The Basic Human form tutorial is intended for new users to get them familiar with the tools and interface of Maya 6 and above. Begin by creating an image plane as a guide for modelling the basic shape and proportions in nurbs. Once the character is blocked out, switch the nurb geometry into polygons to start connecting all the loose parts together to form one piece of geometery.
This free Maya tutorial is available at Simply Maya. Register a free account, login and you can download video tutorials for Maya. Certainly helped get me started.
