Let me give you a couple of examples:
1."From the preview, the movie didn't strike me as funny. But when I watched it, I thought it was hilarious!"
2. "He makes me laugh all the time. If you saw him on the street though, he wouldn't strike you as someone who is funny. He looks very serious most of the time."
Explanation: When something "strikes" you, it is the impression it gives you. In the first example, the person did not expect the movie to be funny because the preview gave him the impression that it would not be funny (or, in other words, it did not look funny to him).