better, by no means do I think it’s a definitive guide.

This is my base, I plan to spend a lot of time here as I have a lot to learn, I am not trying to master Photoshop in a short time or expect anything crazy. I want to tackle it this way so I know the program layout, how things work and most importantly the terminology and tools. Moving forward I have a base were working with more texture specific things I understand the terminology and even jumping to another program if needed should be less daunting.

While learning that I plan to read stuff on the way to work as I catch the train, I have already picked up art books on the concepts of detail, composition, color etc

Goals... I hope to have the base lessons done and to be starting to get a solid foundation within 6 months, I plan to game much less and want to work on this daily while making sure I don’t burn out of course. From there I will be much more knowledgeable and have a much better idea of what I need to learn next, I hope to start really jumping in and creating textures for my favorite games like Skyrim and Fallout while making sure I continue to push myself learning new techniques working with different textures/surfaces. I don't expect to be making textures that are insanely well done, but I want the basics down so I can build upon them and practice efficiently.

Is this a decent plan? Or am I delusional?