Newbie help

Hi All,

I am a student of Computer Science in India and i would like to be an Graphics/Animation Programmer. Since we do not have any specialised degree for this field i would like information on some of the following doubts.
Our coursework included C and now C++ and have a sound base in Math - Matrix , Fourier Transformation, Calculus,… but do we need to have some art background too ? I manage to draw a little but am not a very good artist especially bad with 3D and Human lithographs.
Also i would like to have information on programming in GNU/Linux platform using Open GL. I have RHv8 and i want to learn programming in Open Source platform. So it will be nice if anyone could give information on programming / software tools available in RedHatv8.0 and whether Emacs can be used as and editor for programming ?
Does RH8 come with all the OpenGL tools and how can we use it ?
Also what are the online books/tutorial available for free download for beginners ?

Thanks for your time !
-Vid

This site offers tutors and document downloads.

nehe.gamedev.net though his focus is on windows platform, he does have cross platform examples of many of his tutors at the bottom of the tutor page.

I have a small collection of openGL examples on my website that use glut a cross platform library. And I have tested them under RH 8.0 and 9.0.
www.angelfire.com/linux/nexusone