Hi,

I was talking to notKlaatu in the irc, and he was very helpful.
There is a friend who I introduced to Blender a couple of years ago,
and he is still working on figuring it out. NotKlaatu pointed me to http://blendernpr.org/ and http://cgcookie.com/

Any ideas or experiences would be welcome here.

I'll make just a comment you may already be aware of. I made some things (polyacetal and aluminum pieces) using FreeCad, having tried Blender before. Blender was too complicated for me and my engineering, not artistic, needs.
Best regards

Blender is a 3D graphics package ... and a very good one ... but it is not CAD. Nor is it Inkscape / Illustrator. Nor is it Photoshop.

"Graphic design" can mean a lot of different things. Lots of people are "doing it" in many different ways. Excellent open-source software exists in all of these areas by which you can learn a great deal about the technology ... whether or not, in any particular "shop," those same tools are used or not.

The best way long-term to integrate yourself into any business-of-interest is to "get a job tearing paper off a line-printer and shoving it through the right slot," as I did. To get inside, and once there to show yourself to be an excellent, trustworthy and diligent worker who doesn't screw (too many) things up. "Those who are faithful with little, will be faithful with much." And, I think, "those who do not go out of their way to draw attention to themselves, by doing so, do so."

It kind of depends on ones definition of "Graphic design"

i am currently using Blender 2.7 for
" small astronomical bodies " -- Asteroids and comets

some Real ones


Steins


Halley


or using other tools to make a DEM ( Digital Elevation Model ) and importing it into Blender like this DEM and Mesh for the comet ISON

Real comet but ARTISTIC mesh

Blender is a 3D modeler which could be likened to Maya in Windows&Mac-land. It can be used for modeling and animation.
You're really looking for an alternative to Adobe InDesign I think.

Googling it looks like you'd need a selection of packages for desktop publishing, layout, drawing, etc.

Play Bonny!