There is an efficiency to just telling what someone looks like. But is that interesting?
There has to be a balance between showing and telling. There needs to be times when a writer just tells the reader something that is not of monumental importance and move on. It's generally a good idea to limit unimportant descriptions to only what is needed to move the story ahead.
Suppose there is a fantasy fight scene, and the hero is being battling through the enemy forces. This might be a case where a quick "tell" trumps "showing" the details. Suppose the hero is named Bob and he is trying rescue Princess Jane.
Bob jumped over the body of the enemy he had just defeated and hurried toward Princess Jane, but he quickly realized his goal would not be easily reached. A huge, grim-faced man with a massive battle-axe stood in his way.
With just a few words, a rough sketch of his enemy it provided, and the action continues unbroken. Alternately, the writer could "show" through many words that the attacker was… a huge, grim-faced man with a massive battle-axe.
There are, however, many times when just "telling" the reader what someone looks like is boring and trite. There are times when the technique of "showing" is much more appropriate.
One way is to have a character react to the appearance of the other person. For instance, instead of telling the read that:
Jane was a pretty girl with long, blond hair and a contagious smile.
a character (Bob again) could be used to show the reader:
Bob looked down at his sweater and noticed a long, blond hair clinging to it, contrasted against the dark blue wool. He figured it must belong to Jane, and thought about how she liked to push her hair back behind her ears. He always thought doing that enhanced just how pretty she was, especially when she flashed her contagious smile.
The use of the showing technique is limited only by the creativity of the writer to do so. What's more, with showing, the description can be used to move other subtle plot points along at the same time.
The challenge is to decide when to show and when to tell. As a rule, showing wins, but at the risk of potentially slowing the pace of the story.
Even if the story is served well by just telling something, breaking the description up in sections can make it more interesting. Likewise, using the "show" technique can work even better if it is broken up into sections.
Mary watched Leon as he brushed out his hair for the third time since they started driving. It wasn't as if he had that much hair in the first place. He crew cut was fresh, and she saw no reason he needed to brush it so much.
The sunshine angled into the side window and lit up his hair making it glow like some bushy, red toy animal. Mary thought it was a little funny, and smiled.
"What?" Leon looked over at her and tossed her the brush.
"Nothing…"
"Why are you smiling, then? You don't do that without a reason."
"Okay, the way the sun shines through your hair made me think of a little red-headed troll doll."
Leon laughed and looked down the road, then shook his head and muttered. "As if trolls have amazing blue eyes and freckles. Really, Mary! Be serious."
"Okay, if you say so."
The little scene took some turns and twists before painting the picture that Leon had short, red hair, blue eyes, and freckles. But it might be that the twists and turns were interesting.
When creating descriptions, the adage of "show, don't tell" is important. Though there are times when it isn't called for, as a rule, it is always better to find some way to make the descriptions do more than paint a picture. And when the "show" technique is used, this is far more easily done.
