You should see him do more than a walk... his deformation is terrible lol.
I was really lazy when i rigged the guy... I honestly don't think I'll ever finish this one. :P
And I started learning modeling by myself. off the internet. Check out the cgsociety forums. a lot of useful information there.
I take a modeling course in college now though. But yeah, the internet is a good place to start.
here are my two favorite sites:
3D Total - The cg artists home page
Welcome to The Computer Graphics Society
let me know if you have any questions. Always glad to help out a fellow artist.