This has been said before and I used to think like you - brushes/tablets/etc. can save the day. They cannot. It is a matter of skill and these extras can only ease your work at later levels. Just flow with whatever you get, a half-decent one should do the job. I started with a small bamboo that barely had any screen size and am currently using a small intuos (not pro or anything). My bro bought a cintiq but it turned out it's not a huge difference, he even found it a bit annoying. I mean, it didn't make his art better, he did. Of course, it eases the work, but only by a little. Don't spend a ton of bucks on a tablet, spend a ton of time on skills building.
(also, brushes don't matter. I used to use other types of brushes, now I mainly stick to round and soft - they are much faster to click and more convenient)