Where to start?

I have been wanting to pick up a new hobby, I've always enjoyed drawing and I have been sitting here for hours looking at sculptures and papercraft done and I'm just amazed at the talent here. There are some very talented artists here! Sculpting is something I'd really like to try, I'm a realist and I know I'm not going to be making a Heath Ledger Joker bust anytime soon but I'd like to try some sculpts. But I'm not sure where to begin, from looking online it seems some people are using latex, some are using silicon, some are using clay, others are using resin and fiberglass....which one is the easiest for a beginner to work with? Is there a beginners kit with a handful of tools? Any help would be great, this isn't something I'm just rushing into tomorrow...going to be anther couple of weeks, because I have to finish my sandtrooper armor for Celebration VI .

Cart before the horse.

Nothing starts with the fiberglas or resin or latex. Not to say that you couldn't, but that isn't where a beginner should be looking.

Your master, that is to say the sculpture itself, will most likely be in a clay. There are numerous types of clay, each with its own properties that make it appropriate for a certain style or subject or process.

You can include other materials in this sculpture for their texture or shape or details that they contribute.

Once complete, you will probably want a cast, a copy. Clay is heavy and often impermanent. For a copy you will need a mold. How the mold is built up depends on numerous factors. How many casts you want, one or several. How big is the master? How much money have you got. How much detail is there? Can you sacrifice the master? What will you be making your copies of?

Once you've got the mold, then you come to the resins, fiberglass, and, albeit rarely, latex.

That was a loaded question. Books are a good place to start, as is you tube. An ideal introduction to this madness that is prop making for fun and [cough] profit is to follow another member's project from inception to completion. You will learn a lot.

Best of luck to you.