If im not a few days too slow to offer input, i'd like to offer some.
EQUIPMENT
For anybody who is serious about digital illustration a drawing tablet is mandatory (intuos2 or 3 are the popular choices). There are some psychos out there who draw and paint with a mouse, and even freakier people who do that and manage to produce absolutely amazing results like Skan Srisuwan cover artist of ImagineFX's 5th issue, however in reality, that kind of accomplishment with a mouse is a very rare talent, its exactly like trying to to draw and paint with a bar of soap.
- The norm for painting programs are Corel Painter or Adobe Photoshop. I would advise against learning both corel and photoshop. When you are a beginner you tend to have little idea how artists manage to pull off all their sweet effects in their art so its best to stick with one program to learn how things get done before attempting to try learn things all over again in another program because the methods are usually different, even if only slightly. Yes these programs are inherently similar, but they really are different in so many ways. If you get a chance to try both, you should be able to make up your mind pretty quickly which of the two programs you would prefer to work in for the time being.
SKILLS
When it comes to drawing traditionally and drawing digitally (with a drawing tablet) the principles are inherently the same. If you can do one, you will be able to do the other without the need for external instruction.
- If you want to learn how to draw traditionally there is a world of material out there to help get you started but I believe you're primarily concerned with wanting to start drawing digitally.
- Im not a fan of books that just showcase flashy bits of art that other people produce because that is next to useless when you want to try to learn anything. Books like that just serve to provide motivation, inspiration and immersion in creating equivalent works of your own. So the books i'm recommending here are basically textbooks, not visual porn.
- Okay, if youve never used a tablet before, there is a good and solid introductory book by Cher Threinen Pendarvis, called:
"The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book: Creative Techniques in Digital Painting"
- It sells for around 20-50$ depending on where you live in the world. I own a copy, its very useful for learning the basics of diving into digital drawing and painting for the first time, right from opening up your intuos graphics tablet for the first time and plugging it in, to learning about brush strokes to creating simple and more complex works of art through an array of various exercises.
- The exercises she provides may or may not seem interesting to you, but you have to understand that shes trying to teach you a set of skills, not trying to get you interested in the subject matter of her art.
- The book alternates between explanations for both Photoshop and Corel Painter.
- Cher threinen presents a basic elementary understanding of tablets, painting programs and drawing, I now recommend to you another introductory to intermediate level book that focuses a lot more on digital painting. Its by Don Seegmiller.
"Digital Character Painting Using Photoshop CS3/CS2"
- This book sells for about 30-85$ depending again on where you live, Amazon is selling it pretty cheap right now for only 30$ and believe me its an -excellent- book filled with a LOT of useful stuff. For the most part it covers the fundamentals of Character Design and basic skills such as learning about value, edges, color, texturing, blending and lighting, before then moving on to teach in-depth techniques with comprehensive step by step tutorials on painting specific things such as eyes, face, figures, clothing, hair, and assorted other things.
Aside from what you can learn in a textbook or two like those, amazing resources such as ImagineFX! 
will end up being the only things you need.
Generally, all a person really needs to get themselves started in the world of digital art is to first see how other people do it, that way youll get an idea on how to approach digital art. However, at the end of the day, you WILL come to understand that there is only so much you can learn from another artist and from books, the only real way you will end up learning and becoming a unique and accomplished artist in your own right is through your own personal effort and experimentation. Learning how to paint your way, not somebody elses way.
You'll probably be making a lot of crap before you''ll end up making good progress depending on your natural skillsets, the thing is to stay committed to getting better and above all make sure you're enjoying it. Who was it that said, "its not about the end result but the journey of creation we artists take in getting there"... painting is really satisfying stuff.
Hope that helps! 
PS: Other great books you may want to check out, however most if not all of these are about applying skills to particular genres, i.e., Fantasy. However the skilles learned are surely readily transferrable.
- Vanishing Point by Jason Cheeseman-Meyer
- The Fantasy Illustrators Technique Book by Gary A. Lippincott
- Anatomy for Fantasy Artists by Glen Fabry
- Fantasy Workshop: A Practical Guide by Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell
- Digital Fantasy Painting Workshop by Martin Mckenna
- Digital Horror Painting Workshop by Martin Mckenna
- Hell Beasts : How to Draw Grotesque Fantasy Creatures by Jim Pavelec
- Drawing and Painting Fantasy Lanscapes and Cityscapes by Rob Alexander and Martin McKenna
- Fantasy Art Workshop by John Howe
- Drawing and Painting the Undead by Keith Thompson
- Drawing & painting Fantasy Beasts by Kev Walker
- Drawing and Painting Fantasy Figures by Finlay Cowan
- Dreamscapes: Creating Magical Angel, Faery & Mermaid Worlds In Watercolor by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law (nothing digital but its beautifully illustrated and contains lots inspiration and lots of general drawing techniques that can be applied to digital work.)
- Fantasy Artists Figure Drawing Bible by Matt Dixon
- Draw Fantasy Figures by Gary Spencer Millidge and James Mckay
- Wreak Havoc: Create Fantasy Warriors and Weapons
- D'Artiste Digital Painting Masterclasses Volumes I and II
- Corel Painter: The Complete Guide to Digital Painting
Thats about all I can think of off the top of my head...
