I was about to post this in the graphics programming forum but I feel the beginner forum is a better fit, sorry if I judged incorrectly.
I am about halfway through c++ primer and I'm starting to get an itch to work on something more interesting after all those hundreds of pages of learning stuff that I already know how to do[in other languages]. I really want to get into graphics programming with c++, I mean my end goal is always to be a great game programmer/designer/developer and I always try to work on things that will get me closer to that goal, but for some reason graphics programming never really interested me until now so it's a bit behind my other skills.
I'm already a proficient programmer but I've always used different graphics libraries or simple/restricted api's(like swing) for graphics. I do have a fuzzy and basic theoretical understanding of how accelerated graphics rendering works but I could definitely benefit from an entry level 3d/graphics programming book. I don't really have much of a preference as far as opengl/directx/whatever, I just want to get close to the metal and learn as much practical/useful stuff as I can. I am planning on being a professional game programmer at some point in the future(idk how that is going to work out with the whole not being able to afford to live, let alone go to college, thing, but I have to have some kinda productive goal to work towards in my free time so I don't go crazy) and I think graphics programming/c++ will be valuable things to learn to help get me closer to that goal. So if there is any kind of industry standard or a particular api that is most frequently used by professionals I'd prefer to learn that, but I assume that the knowledge and experience I gain will by useful regardless of the specific technology that I use. I definitely want to learn to write my own shaders as I was just checking out some tech demos people posted on youtube and it really sparked my interest.
So what resources or books do you think would be most helpful for me? What technology should I learn(I'm leaning towards openGL but not very heavily)? Oh and also I will probably need to pick up some math, my highschool didn't go past geometry(alternative school) but I have completely learned up to and including pre calc, and a good amount of regular calculus too but not enough to be comparable to taking a calc 1 class. I like math a lot and I can learn it quickly when I need to, so don't recommend things based on what I already know in math because my plan is to learn math alongside graphics as needed, if there is a book that does both that'd be optimal. I do prefer books over other resources because it helps me stay focused and learn a lot about a single topic instead of jumping around the internet doing random tutorials.
Okay finally done, thanks for reading. I'm just looking for suggestions for learning resources(preferably books) as well as any other advice you want to offer based on the information in my post