Characters- Base Mesh

So here are a few characters at the base mesh stage, at this point the base isn't final but close. first is Barengaria, you can see how the concept art became image planes and then base mesh. The characters are modeled in 'T poses' to make it easier to rig later. the detail and forms that you see in the concept sketches wont really start to come to life until I start sculpting the base meshes. All this talk of base mesh and sculpting is sexy isn't it?

Second Character is Awaryn. i am not going to model the hair but use Maya's dynamic hair simulation feature to bring that to life.

I am going back and forth on how to handle Barengaria's dress, i am either going to skin it to a rig and animate it by hand or use Maya's 'ncloth' and make it dynamic. Using ncloth will probably make for better, more fluid motion but if I use Ncloth then I have to model a proxy body underneath for it to react to. If I skin it I can simply add some influence obejects to simulate muscle/ body movement. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, what I am worried most about is the processing power needed to drive the cloth simulations.