How do I describe my character?

Surfer Hair is another one

 

Characterized by gnarly waves?

 

The hockey player hairdo is so fitting, imo

I like the suggestions about mingling the description with emotions, as well.

Sometimes "lists" may work too, but maybe they're better with side characters? "His lazy smile and piercing blue eyes caught her attention."

Then there's mixing description with action. "He ran his hand through his greasy, dirty-blond hair."

 

What is interesting is I was going back to my small library of books where authors have strongly used this technique. The MC's characters are female written in the first person.
The author would only describe the first impression of a man by the action of where they are and what they are interacting with. When the MC physically interacts with the male character, that is when the details emerge. It does give the reader hints to how to describe the person.

Right now I am making a list of the male character's appearance and how to describe his facial and posture with different emotions. Might as well make a "character movement cheat sheet"

 

Sue Grafton takes a well-aimed shot at writers obsessed with jamming in a description, whether or not one is called for. In her latest novel, W is for Wasted, she writes:

This is her 23rd novel, and in all of them you will find only bits and pieces of a description of her main character, Kinsey Millhone. In fact, the most complete description of Kinsey is in the 21st novel, T is for Trespass, and that is a rather spiteful rundown from the perspective of her malevolent adversary.

The moral: Don't write what the character can perceive, only write what he or she would consciously notice. Stay in character!

 

That always gives me a vibe of, "Hah! I got a description in there without you noticing! Bwahaha!"

In other words, I notice and I find it distracting. I'd rather have a straightforward description, or a plot reason for the description:

"He ran his hand through his hair. It was greasy and dirty-blond, probably an effort to emulate the unkempt look of the thirtysomething TV star. All it made me think was that I really didn't want to shake his hand now."

 

Could that be because you're a writer and conscious of such "tactics"?

ETA:

Yup.
The example was of someone else (another pov) looking at this guy, doing the thing with his hair.

 

It's fun to take that photo and write his character/description from various viewpoints.

How would his mom see him? How would his devoted girlfriend see him? (Lovely, comforting smile.) How would his ex-girlfriend see him? (Cheesy, shit-eating grin.) How would his girlfriend who is thinking of breaking up with him see him? (He's cheating on me—I can tell from that silly smile on his face. That one that doesn't match his eyes at all. He wants me to think everything is normal. Well, it's not. I know it's not.) How would his best friend see him? His boss? Someone interviewing him for a job? A male person passing him on the street? A female person passing him on the street? Are these people on the street young, middle-aged, old, etc?

It's like what @Cogito said. You describe through the eyes of your character—what your character sees when they look at this person, how this person makes your character feel. It's not necessarily what is actually THERE, or what the rest of us might see. Beauty IS in the eye of the beholder!

 

No matter how well you think you describe someone, your reader will always play with the description in their head and end up with their own version. Micro detailing the looks will not help the story progress or your word count. Just keep it simple and describe the reactions and emotion of the character. We will do the rest.

Try describing Bradly cooper or some one else to a group of friends and see what they come up with. Do they all see the same guy or variations.

 

Unless it's meant as a joke, no one is going to care whether your character looks like Bradley Cooper or not. It sounds like you're more interested in informing the reader than engaging him/her with an interesting story.
These sort of pitfalls are common among new writers but can be easily overcome by Jack Bickham's Scene and Structure or by Swain.

 

Describe him without giving too much away, because many writers have said to me (and I find this true as well) that your description of the character is a guideline for the reader. The reader will formulate their own conception of the character. Rough things such as 'a grizzled, strong-ish jaw' (how I might describe Bradley Cooper's jaw) can be interpreted different ways, but still gets the message across