Well Karma looks like you have a task ahead of you LOL. I would go with a tut David suggested.......they are pretty handy and you can learn a bit from little if you get my drift.

I find (yes I draw too) that hand drawn characters are harder than they look. With the standard human/animal at least you can get orthographic views of said beasties (online) and create them that way. I find its really the 'depth' of the character when you only have the say, front on view to model with. Im a noob too so getting the 'volume' and shape of the character can be tricky.

Good luck though mate and hope to see some of your work up here.

cheers bullet