TLDR: I'm not very good at creating good materials, and I need tips
This question may have been covered in a different course or topic, but I was wondering how to make better materials. something nice to look at, something that feels real (but not necessarily photorealistic. I'm asking because, when I came to learn 3d modeling/animation I thought "Oh I just gotta learn how to move stuff around, and then I'll have a movie", yeah... I was wrong. Although my modeling and animation needs work, I can find resources to improve those areas. However, I feel like there aren't very many pointed resources on how to make better materials/textures.
BTW, I wasn't sure what sub category to put this under, so I just left in blender.
This is great: https://cgcookie.com/course/shader-forge (I hope it's not too advanced for you, but everything is really well explained in this course!)
Try to understand the principles that are taught there, don't focus too much on exact values and so. There have been quite a few changes to some of the nodes, but the principles stay the same.
If you've created all the materials in this course, you will be able to make better materials in any software, I'd say.
Blender's Shader Editor is extremely powerful, but not something you'll master by knowing a few tricks; it will take time, but (I think) it's fun and totally worth it!