I posted this already in the 'character design' forum, but I get the sense that no one goes there much.  I'm mostly looking to get into character design, and possibly to eventually construct comics and sequential art stories, but I have no idea how or where to begin.

I recently downloaded Daz 3D for my computer, and a number of other models, packages and such that were offered for free for beginners, but I cannot make any head or tail of anything.  I've looked at a couple of tutorials and presentations, but they don't make much sense, either.  Mostly because when I load the files that are suggested, my interface doesn't look anything like the one in the tutorial.
What would you suggest is a good beginning point for an absolutely complete newbie to this program, and indeed the whole 3D art/rendering world?