I don't know of anyone who "follows" an image. Do you?
The central truth of the Christian faith is that God took on human nature (and that implies a human body) to save his people. Do you deny that?
If you don't, then please consider that it means that God became visible. And if God became visible and took on visible human nature, it only makes sense that we ought to use all of the senses and faculties God gave us to affirm that truth. That includes making an image of that visible, enfleshed God, to remind us that that is exactly what happened for our salvation.