New Player looking for advice

Hi, I recently watched a series on YouTube called “Fantasy High” and am looking to get into DnD myself. I watched a couple videos on the basics of how the game works, but am still fuzzy on some aspects like character creation. Are there any (preferably free) resources that you would recommend to someone starting out, and if some degree of spending is necessary to play, what should I spend on? If you have any miscellaneous advice for beginners like myself, please share it. Also, on an unrelated note, if anyone is running an online game and is looking for another player, please feel free to dm me. Thank you very much.