How do you visualize your characters?

[Leif GS Notae]

Since it's the modern age, and everyone has their tabs and computers connected and streaming, I'm curious to know the ways you go about visually "sketching" your character?

I know when I was a video game player, I would often use the character creation screens from games like The Elder Scrolls to get an idea as to how my current "obsession" would look like. I've heard some people using their WoW characters (and those they ran into) as good ways to get a clear look at a character before writing them.

With great mods out there for games like Oblivion (my poor compy can't handle the next game) and Skyrim; you can get a pretty good 3D character made and in a fantasy setting to see if they fit there.

Some use the Hero Generator (though I can't really use it too much); it is a simple way to get a visual, but there's something to be said about seeing your character in 3D.

I know some of the concept sketches from video games and movies that the companies release after they are finished with the project can spark something. Same with places like Deviant Art.

So, what do you use?

[Caged Maiden]

I'm old-school. I use pencil and paper if I really want a picture. Sometimes I clip things from magazines like a sword I think looks cool or a dress I like and I have a folder of compiled clippings I draw inspiration from when I draw.

[The Din]

I honestly have never even tried to visualize any of my main characters, let alone draw them. I like to leave character descriptions open, as each reader has their own interpretation, (exceptions being scars, missing body parts, and the occasional pair of breasts). Thus my own characters appearances remain somewhat of a mystery even to me, which I enjoy and have no designs on changing.

If I ever were to draw one, I'd probably use photoshop, possibly off a prerendered computer game character. I have been considering doing this for the cover, though would probably stick to silhouettes due to the above reasons.

[shangrila]

Generally, I use Deviant. There's tons of amazing artwork there and its not all that hard to find something specific you might be looking for.

I've never used the video game/3D way though. I'll have to give it a try.

[Shockley]

I have a folder of 'inspirational' images on my desktop that I base characters off, so it can be a little bizarre to describe it. Just for instance, Osric (my protag) looks like the statue of Rollo the Viking in Bayeux. Another character looks like how Woodhouse painted Circe. Etc.

[Ireth]

I've tried drawing my characters, but they never turn out quite like I imagine them in my head. :/ One of these days I might ask someone to draw one of my characters as a commission... it's deciding which one(s) I want art of most that's the trouble. ^^;

[Jabrosky]

I love to draw my characters and upload them onto DeviantArt, although I always end up revising their design multiple times due to my fickle muse.

[Ghost]

It's rare, but sometimes when I search Google images for something unrelated to writing a photo will pop up that makes me think, "Wow, you look exactly like one of my characters!" Like Shockley, I have a folder of saved images, but they're often a jumping off point rather than specific characters. Only my gods get special treatment.

For the most part, I have a hard time visualizing characters. I can see their clothing, their body types, and their hands. I can hear their voices really well. I get a sense of their personalities. That's it. I have a character whose personality I'm getting to know very well, and I still can't see him from the neck up.

I wonder if it says something about me that most of my characters are faceless. Two-thirds of people in my dreams have blurry faces or no faces at all.

I can't even draw stick figures well, so there's no way I could draw credible portraits of my characters.

[Penpilot]

I don't always have a clear image of my characters. To me they're like mental states that you put on like a costume, so they don't always see themselves. But as I write a character, sometimes they'll take the face of an actor or actors and their mannerisms, inside my head. Generally, I don't put too much into physical description other than to convey the broad strokes, because no matter how in detail a character is described, the reader will map their own vision over it.

[Jon_Chong]

I actually don't know how my characters would look like. Rather, I know how they feel like. Like this character has a motherly feel. Or this one is the stoic badass soldier type. I'll drop in a couple of descriptors to keep them from 'looking' the same - a scar, maybe a different weapon, height, hair, eyes - but most of the time I rely on generating a feel for the character and letting the reader decide for themselves how the feel translates to as a picture.