Go and grab the .blend file here.

Similarly to creating the head I started by creating a base mesh out of many different simple objects, in this case spheres. This allowed me to transform and adjust body parts separately and easily to find proportions and shapes that fit the head. After I was happy with the result I merged the different objects together with the boolean modifier.

I decided to go for a pretty relaxed A-pose since this will give a more accurate resting pose for a semi-realistic character.