I will resume things here to the interesting combinations in the approach (as I am in no way a maya expert to write tutorials).
As a note: I don´t remember to have seen a tutorial using this combination of approachs, but surely they may exist in the web.

1. Began with a good utility for nurbs: a dense base mesh to sculpt with artisan tools and quickly obtain forms of human anatomy (don´t need to be detailed, just suggestions). I used an image plane with a photo ref. to keep control of things.