Article request: setting up a blog theme

Since authors of Performancing are willing to help bloggers succeed, as quite a beginner in blogging for money I dare to propose a topic to be elaborated :)

Every time I am about to "start seriously" the very same moment blocks the process - I don't know how to set up the blog theme. I am a programmer myself and can set up and even tweak a bit Drupal, Wordpress or whatever of this kind. After some struggling I am even able to select a theme that more or less suites me.

The problem comes when I try to modify a theme to make it stand out. I am not a graphics designer and know only basics of CSS - creating a logo, changing colors, choosing fonts scares me to death and takes huge amount of time. I can tweak couple of CSS colors according to the automated recommendations, but typical theme contains about 20-60 color labels - too huge to be easy.

A tutorial on a graphics related part of the blog start would be of great help of me. Hopefully it could be similar to the great post by Waide Christie.

Am I the only one? I there anybody else struggling with the same issues? Comment here and hopefully Performancing authors will pay attention.

P.S.
My favourite would be the Drupal-oriented tutorial, but more people would probably like to hear about Worpress-oriented one