Hello Chel3, I'm no pro by any means but I just recently watched a tutorial video from Autodesk and the instructor talks about the general "workflow" of character building.

Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWldS1Jzq0U&t=2m5s

Although it is not a step-by-step tutorial, the instructor addresses some of the concerns you have throughout the video. Hope this helps.