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[Vamps]

Chris, our training school teaches the following method:

Sorry, it's a long one. 

Get a sheet of 1-1.5mm CLEAN mild steel, cut it in to squares of about 4", make sure the clamp has a good connection to either a metal workbench or one of the bits of steel, overlap a couple of the squares, tack the overlap at both ends and then practice a short weld. You should be able to set the heat and wire speed so that you hear a constant crisp crackle and have a molten pool that you can move along with control. To start with, you may benefit from resting the side of your hand on the workbench so that you have control over the distance of the nozzle shroud from the workpiece. Check the penetration on the back of the square plate. When you get to the stage of decent penetration, you can practice butting the two pieces of steel together. Same principle, with a tack at both ends, but you won't have the overlap to protect you from any over-heat and you will soon learn about blow-holes and how to fill them.

DO NOT practice on irregular thickness steels or old rusty bits of steel. To get your confidence up and the best way to set the welder up is to use only clean thin mild steel. You mention not being able to see in detail when welding. I was old school and we used hand held shields until the reactor lens shields came in a few years back. Up to that point, you had to learn how to nod the helmet down once you'd got the shroud over the work-piece and were ready to weld if you wanted to use the helmet type mask, something us hand held users didn't immediately adapt to. 
Keep practicing, on thin clean mild steel, and you will get there.  With clean material and a decent clean clamping position, you will see how easy the welder is to set up. 
If you practice on any old scrap, especially rusty steel, even the best of us would end up with a lumpy mess. 

A little warning which may be obvious. Beware of the glare as even short flashes within eye-sight will give you arc-eye. It is not nice, as anyone who's had it will tell you. Don't watch or look in the direction of anybody else welding without a mask on, as this is probably one of the surest ways to get it. We used to weld the bangers up using our hand as a shield while tacking, another sure way to get arc-eye. You only get one pair of eyes, so look after them. 

Good luck. 

Sound advice............