Appearance: What do you prefer to use?

[Aleirah Danvers]

Personally for me...the type of description I use for the appearance of my characters is based on their personalities...

[IDKwatmynameis]

Personally for me...the type of description I use for the appearance of my characters is based on their personalities...

^This.

I actually tend to draw my characters, or try to, at least. Sometimes I have the image in my head, but can't get it onto my paper. When that happens, I use a description.
But I use a cartoon like style, and when drawing cartoon characters, the big thing is to let the audience know what their personality is, just by their design. This sort of applies to my writing, too. I want people to figure out what my characters are like, just by the description.
Then again, a lot of times I like to avert expectations, so sometimes I break my own rule.

...I trailed off topic a little, didn't I? I'm sorry.

[The Australian]

For me, I either write a description or use a realistic photo. If I don't have the time to write up a detailed description, I'll use a realistic photo.

[TheSleepyKitty]

I don't mind if there is a picture, as long as there is a description. Usually I describe my character, but if I manage to find a picture that helps or supplement the appearance, I'll add it as well. I usually use anime/cartoon pictures.

As for other people - whatever works for them, although when I see well-known celebrities in, say, a fantasy RP, I just see the person, not the character.

For non-human characters, a picture definitely helps. ^^v

[Swanmarkedblade]

I always use a description. Maybe I will use Google Images for ideas sometimes, but I never actually use an image from there. This is especially true with regards to unusual equipment. I like using a very large 'palette' in terms of the colours I use in a description. And the way you phrase the words makes a difference, too. I tend to put weight in stone measurement (one stone = fourteen pounds), which gives a slightly rougher idea of what my character is like in terms of weight.


So it's a description for me.

[Wayward]

Lately, I've been getting into providing both. So far, the way I've been doing it has been offering a reference image (providing both an anime version of the character and one of what they'd be in real life, if it's possible to find one). Then I'll give a description of them, since I find it important to give the extra details on them.

[MissDred]

Description. But it's usually a pretty basic one that doesn't go beyond briefly mentioning that my character has, for example, red hair and blue eyes. And this is usually dropped randomly throughout unless I come up with a really good reason for describing my character in in-depth detail. Usually I'm happy to give a general impression of what my character looks like and let my fellow roleplayers fill in the blanks.

[xbriannova]

I used both. Sometimes I would use description first, and if I ever found a picture somehow that seems to fit the character, I'll just post it up and say, hey, my character pretty much looks like this!

Then, sometimes I would put up a picture first, then post descriptions after the pictures to further define the character's appearance. This is so that I could cover the holes left by the picture; as in, things that are not covered by the picture I will describe. For example, if I gave a facepic, I'll have to describe what the character wears and stuff like that. Sometimes, I'll even put up a picture, only to describe that the character looks slightly different from what was portrayed on the picture. Example: This is how Isadora looks like, except that she's paler from the constant lack of sleep, with heavier eyebags... She wears a brown fur jacket that isn't shown over the pink dress in the picture...

Yep...

[Synthorian]

Usually I use realistic photos coupled with a worded description. But recently I have decided to draw my characters for RP's. That way I can actually imagine my character's appearance and put them on paper. I couple those drawings with a worded description too.