It depends from person to person, but i think most of the artists start with a blockout to get the shapes and proportions right and after that going for a mid poly / high poly, this way you will have most of the low poly already modeled. Hope this helps.
i believe the best way to keep a consistent workflow is to build the inside model, then on top of it build the tiny parts as a plane, then extrude them out. (autogrid for 3ds max, or topogun is the best for such a task) you might need different workflow methods to completely build it, but good luck on your results
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