"It seems that there is a bit more to it than I thought."

lol- boy is that a mouth full.

You want to make original characters- well- thats about step 163, and your at step one.

This is an expensive hobby- I'd suggest getting your feet wet slowly at first. The figure you drew most of us could make in a moderatly short time. But we've been learning and collecting items for years upon years.

If you can find a old copy of P4* or P5 get it- then get V2, V3, and V4.
Then practice practice practice. the learning curve differs from program to program-- But NONE of them are intutive!!! Best case scenerio, several months before you can tackle makeing that character.

You'll have to learn basic dial spinning, poseing, textureizing, lighting-- these and many many more skills are needed even BEFORE you get into modeling. And each and every one is a speciality in there own right. Some people are better then others at one but few are good at all.

Now that I depresed ya- lol- it's the best damn hobby in the world- allways so much to learn and do that you'll never get bored again- lol
And it's just so satisifying.