That's Ridiculous!

The statute of limitations in this case is ridiculous.
It's infuriating to just read this, imagine being a family member of the deceased.

LINK

Let me know what you think.

Why I want to work as a forensic artist

I wrote previously about why I think I am well-suited to become a forensic artist. I realized I should write about why I want to work as a forensic artist. It's not enough to have drawing skill and the right temperament for it, although those are certainly important factors. But motivation is also key.

I am motivated to do this because I would love to help heal a hole in a family - when someone is missing and a drawing needs to be made from remains. Sometimes the remains will include jewelry or other objects that could help identify the person. If my ability can help someone solve the mystery of a loved one's disappearance and help them get closure, that would be a blessing.

The word 'closure' is used casually, but I can just imagine the daily torture it is for someone to wonder what happened, and to not know. If you know your loved one is dead, you can start dealing with it. Being stuck in limbo would be like some kind of purgatory to me.

I am motivated because as a mom of 4 kids, I would like to see my community be a safer place. I want rapists to be in jail so the victim doesn't have to worry any more about him coming back. I want him in jail so he doesn't hurt anyone else.

I want to help put a face to a criminal. A vague description of a medium build guy just doesn't do it. Even a Polaroid picture of my artwork would help a detective when he or she canvasses a neighborhood to see if anyone recognizes the individual.

Everything I've researched so far shows that an artist's rendering gets better results than computer generated art. I think computer generated art is perhaps too cookie-cutter. I'm not afraid of the computer though, I'd love to use it as an extra tool, and I often wonder if using a computer tablet and stylus might be a good way to do some of the sketches.

Finally, but probably most importantly to me personally, I feel that God gave me this talent for a reason. I think it was partially so I could use it to help support my family, but I often feel that there is a bigger reason. I don't think I am the greatest artist in the world -- believe me, I have seen some fantastic artists! But I think that my life and work experiences, combined with my art talent, are there for a reason.

Saving Reference Photos

Since I read that full faces are best for witnesses to view to recall faces and features, I have started saving photos in my computer in a special file. The photos are of people who have been arrested in zip codes 30078 (Snellville) and 30052 (Grayson/Loganville). I have been getting these same email alerts for years, but it just hit me that the photos are a great source for reference facial illustrations, because they offer a good range of ethnicities.

I get the email alerts from ScanGwinnett.com. I need to add Lawrenceville zip codes (and probably all other Gwinnett county zips) to my alerts, if I want to draw forensic art for Gwinnett County. So far, I have about 6 photos saved in which the people have some typical facial features/bone structure of Vietnamese, Native American/Hispanic (combined), and another who looks Guatamalan to me. The Caucasian pictures I've received so far were extremely bland looking, I don't know why, but these particular photos didn't interest me a all. Not very interesting or distinguishing features I guess. I know there will be more coming though, especially over the weekend! People seem to go nuts/do drugs over the weekend. It's been very interesting noticing the different people, what they were arrested for, and the facial expressions in their booking photos. The "no driver's license" illegal aliens sometimes have a "this is bogus" contemptuous expression. The shoplifters have a "oh crap, my mom's gonna kill me" sheepish look.

I haven't started drawing any of them yet, because I haven't had time. This is the busy time of the year for my art business, because a lot of people order pencil portraits for gifts. I have been really blessed with business! It took awhile for the orders to come in, but I am still getting portrait requests.

I am really blessed that I love to keep busy. I love having goals and something to look forward to after the Christmas order rush is over. I want to draw every ethnic group, age, and gender that I can, and create a collection of faces. I'm so fascinated by this!

Composite Art Manual

The book, Composite Art Manual, which is published by the International Association for Identification arrived today.

At first glance, I was very disappointed. This "book" I expected seemed to be no more than just a magazine. I thought I had been "had," -- having spent $38 for it.

But, telling myself to keep an open mind, I started reading it.

WOW was I wrong! This book has a lot of insider type information that I had not found anywhere else.

Like:

• the artist should sit beside the witness, so that the witness doesn't unwittingly start describing the artist!
• the body part book I planned to make isn't such a good idea...I should create a book of full faces of different ages, races and ethnicities instead.
• the drawing should never be worked on without the witness present.
• the drawing should be sprayed with fixative in the presence of the witness.
• the drawing becomes a permanent record in the investigation
• the artist may be called upon to testify in court.
  

Book arrived

The book, How to Draw the Human Head: Techniques and Anatomy, just arrived in the mail. I ordered it through Half.com but the bookseller is www.BetterworldBooks.com - I checked out their website, and it's really neat that when you buy books from them, you are helping various charities. I will keep them in mind next time I need to order a book. Free shipping to USA addresses, so that's a plus.

I have so much art stuff to read right now. I just received the November AND the October issue of Art Calendar Magazine. I don't know where the October issue has been hiding. Maybe a postal worker enjoyed reading it at lunch. Note to self to look for tell-tale soup stains on magazine. Nah, seriously, that would be okay with me. Anything to advance the arts! :)

I just finished a portrait of 3 people - drawn from separate photos. It came out really nice. I sent it out today UPS. I have several more portraits to do, and that's my focus - after this gift giving season, I kind of expect commissions to drop way off, and I will use that time to do all my reading and to create my face feature book.

