!VAR HAGENDOORN

Composite Sketches of Literary Characters

Artist and writer Brian Joseph Davis takes descriptions of literary characters and runs them through police composite sketch software to create a graphical representation of the characters' faces. The results look a bit creepy, but this may be because one associates the drawing style with police sketches or perhaps the software does not produce flattering portraits. Pictured here is Emma Bovary or Madame Bovary if you've only ever heard of the novel's title. There are more at The Composites, a dedicated Tumblr launched by Brian Joseph Davis. You can submit your own descriptions with reference to the novel.

An interesting question is whether the characters look the way the authors imagined them.

When I read a description of a character I don't actually form a composite mental image of the person. When I read that someone's ears stick out I don't picture a protruding ear or a head with protruding ears. I understand the meaning of the words and read on. This is also why I don't usually like to see a movie adaptation of a novel that I enjoyed reading, because in my memory the actor then becomes associated with the character and the novel.

Links

More about the project at the Atlantic including a brief interview with Brian Joseph Davis.

Homepage of Montreal based forensic artist Victoria Lywood.