I finally decided to learn shaders. If you're curious about what shaders are and how they work, this article is for you. We'll start with the basics and build a simple blob from scratch.
Shaders are terrific fun. I highly recommend ShaderToy if you want to experiment with them; it makes the loop between changing the code and seeing the effect very tight. I also recommend the YouTube channel "Art of Code" for good examples, well-explained.