it may too late to answer, this video (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXpXVAgRLV0 ) may can help you a lot.
SketchUp is used widely because it's cheap, easy, and quick, especially with plugins like Visualizer. I make some beautiful renderings with it, it's cool.
I prefer a XPPen Deco 03
drawing pad for graphics work, personally. Much more responsive and natural with a digital pen, and I actually use the roller wheel and 6 hotkeys with a lot of common tools set to each key and find it very useful. but it's down to personal preference.
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