http://trance.nu/v3/article_show.php?id=138
thats a good tutorial to start with.
you want to take a sound and put it just almost kinda sorta just about out of tune, but still keep it thick, that way you will get a great thick sound that can get filtered really well.
lots of unison, lots of detune: you can use the filter envelope settings like that tutorial says to get a standard pad whoooosh.
But explore which parameters you use to get that whoooosh of a pad, expand by changing only one parameter at a time, try to get dramatic effects, that is the most efficient and productive way to approach learning synth programming. At least, it was for me.
hope that helps ya!