Might I add that it's all about EXPERIENCE. When you read this, looking for "ill skillz" get your lazy ass away from your computer, and pick up your pen and paper. Its all about practice, through which you'll gain experience. What I tend to do is try as many styles as possible, so people have to stop at each page when they browse my sketchbook. Just try, sketch everywhere, in class, at work, in every spare minute. Then you'll learn, not by reading such fancy tips 'nd tricks.(Though for the more experienced writers out there, this thread is quite good)
Don't think about buying all those expensive shit just yet, try finding out all the possibilities with only one or two pens/pencils. Go on from there.