Before starting with the actual organization, it's a good idea to prepare a material creation screen to be saved in your Blender preferences.
It is possible, in fact, to prepare a basic scene setup including the elements and the settings we need to do the job in the best way.
In any case, just take this paragraph with a pinch of salt; that is, more as a suggestion or as a starting point that you can eventually modify to better agree with your needs.
Start Blender and in the upper menu (Engine to use for rendering button) switch to Cycles Render.
Split the 3D view into two horizontal rows: move the mouse cursor onto the edge of the window; the cursor changes to a double arrow icon, right-click, and from the context menu select Split Area.
Change the upper window into a Node Editor by selecting the item from the Editor type button in the left-hand corner of the bottom bar.
Select the default cube in the scene and press Tab...