Thank you! If the laptop screen has pressure sensitivity, and came with a stylus, you are golden. I use krita on desktop, with a graphic tablet. It’s a Huion, i don’t know the dollar price but it was cheap and it’s quite decent. You may have a lot of software choices like Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint etc but I’m on Linux so Krita is the best option for me.

As for the painting process, I just rely on observation and constant failing. If you put enough wrong brushstrokes, happy accidents begin to happen eventually. Learning a little bit about values, blocking and colour theories is a good starting point.