Human Effigies can be found from Starting Gift, Static Locations (corpses), Merchants (All merchants have limited supply), and NPC's (both given and dropped when killed).
The term 'farm' usually implies an unlimited resource, as you pointed out. As of the latest patch, the Company of Champions covenant allows infinite respawn.
These are enemies that drop Effigies:
- Attack Dogs.
- Skeletons [not in Undead Purgatory]
- Turtle Knights.
- Sentinel (Sword/Shield) and Sentinel (Great Sword)
Always remember you can farm 6 effigies off of the Old Firekeepers and 3 alone off Housekeeper Milibeth in Things Betwixt.
After unlocking the Shrine of Winter, it is possible to farm Smooth and Silky Stones. While not directly farming Effigies, these have a high conversion rate to Effigies at Dyna & Tillo (Drop trade crow), although this is random.
There is however a way to restore humanity consistently.
In the Shrine of Amana, above the last bonfire, there is a Shrine with a praying Milfinito. After you have 'rescued' the two stray maidens (one outside the Demon of Song room, another behind the Embedded Door in Drangleic Castle) you can pray at this Shrine at any time to regain humanity. This is free of cost and can be done a limitless amount of times.
There is an easier way, although it seems so easy that it will be patched.
This requires the Ring of Life Protection, which can be found at the No Man's Wharf. This ring prevents loss of your Humanity and souls on death, but breaks afterwards. This ring can be repaired for 3000 at the blacksmith giving a constant 3000 Souls per Human transfer rate. A +1 Ring of Life Protection (Also prevents petrification) can be purchased from Vengarl in the Shaded Woods.
A big help is getting the ring of Binding: http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/ring-of-binding. This cuts down the effect of being hallowed, and dying multiple times.
I personally find the game slightly easier than Dark Souls, because of a lot better placed bonfires and the possibility to skip / bypass certain bosses. At least until your better geared.
Best Answer
Yes, I believe there are some barrels in No Man's Wharf that have an item in them, rolling is the best tactic for destroying objects such as barrels, vases and the like. A tip for vases, if you angle your camera downwards you can peek inside, this is useful if you want to check if they are filled with poison or worse, acid.