Fun With Police Sketches

Have you ever had trouble picturing a character from a novel? Brian Joseph Davis has a solution. On his Tumblr blog, The Composites, Davis uses law enforcement composite sketch software to bring your favorite characters to life, using descriptions from the book. Don't just wonder what Humbert Humbert (Lolita, Vladimir Nabakov) looked like, find out exactly how creepy he is. (On the other hand, it can be a little strange when you already have an idea of a character and the sketch is not the same, like the one of Edward Rochester of Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte.) You can read more about The Composites at the Atlantic, and make suggestions for character sketches at http://thecomposites.tumblr.com/. Here are a few of my favorite sketches:

Mr. Wednesday, American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

Ignatius J. Reilly, A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole

Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany's, by Truman Capote