I was just curious but when reading a book. Would you rather have pictures(drawings) of the characters through out the book, so you could see how the author sees the characters . Or would you rather just have the author describe the character in the story itself and leave the actual image of the character to your own imagination. Or would you want both, the description in words and the actual drawing of the character from the author's view.

This question is for any book type; action, romance, adventure etc.

I'd rather the author describe the characters.
Sometimes seeing a picture of a character ruins the image I have in my head.

I'd rather have them describe it, as opposed to seeing it exactly as they see it. Everyone has a different idea of what's appealing, by giving a loose description of features and stating or implying that a character is pretty, gorgeous, whatever, the character will be just as pleasing to the mind of the reader as it is to the writer. This also goes for something that's ugly or creepy- what's creepy to me may not be creepy to you . . . I can go ahead and detail something that I find skin-crawling, and then emphasize how I- or the character perceiving whatever it is- feel when I'm looking at or am around said thing and it would have a greater effect on you since it's your own imagination that would fill in the blanks, rather than me showing you a picture and saying 'this is what I find creepy' and you look at it and go 'um . . . right, I've seen creepier teddy bears'.

To be absolutely honest, I don't put much into imagining the physical characters. Hair color, build and such are important to read, but characters for me are more about impressions. They're the embodiment of their emotions and their actions.

Illustrations would give them more of a physical presence in my mind, but I wouldn't want multiple pictures. I want to imagine the scenes they're in. I think that's where book covers come in. You get a glimpse of the characters. It sets the scene and preps your imagination for what it's in for. It can do the rest.

ladybattousai wrote:
To be absolutely honest, I don't put much into imagining the physical characters. Hair color, build and such are important to read, but characters for me are more about impressions. They're the embodiment of their emotions and their actions.


That's how I feel too. I was curious about it because, for the story I am working on, I was thinking about drawing the characters and some scenes from the story. So I wanted to know how others would feel if an author did this for the story they were reading.


Thank you to everyone who replied!

I received a lot of positive feedback for the picture I did for 7FFT. Readers enjoyed seeing what I imagined the OCs as. Perhaps you might consider doing the same. Do one picture that captures a scene or showcases the mood of the story. Like a movie poster or a book cover.

Either, or, depends on the context and the story. Although if the descriptions are good imagination works great, if not than its harder to get a good grip of interpretation on the characters. Art or not to art, either or don't think it matters as much, provided the author already has a good idea of how they want the characters to be presented to the reader(s). Art of said characters just puts the icing on the proverbial cake really.

I like pictures sometimes to see how other people picture characters, but usually I'll get a different picture in my head when reading anyway. Maybe my brain is stubborn.

Although I agree with LadyBattousai - that the characters are the embodiment of their emotions and action - I appreciate when an author describes their characters. Of course I impose my ownopinions of what they look like, based on THEIR interpretation. The cover illustrations, are granted, sometimes rather irritating, but in the end they dont impart anything on my own image of the authors description of the characters.

I watched a program on cover models for books. (It had that Fabio guy in it.) Anyways, the authors dont always have a say in who the model for the art is.

As a reader of fanfiction, I ALWAYS like to see the artists vision in artwork (either their own, or commisioned) If the images don't mesh with my own, its not a turn off to the story or anything. Likewise, its nice to see what other readers "see" when they post art to another persons story.

I'd draw your pictures, if I were you!

I would rather just use my own imagination! I think it makes the reading process more exciting But sometimes I would also like to see the way the other sees the character.

Well, if it's a question because you want to draw your characters, or scenes from your story, then by all means, draw them. It can sometimes help you to communicate better with your characters.

By all means, hun- draw for your story if it's in your heart.