Starting Study

Yesterday, I decided to give up on getting some feedback from a professional forensic artist. I left messages and emailed, and I guess he artist is just too busy to get back to me. I can imagine it can be a very demanding job to travel all over the state.

I don't want to travel all over the state of Georgia necessarily. I guess I would if I needed to, but I'd just like to help out in Gwinnett County GA.

I have always been a very good self-starter, so I checked out the website for certification as a forensic artist, to see what is involved. There are books that must be studied prior to testing and certification. It may take me a couple years to actually get myself certified, but the books are a good first step that I can take now.

The book, Forensic Art & Illustration by Karen T. Taylor is about $100-$121 (Used).
I'm sure it's good, but I'll wait on that one for now. Clearly, it must be one of the best books on forensic art available, because it has 101 five-star ratings on Amazon.com!

But, I was able to order the two other books on the list to keep me occupied.

I ordered Composite Art Manual: Standards and Guidelines for Composite Artists for $38 from www.theiai.org and I was able to purchase Investigative Interviewing: Psychology and Practice, Rebecca Milne & Ray Bull ($59) and How to Draw the Human Head/Techniques and Anatomy by Louise Gordon (less than $5) from Half.com

I have several portrait commissions to work on right now, but I figure I can start reading a little bit before I go to sleep, and then really pick up the pace in the reading after Christmas.

I emailed a local police detective and told him I was going to go ahead and start reading. If they need me in the meantime, I will be willing to help them for free to get some experience under my belt.