Hey there,
While most modeling software out there can do the same jobs each one has its own strengths and weaknesses and is no perfect software by any means.
Workflow is usually a very open question and depends largely on 3 factors. Cost, Preference and Goal.
Honestly from working in the industry for quite some time now. I have to say sticking to the main software that is used in industry which currently is Maya, Zbrush and Photoshop. That way if you do end up wanting to take this further and get a job. It will be a lot easier to do so than if you learned blender. There is a free version of Maya LT you can download on their site or you can acquire it “other” ways
Regarding learning these software’s and pipeline route (they do vary from artist to artist) and start watching some digital tutor tutorials such as:
http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/457-Creating-Game-Characters-with-Maya-and-ZBrush
http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/579-Unity-Mobile-Game-Development-Character-and-Weapon-Modeling
http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/590-Unity-Mobile-Game-Development-Environment-Modeling
My usual Modeling pipeline is:
Concept > Lowpoly modeling (blocking) > Zbrush (highpoly details) > Retopo in maya to create nice lineflow > Bake using zbrush or xnormal > then over to photoshop to texture > Export all of those out to unreal
If you need any help gives me a poke on skype and can help u out further.
Skype:
Panda_3drt
Cheers
Colin