Vidya development

I'm being serious, this isn't a troll thread or whatever.

Im interested in developing games using C++ and OpenGL. My question however is, where do I even start? In a cg artist, so rigging/animating low poly models and creating landscapes isn't an issue. Can I even learn all this without going through a college CS course? What are the things I need to know (optimization, vector math, etc)? Any recommended books?

>>2
Is it imperitive that I use libraries like Ogre orDarkGDK? I'm planning on using OpenGL ES so I can get it on consoles. Is there a way to do it with just straight GL ES and C++ (like how I'm assuming game companies do it)?

Forgive me if I say something stupid,  I don't know what I'm talking about.