Understanding the forms lying underneath the skin and how they relate to each other is what you should be stressing on.
Level 0:
I've imported my basemesh into Mudbox and turned on the X-Symmetry. I spent time on refining the forms and fixing a few proportions. The "Bulge" tool with a low strength helped with the form refinement, and the "Move" tool is the best for fixing minor proportion issues.
Once I'm completely satisfied with the overall form, it’s time to subdivide to Level 1.
Level 1:
The focus in this division was on getting into the forms developed in the previous level. I had enough polys to hint at the details of each of the individual forms. A lot of time was spent in this division and again I've used the Bulge Brush [along with the Smooth brush] to bring out the forms. Feel free to smooth out a form and refine it if you feel that it didn't turnout well. You can also use the Move tool with a low intensity to move some muscle definition.
At the end of it, I had all the muscles well defined to an extent possible at the current level, it’s time to make the forms crisper and more organic, so onto the next level.
Level 2:
All of a sudden I've got a LOT of polys to handle. Focus, was again on developing the forms. This time I got enough geometry to addin minor muscles, some subtle, major veins on the neck and the arms and in general more detail to each of the individual forms, and faint muscle striations connecting these forms. I've used the "Curves" in Mudbox to define each of the muscles separately and found it good for poppingout smooth curves that makeup each muscle [which I later smoothed up to the extent that they are very subtle]. I also found the "Pinch Brush" to be a great tool for making the forms crisper. Pinching around the forms really helps them standout better, and adds to the 'organic' feel. Once I'm happy, I divided to start on the actual detailing.
Level 3: At this stage,I had all the forms in place.No more changes to the major forms/proportions. I started with the detailing. At this level I've found the "layers" feature in Mudbox to be of immense help. I could put all the veins on one layer, crisp bony detail on another,and more minor muscle striations on another etc. And the best part is the ability to control the Transparency of these layers,I could choose how prominent I want the veins to be by playing with the slider.
Level 4:
I'm pretty much done with sculpting my model. This stage was mostly about removing the symmetry and adding more, very subtle details. I've disabled the X-Symmetry, and started using the Move tool to randomly move the forms [very subtle again; I went a division or two lower for more control]...and added in a few asymmetric details all over. The muscle striations were pinched upon to make them look "tighter" and I've added more detail on the face, and the back [the horny detail]. I've also added subtle details like the nipples, cuts on his nails and very minor details even at places that are hard to notice in the standard views.
Level 5: This is where the scaly reptilian skin details go. I've mostly used aplhas of reptile skin as Stencils for detailing. Again its great to be able to add the detail on separate layers. I've saved some tiling skin detail for later [in the texture]. Once done with the modeling, I've generated the NormalsMap and DispalcementMap from Mudbox [default settings].
It was time to start on the armour. I took screencaps of the Front and Side views,and painted over the armor design in photoshop for a clear picture.
Armor
The shoulder, leg and tail armor plates were extracted from the basemesh, and had a Shell Modifier slapped on for thickness. The torso and waist belts were lofted and the big spikes on the tail were just a bunch of bent cones [same for his horns, except I've added a twist modifier]
The Wraps
A lot of people asked me how I'd modeled the arm/thigh wraps, so I've decided to explain it in detail. I wish to thank my friend ReplicA who actually suggested this technique.
I used Polyboost for making his wraps. The "PolyDraw" tool allows us to draw polys on a surface, so it kinda helps for making bandages and stuff. If I had to do it the normal way,I'd use Poly-Poly method to make individual wraps and adjust them; but polyboost is SOO MUCH faster ! The individual wraps were later given a shell modifier and were adjusted in Mudbox [Move tool] to reduce intersections. I liked how you can lock/freeze in mudbox such that you can work on one wrap at a time without affecting the others. Make sure that the thickness and the "tightness" is exactly what you want before you detail them, or else you might endup with a "loose/ready to fall off" look for the wraps. [not many ppl have noticed that it’s the case with my Dinotaur's ;)]
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