Hi James
I know you've got into Blender but you might also wish to look at Sketch Up. It's free for none commercial use with Sketch Up Pro as the commercial use one.
It uses what they call push pull technology to create shapes. Watch some of the tutorials it might be of use
Although it is used alot for architecture it's also used for many other things. Check out the various styles you can apply to your renders as well.
http://sketchup.google.com/product/gsu.html
Alan
Ala
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