This is a very good idea--perhaps I'll start drawing my characters or making storyboards or something... Art classes killed my love of art years ago, but if I mix it in with my writing perhaps it'll spark some interest again! I like looking up the style of the character, but when it comes to finding a face to fit the style, it never seems quite what I want it to be, so hopefully this will help!
Lol I know exactly what you mean... I am still hoping to come up with an ingenious short to animate one day though
I draw a bit. I used to want to make a cartoon, but then my characters got too deep, the story got too detailed, and whenever I see my friends' work, I lose all hope in drawing anything appealing. So, instead, I just sketch faces and, rarely, bodies.
I'm not a good drawer myself, so just drawing might limit myself in going in-depth. One technique I use in developing my ideas (not just characters) is creating a moodboard, like Elgaisma does. Or photoshopping a character with eyes, hair, mouths from pictures of friends or collected from the internet. I keep a database of pictures on my computer neatly categorized for this purpose. A new way to develop my ideas is using a mapping programm like 'freemind'. I just started using this, but it's great for brainstorming. Not particularly the looks, but also the background, the strengths, flaws, likes, dislikes, family, education, whatever comes to mind to give your character... well.. character ... I guess after this process it's easier to visualise your character...