I recommend trying out all of the tools. just have a look at what they do. very helpful with char unwrapping is the "Unfold UV" which came with maya7.0 I think. but there is also a plugin which you can download from highend3d I think. it´s called pelt UVs or something. It´s a mel script which is created after the peltmap unfolder from 3ds max. awesome tool. just draw a seam and unfold a whole head in a minute. (with some tweaking of course)