Hopefully the first two videos have sufficiently impressed you with the power of masks. If not, this video about editing masks with the brush tool absolutely will. By this point you've seen the power of masks, but haven't seen how they relate to a painting process. Once you begin adding nuance and painterly edges to your mask with the brush tool, you'll see what you've been missing all this time. It can be hard to explain in words, but all experienced digital painters will agree that masks bring unique power to the painting process.
Want to make controlled, dependable, selections in Photoshop? The Marquee and Lasso tools each have their strengths, but the Pen Tool combines the best of both worlds. This is the first half of a two-part introduction to the amazingly useful Pen Tool. For whatever reason, this is often overlooked by digital painters - avoiding it for the more accessible selection tools. I encourage you to give it a chance, because you might not want to go back to the lasso tool.
One of the most important aspects of digital painting is edge control, and selections allow you to 'paint inside the lines' effortlessly. What happens when you want to use a few different recurring selections in your illustration? "Save Selection" is one option, though this video offers a quicker alternative.