One of my first finished works 
Still a beginner, critique is welcome!
Hey! Nice first project 
Thinking about the next step:
I learned blender in Blender Internal, but now I have started working in Cycles render and it is SO much better and more realistic. I think you should try to start blender from more of a Cycles side rather than an Internal side, because they are rather different. Here is a tutorial on BG which is really great for starting Cycles: http://www.blenderguru.com/tutorials/introduction-to-cycles/. Helped me so much.
Try using sun lamps instead of point lamps, check out three-point lighting, use what’s called bump maps to give bumps based on the texture to the surface, and spend lots of time searching for tutorials and textures I will write a few more ideas later, but I have to go to bed now
Blender2003