When you are doing graphics, you need to consult the Java library documentation more than ever. You also need to find out how to use the library facilities, either from books or from The Java Tutorial (an online book):
java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/ (the Java libraries)
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/index.html (the Java Tutorial)
The Java Tutorial contains a huge amount of useful material, but it is not a tutorial for beginners. It assumes that you are a strong Java programmer who wants to know more about the libraries. It concentrates on large example programs from which it can be difficult to extract the information you want.
Often, you need to search for what you want. If you look at the front page of the Java Tutorial, there is a search box somewhere near the title (not the one at the very top of the page which searches all sorts of other places).
In books and the Java Tutorial, there is so much material that it is difficult to know where to start, and it is easy to get confused. Many books, for example, discuss everything in terms of applets, whereas for a proper understanding, it is best to start with applications, after which applets fit into the story qute easily.
The purpose of this tutorial is not to describe all the details, which you can get from these other sources, but to give you a minimal framework from which to start.