b-3000-ShadeEditor
It is possible to create almost, if not all, materials with the Blender Shader Editor. The biggest thing you must decide when you start Blender is how much you need to know and how much time you want to devote to making materials.
The biggest decision will probably be how realistic you want to make your naterials.
The Shader is used to create Materials by adding Nodes to creat the aterial.
It is possible to create many materials with just the BSDF node( Principled Shader). This is a good place to start.
Because my eyes are so bad I cannot really detect subtle differences in colors. I am not really interested in realism, but in how an object I create ‘looks’. Realism tends to look for soft, blended features. I am drawn to crisp, hard features. The good news for me is that crisp, hard features are usually much easier to create.
Creating Materials with Nodes – for objects
See HDRI for world background settings