For both languages, learning the essentials is key. There are about 10 simple non-composite brush strokes (lines) and about 20+ combination strokes that get used due to the patterns and directionality that character glyphs are written in. There are about 50 to 240 or more radicals (Chinese characters) depending on what system you use, and several thousand general use characters (between 2000 and 5000 for most general purposes, and 10000 or so for more collegiate levels).

All this being said, do not be so intimidated because many of these categories can apply to basically the same glyph. For example, a singular horizontal “eased/resting” line /yī/ (一) is also a stroke, a radical, and a character in and of itself. The same can be said of the vertical “standing” line /shù, gǔn, yi/ (丨) among others. Most characters are combinations of strokes, which in term create radicals perhaps comparable to word segments in languages like English, and these radicals are then arranged spatially to give a character and its meaning.

I tend to think about each character being segmented, which can be explained with Chinese character description languages and seen with character composition glyphs (Ideographic Description Characters). I and perhaps some calligraphers think of each character being like a graph having invisible axes, with a focus on balance as well as reading and writing direction. I tend to think of it as seeing each character has its center. Radicals also generally appear to occupy something around a quadrant or two at most in many cases, and with this in mind, characters seem to tend towards being written in a clockwise pattern from top to bottom. Much of this is a matter of Stroke Order and [character] composition.

I drew the first two pictures and added to an existing image in the last picture (it uses a Creative Commons license which I give credit for in a link below). I added about 10 or so strokes to the image to put the number of strokes around 50.

Ultimately, most native users and a number of non-native users start with the basics. Learning strokes and radicals is important, so with a few dozen most basic components that comprise the essential radicals, most known and used characters can be gradually attained in your repertoire.