How do you SEE your characters?

I consider myself quite a visual person. My mother and step-father are both visual artists (my step-father sadly passed in 2010). I also used to draw a lot when I was younger (I think I went to my first nude drawing class when I was about ELEVEN!). This included illustrating a lot of my own stories.

Now when I write, I keep a folder on my computer which has sub-folders full of photos of the settings and characters in my manuscript, most of which I source online. The physical appearance of the...