Forensic Artist

What do they do?

• Interview witnesses and victims of crimes
• Composite imagery (faces or evidence from descriptions)
• Enhancement and modification of videos
• Post-mortem sketches of unidentified subjects
• Artistic rendering of crime scene

What do they do?

• Age progression for missing persons or wanted suspects
• Facial approximations from unidentified human skulls
• Medical drawings from autopsies
• Developing computerized renderings for facial and body positions
• Sketches for wanted posters, missing person ads, and newspapers

Skills and requirements

• A bachelor's degree in art for state and federal jobs
• Training or experience in law enforcement
• Certified training in composite drawing
• Social skills required for interviewing people
• Proficiency in programs used in law enforcement

Steps in learning forensic art

• Get a degree or certificate in art
• Get hired by a law enforcement agency
• Get at least 40 hours of training in composite drawing
• Volunteer for your agency doing tasks related to your area of interest
• Get familiar with programs used by law enforcement

Famous Forensic Artists

• Frank Bender
• Joy Mann
• Barbara Martin Bailey
• Lois Gibson

LOIS GIBSON
When she was 21 she was brutally raped and strangled to near death, leaving her bleeding from her eyes and throat. Now she is one of the most prolific forensic artists in history, having worked on 4,500 different cases and helped to solve 1,289 cases.

Where can they work?

• At home, as a freelancer
• Laboratories
• Law offices
• Police stations, as 99% of forensic artists work in law enforcement
• At a school, as a teacher of forensic art

Where can they work?

• Larger cities
• State and federal agencies
• Museums and information libraries
• The courtroom

WHAT DO THEY EARN?
It is hard to say what an average salary for a forensic artist is as most of them do forensic art as part of their full time position at a law enforcement agency, whether it be police officer or detective. It is not the amount of forensic art they do that determines their salaries but how much they get paid for their regular job. Freelance artist get paid per sketch but only a tiny percentage of forensic artists are freelance.

Salary Chart

Professional Groups

• The International Association for Identification: www.theiai.org
• The Forensic Art Certification Board: http://www.forensicartist.com
• The Florida Division of the IAI: https://www.fdiai.org/
• Arizona Forensic Artist Association: www.azforart.com/