Pencil and paper is my go-to for the art side of it. Don't buy creative cloud till you're ready to go pro. Affinity Designer makes good substitutes for Illustrator and Photoshop.

Autodesk Sketch is free for mobile devices I think. I'd also ask @steemitadventure, depending if you want to get into digital painting.

Ok I'll visit your post and spam your comments lolz jk...