The Word Cloud

Or would it be more effective to just give the generals and let the readers own imagination take over? My style of writing tends to be more visually descriptive but I don't want to put my complex, ever-changing characters into a little box of limitations.

Any opinions on what works best for introducing readers to your people?

I would let what they look like leak out in the course of what they do, and by what other characters think/say about them. But only what comes naturally: For example, someone's height might not be relevant till they can (or can't) reach something off a high shelf, or have sex with someone of a radically different height. That someone' s beautiful might not crop up until we see them through the eyes of a different character. One character might be very aware of his own long, black, beautiful hair, another not be able to remember what colour his hair is like, it's been dyed so often, a third care nothing for her hair, just get the fringe chopped by a friend twice a year and a fourth spend spend her whole life trying to make it look like Marilyn Monroe's...

I know very little about what my characters look like.

I like to keap the MC's appearance vague

Hello, beautiful. Want a drink?
Hello, handsome. Want a drink?

That's it for the MC - other characters are seen through the MC's eyes. - Hector sucked in his 73 year old frame and eezed his way round the booth.