Police Sketches Of Book Characters (IMAGES)

If you live vicariously though your books, you may find it maddening that it's impossible to determine exactly how an author intended your beloved characters to look. Is Humbert Humbert as creepy as his name (not to mention actions) imply, or is he "an exceptionally handsome male; slow-moving, tall…"? Was Edward Rochester swoon-worthy in spite of his "firm, grim mouth"?

Although Dickensian illustrations and Victorian film adaptations may hint at a graphic interpretation of an author's intentions, writer and artist Brian Joseph Davis has opted for a more formulaic approach. His latest project, The Composites, uses law enforcement composite sketch software and physical descriptions from novels to create haunting, and probably accurate pictures.

We have to say, Flannery O'Conner's Misfit looks deceivingly trustworthy. More so than Humbert Humbert, anyway.

As for two characters with large cult followings - Salinger's Holden Caulfield and Vonnegut's Kilgore Trout - Davis has denied reader-submitted requests for sketches.

"At a glance, the entirety of his self description amounts to 'I have a crew cut,' he writes on his Tumblr. "Ditto for Kilgore Trout, and as a Vonnegut fan I kind of knew that he had a workmanlike approach to description but I did go back and look. Please respect the authors’ stylistic choices but do keep sending in other suggestions."

Check out these police sketches of literary characters:

Comments

[3fingerbrown]

08:21 AM on 02/16/2012

Looks like a Dick Tracy villains reunion.

[janinei]

12:25 PM on 02/15/2012

No, I had no desire to see what you think they looked like, that is the wonder of books. My imagination already told me what they look like.

[Diaz]

08:01 PM on 02/14/2012

The only one I'm familiar with is Judge Holden, and it's a pretty good representation of how I pictured him. His neck and face are too thin, though. Judge Holden was definitely an imposing figure, to say the least.
Btw: Blood Meridian is an AWESOME book - especially if you like westerns.

[Quark50]

07:54 PM on 02/14/2012

For a second I thought they mixed up the images with their faces of meth collection.

[magicsushi]

07:27 PM on 02/14/2012

You do not want to get jolted out of sleep in the middle of the night seeing any of these faces staring back at you.

[Cenodroid]

07:24 PM on 02/14/2012

Sucks. Fail. Dislike. Blarrff.

[davis brant]

07:12 PM on 02/14/2012

sorry but they all look alike to me

[Sarazzara]

08:58 PM on 02/15/2012

And I bet they look a lot like the artist himself. Even the women.

[Sam141979]

06:56 PM on 02/14/2012

Random face generator is random

[Bruckley]

06:41 PM on 02/14/2012

cute idea, ugly people

[JayKaye]

06:28 PM on 02/14/2012

Wow! They're all hideous!

[Mouse718]

06:27 PM on 02/14/2012

I don't know who most of those characters are but I remember the book Madame Bovary. No way could she have looked like that and gotten so much play, lol!

[Boobuzuela]

06:26 PM on 02/14/2012

I mistook this for an article.

[Noah Cross]

06:21 PM on 02/14/2012

Good lord, they hardly even look like real people.

Epic fail, as kids say these days.

[moonstruck10]

07:48 PM on 02/14/2012

You took the words out of my mouth. The faces barely look real/life-like.

[Marie PenningtonClark]

06:17 PM on 02/14/2012

tax dollars at work, pathetic

[chairsmissing]

07:20 PM on 02/14/2012

What are you talking about?

[BlackJAC]

06:04 PM on 02/14/2012

Is it me, or does the Sam Spade sketch kind of resemble Harrison Ford?

[3fingerbrown]

08:23 AM on 02/16/2012

I was thinking more a constipated Edward Norton.

[sabelmouse]

08:36 AM on 02/16/2012

please! edward norton would never look like that.