How to Introduce/Describe Characters

[Noblejanobii]

Well you are correct but it really depends on personal preference, the story's perspective, and how you want to hook your audience. Without going into full detail (which I can if you wish) here's what I mean:

Personal Preference:
So most people that I know do describe the character anonymously until otherwise spoken to or introduced. If that's what you are most comfortable with then go for it. It can be a bit tricky with sequels so I would recommend for that to maybe have their appearance change "off screen". Like maybe they got a hair cut or something. But that's only if you want to keep that element of "surprise". In my experience with books I can sometimes actually forget what a character looks like *cough Jace from City of Bones cough* so having that description again at the beginning from book to book might help to remind readers what your character looks like while also possibly updating them on what may have changed.
I do have a few friends that right off the bat will introduce their character by name. Like they'll have someone call their character's name in the first line and then open up the scene as the reader being dropped right into action. It's like one of those scenes in movies where the movie opens up in a busy diner or at the beginning of someone's day. You're just plopped right into their day and that can be effective too.
There's also always the record scratch trick which is you open the story with the climax and then backtrack. You know one of these:

That's always okay too if you can play it right.

Story Perspective:
So one major factor in the beginning of the story is whether or not you're doing the story in first, second (rarely), or third person because that factors in MAJORLY in some cases. The best examples I can give are Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, The Night Circus, and... well there's plenty of third person examples so you don't need me to list one. Starting with Magnus Chase, that book starts as a first person "freeze frame". He pretty much flatly tells you in the first line "This is the story of how I died." This little description following this line does well in displaying Magnus's personality rather than his appearance, which is just as effective because it hooks you and shows you very well how sarcastic Magnus is. You really can't pull this off in third person, or at least not as well, because if it was third person, it wouldn't be Magnus telling you the story, it would be some "narrator" so it wouldn't be as impactful. As for the Night Circus, it actually opens in the second person and uses it from time to time throughout the book. Now while I wouldn't recommend doing an entire story in second person unless it's a reader insert, this was kind of interesting because the book used the second person to show you the future of the circus before it happened, but at the same time instill into you some form of mystique because you were experiencing the circus for yourself whether or not you realized it. It draws the reader in without the reader actually realizing it, if that makes sense.

Hook:
Just as with essays, books require hooks. Even if the story starts slow, you need to draw your readers in otherwise the story can be lost on them. Freeze frame technique is the best hook wise, but others can be just as effective. Take a took at the Lego Movie (yes it's not a book but just stay with me). We are dropped right into the character's day. We see that pretty much every day is a routine for the main character. Through this most viewers know something is going to happen to disrupt the main character's routine otherwise there'd be no movie or it would be really boring. The same can be said for books that do the same. Readers know the routine will be disrupted so they continue reading to see the what, why, when, etc of the disruption. This is a more subtle hook. Nowadays more obvious hooks are probably the most effective because people don't have the attention spans they used to, but subtler hooks are definitely a good way to go if you are more comfortable with that.