The first section will show how to create basic body parts and join them together and the second will show how to shape the basic body into a character. First thing to do is create a cube then double click on its icon in object manager and change all the segments to 2 except for Y make that 3. This will be the body's torso. Now lets put arm, leg and neck holes in it. Rotate the view a little then with Live selection tool select the four upper polygons on the side.
Lets stop for a minute too look at the live selection tool.
What this means is with the box unchecked it will select anything behind the circle and a checked box will only select items facing forward or visible. We will need to switch it on and off a lot during this tutorial so its worth checking every time you select the tool. Now we have the 4 upper polygons selected right click and subdivide, leave the box at default and click OK, we now have 16 polygons so select the four upper middle ones pictured below. This is where we want our arm hole so delete these. Don't worry about the other side we are going to use symmetry to avoid having to model both sides.