Creating characters through pictures

I have an article on my website, written by me for the LARA Confidential, that describes how I often use photographs of actors or models to create my characters, sometimes using qualities of the character being portrayed to add multiple layers to my own characters. Since a picture speaks a thousand words, here are a few I thought you might like.

I didn't have a picture for my hero Wolf in The Legacy when I was writing the book, and I often felt hampered by that. However, years later, I did discover a picture that not only fit Wolf perfectly, he fit the character of The Justice Seeker in my paranormal manuscript by the same name. Here's the gentleman, and I only wish I knew who he was. I got this one out of a GQ Magazine:

I always had an image in mind of my heroine, Sabina. She was Liv Tyler, looking variously as she does in Lord of the Rings,

but not always. Here is a shot of her smile, with which Wolf is particularly enamored.

For my second manuscript, Alonsa's Choice, the hero's physical description is based on Viggo Mortenson's character of Aragorn in Lord of the Rings. Yummy. Who cares what my heroine looks like? LOL!

Finally, in Dreamweaver, I got to spend lots of time looking at pictures of George Clooney, who became the model for my character of Rome, the LAPD detective. In fact, I describe this exact picture when Rome visits the apartment of my heroine, Jessie:

I even used this backdrop of the apartment to represent Jessie's style (with some feminine additions).

So, writing is about imagination, yes, but it's also about making things (and people) seem real. What inspires you when you write?

TJB