I'm in the same position as you. And I've been trying to do this without much sucess. And then I found this book and it really has the very basics down pat:
After you finish that, you'll be able to put together great wireframes and layouts.
For the color part I'm reading a book on color theory. The very first thing I learnt in this book was that there is a reason that beginners cant work with color - because they cant "see" true color. This takes a while - google for "Color constancy"
These are the very basic steps that I wish someone had pointed me to ... everyhting else builds up from here.
http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-Robin-Willia...
After you finish that, you'll be able to put together great wireframes and layouts.
For the color part I'm reading a book on color theory. The very first thing I learnt in this book was that there is a reason that beginners cant work with color - because they cant "see" true color. This takes a while - google for "Color constancy"
These are the very basic steps that I wish someone had pointed me to ... everyhting else builds up from here.