Any bookworm can tell you that our favorite novels play an enormous part in making us who we are and shaping our relationships. Germany-based illustrator Simon Prades brings that formative influence into the physical plane in Our Books, a series of pencil drawings that represent both great works of literature and the people Prades feels connected to through them. Taking inspiration from J.D. Salinger, Albert Camus, Gabriel García Márquez, and more, the illustrations are deeply personal, driven more by what the artist associates with his subjects than the concrete details of the books themselves. See the series after the jump, and visit Prades’ Behance page to see more of his work.
JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (Axel’s book). Image credit: Simon Prades
Albert Camus, Der Fremde / The Stranger (Helge’s book). Image credit: Simon Prades
John Steinbeck, Cannerey Row (my father’s book). Image credit: Simon Prades
John Steinbeck, Cannerey Row (my father’s book), detail. Image credit: Simon Prades
John Steinbeck, Cannerey Row (my father’s book), detail. Image credit: Simon Prades
John Steinbeck, Cannerey Row (my father’s book), detail. Image credit: Simon Prades
Gabriel García Márquez, Cien Años de Soledad / One Hundred Years of Solitude (my mother’s book). Image credit: Simon Prades
Wolfgang Herrndorf, Sand (Erik’s book). Image credit: Simon Prades
Max Frisch, Stiller (Kriz’s book). Image credit: Simon Prades