Creams are definitely easier to start with but building a lather with (good) soap isn't hard at all.
I don't have much experience with the more traditional soaps yet but the SRD & Mama Bear soaps both lather up easily and have a lot of glycerin in them so your face should feel really nice when you're done.
For the creams my faves are palmolive, al's (member alraz) bomb's and TOBS. Al's is the best cream I've tried bit it doesn't seem to like my hard water so it takes some work to get it right but it's worth it.