So you've weighed the pros and cons and have decided you want to try (or try again) installing a Linux distro.
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Any of the "Big Ones" are just fine. Roll a d4 and pick from Fedora, Ubuntu, Mint, or OpenSUSE if you want to erp as a sysadmin. (I'm currently running the KDE spin of Fedora)
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If you're still paralyzed by distro decisions, just go with Linux Mint.
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Making bootable USBs can be hard sometimes. If making a bootable USB stick is a bit above your pay grade, harass your local nerd into giving you one. They're easily found at your local college's CS dept (assuming you do have a local college or uni), and will usually do anything for a box of pizza. You can also buy DVDs and USBs pre-loaded with Linux from places like Shop Linux Online and Linux DVD Center. (I have not used either of these so godspeed)
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Terminology can come later. You really don't need to know filesystem structures or package formats or the difference between a kernel and userspace at this stage of your journey. Modern Linux distros are meant to dump you into a familiar environment that allow you to get to work right away and that's really all that should matter. If something breaks, lure nerds in with pizza.
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Take advantage of Live environments. So-called "live" environments when you boot a Linux USB stick are a great way to mess around with zero consequences. By all means, take advantage of breaking shit and figuring out which desktop environment you hate the least (which is prolly gonna come down to KDE or Gnome)
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Desktop environments are down to personal preference. I use a desktop called KDE Plasma because I can theme it to look like anything, even Vista or OSX. It also has the cutest dragon mascots ever (see above art). If you don't care about that, Gnome is fine and might even be preferable
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You don't have to quit Windows just yet. Most of the notable creative apps (like Blender, Krita, Inkscape, etc) have Windows versions, and if your Linux transition means dumping CSP, you can at least learn how to adapt in a familiar environment
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Plan a backup strategy. Get an external HDD that you can quickly dump your personal files onto because Linux distro upgrades tend to be way more reliable when you start clean and don't upgrade in-place. It really sucks ass when you're facing a major version upgrade and have four terabytes of personal life you can't easily move aside so you can wipe your drive (and really, this is all a good idea no matter what OS you run). And if you gotta use cloud storage, just use cloud storage. It's fine.
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Don't go all-in on a new install, copying your files back over and loading up every game in your Steam library. Install the basics--the stuff you need to get by day to day and maybe a game or two--and then wait for something to break. If nothing breaks after about a couple weeks to a month of use, you're prolly good to call it home.
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Nvidia drivers are at a crossroads. If you have an nvidia card, it would serve you better for the time being to avoid distros that are enforcing a transition to something called Wayland (Fedora is doing this, for example). Plenty of distros still make the old tried and true X11 the default. I'm sure someday nvidia won't be such a shitshow on Wayland.
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You are more than welcome to honeybadger this shit. If you can spare the time and want to dive into the absolute deep end of Linux like some kind of freak, I recommend Gentoo Linux. This is a significant time investment, but the install manual is comprehensive, and you'll walk out the other side of it with intimate knowledge of how Linux functions. There's even pre-built apps so you don't have to waste three days getting a usable system
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You might have noticed I didn't bring up Arch Linux.
