You would need to be very savage with your picks to "break" a lock so don't worry too much about that for now.
Lockpicking is in my opinion the best way possible to enter a location, no trace, no braking and you can lock it after your done.
You can buy for example this :
https://www.sparro...product_p/tux1.htm You have primarely 2 technique you can use that is called raking and single pinning. Raking is just to randomly make the pins jump to shear line with a pick that have one or severals spike on it that mimick a key.
On cheap locks you will simply open them by raking.
I would suggest to watch bosnian bill on youtube to know what you are doing and it will be faster to understand than me here.
https://www.youtube.com/user/bosnianbillYou can also buy transparent practice locks on amazon.
Practice, practice, practice. 90% in lockpicking is the feel of what you are doing so youll need to learn that.
But before going into lockpicking there is a bunch of other method you can use to bypass a door or window without damaging it.
Watch that, you will learn a lot:
https://youtu.be/4YYvBLAF4T8 Look for roof access, badly locked windows, high tolerance door lach etc. I'd say i need to lockpick a location 1 time on 10 really.
Do your entry, go drop any tools you have on you, then come back and explore.
(oh and always close/lock back after you)
Be safe, have fun.