I am using Maya along with advanced skeleton. I have followed the suggested workflow to keep geometry in separate file, reference it to the rig file, and then publish the rig file to be used for animations. The problem I have is that reference between the geo and rig file is really brittle. Naturally you change material…
Good work.You can also try Daz 3D as a reference you can rotate around while you work. The program has excellent generic models you can learn from. It's also free. You can do part studies but I would practice doing whole figures in the beginning and try to nail the foundation before creating characters.