Greetings.
My final goal in learning Blender, is to be able to combine it with the (also) still to learn Concept Art.
The Concept Art courses in CGCookie use Photoshop.
Is there any possibility we can have (cheaper) access to Photoshop (Student) version via CGCookie?
I used Sketchbook a time ago, but I suppose Photoshop is still the best platform for Concept Art.
Try Krita. for conept art it is just as good, if not better than PS and free and open source like Blender. The techniques you learn here are directly transferable to Krita, I think.
I second Krita as a free alternative to Photoshop. GIMP is another free alternative.
Small heads up: The way Krita uses masks is different than Photoshop's way of using masks. It may have changed since I last used it, but it was a point of frustration for me.