Great job John! The face looks a little to reflective, but very good job for a first try (heck, even a 2n or 3rd try)

Do you want to animate the cartoon characters? If so I would recommend you try Animation Master.
www.hash.com
It is not expensive $199.00, and has great animation tools. Can be a little crash prone,(latest version is suppose to be much better). Other than that any of the suggestions already mention would be a good start.
Check out my class http://www.eclecticacademy.com/
Intro to 3D Modeling. For $20.00 you get Cinema 4D CE and the six week long class.