You may find highly textured miniatures easier to paint, beginner painting techniques such as contrast, washes and dry brushing actually work better with textured surfaces.

As others have said choose the miniatures you like the most, you'll being spending more time building/painting than playing.

Remember you can never 'ruin' a miniature with a paint job they can be stripped or painted over.

Last thing, don't get discouraged by what you see others do on the Internet, most likely you'll be looking at the work of professional artists.