Read Forensic Art & Illustration Online

I was again searching for Forensic Art and Illustration by Karen T. Taylor, but everywhere I could find it, it was $90-$100 or more.

I found it today on Google, and much of the book is there, online! Is this incredibly good luck or what?!? Some pages are excluded from the preview, but it's a good start for me.

Here it is:
Karen T. Taylor's Forensic Art and Illustration

Forensic Art in the News

Artist reconstructs face from skull find
Arizona Daily Star - Tucson,AZ,USA
While she usually patrols state government buildings in Tucson, Arnold called on her because of her experience in forensic art as a detective in Dallas and ...

Benson police hope reconstruction helps ID woman's remains
Arizona Daily Star - Tucson,AZ,USA
... in Tucson with the Capitol Police, Asher called on her because of her years of experience in forensic art as a detective in both Dallas and Tucson. ...

Overlay Technique in Photo Identification

I thought this was pretty interesting, how some of the overlay technique and other forensic techniques can be used to identify whether a newly discovered photo is of Robert Johnson.

Robert Johnson - The Disputed Third Photo
By thehelplessdancer
(Last year, Gibson published a manual called Forensic Art Essentials designed to aid other forensic artists in their work.) After comparing Schein’s photo to the two known photos of Robert Johnson, Lois Gibson produced a startling analysis. ...

Drawing Based On Description

Tonight my almost-15-year-old daughter described a friend of hers from school who I have never met so I could sketch. I asked her a few questions to clarify details. It took about 10 minutes.

My other daughter also knows the girl, so she was asked if she knew who it was, and she recognized the girl immediately.

It's is not the best work of fine art I've ever seen, that's for sure. But I'm pleased that apparently I was able to get a decent likeness based on a description.

Drawings Versus Computers

"Program administrators said forensic artists have a higher success rate than investigators using computer programs. The artists are able to produce a higher level of detail, the spokesman said."

...more

Face Feature References

I'm trying to find a reference book that has photographs of facial features in it. I could find visual reference books for artists that have facial expressions, but there are few models and those models are demonstrating different moods and expressions. What I need is a book full of noses, mouths, eyes, chins, etc in their normal state.

I can't find what I want, so I might have to start drawing it myself. I can imagine many different eye shapes, nose shapes, and mouths. I would like to have a book that victims can flip through to identify, for instance, "his nose looked like THAT." Something like this would make it much easier. I can also use it to practice - because I could pick out different features randomly and create composites.

I think I will draw the features on baseball card sized pieces of cardstock and store them in baseball card collector sleeves. That way I can move them around, and I can organize them in a 3-ring binder with dividers to separate them by feature type. It will take some time, but it will be good practice.

I think I'll start with noses. It would be fun to leave it on the table and let people wonder why I have a book full of noses. :)

I wonder how many different looking noses there are in the world, anyway? This could be a very big binder. Maybe I'll need a different 3-ring binder for each feature. I don't think this is a project that would ever end. Even once I think I have every feature, I'm sure I would find (or see) a different type of nose on someone on TV. It boggles the mind...they could even be sorted by ethnic groups, because of the different features of different ethnic backgrounds.

Facial Reconstruction Kit

I was just looking on Amazon.com to find good forensic art books to link in this blog when I found this CSI Facial Reconstruction Kit. This is so cool! They have a whole series of CSI-type kits. This is marketed as a kid's learning kit, but someone who wrote a review said she has a Bachelor's in Fine Arts and she finds this to be a useful tool. It looks pretty good to me. I think I will get one later on.

Forensic Art Books

The good news is that Better World Books has shipped my copy of the book, How to Draw the Human Head: Techniques and Anatomy. This book is on the reading list of the official certification organization for forensic artists. So, it's a big one to me and I'm looking forward to getting it.

The bad news is that I received a notice from Half.com that the seller of the book Investigative Interviewing can no longer locate the book. They are giving me a refund. Darn. I really wanted the book on the interviewing techniques.

I feel that I would be careful in interviewing someone for a description, but it's the sort of thing that I think is so important, to not accidentally lead someone in their description. But yet I know that people need to be asked questions to spark their memories.

I definitely want that book. I'll see if Amazon sells it.

Marla Lawson, Forensic Artist

I created a Squidoo page about Marla Lawson, the sketch artist for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. It includes how she got started in forensic art and more details will be added as I get them.

I added a lot of really good links about her at the bottom of the page. Even further down, there are more links to websites with good forensic art information.

Why I Think I Can/Should Do Forensic Art

I was thinking about the reasons I want to learn forensic art.

I foremost have a need to help people. If my talent could be used to make everyone safer and help a victim and victim's family be able to sleep at night, knowing the criminal is behind bars, then that would be a big thrill for me. I've done personality assessments over the years, and they repeatedly say I am a helper type of personality. I also have a firm (some could say white-knucked) grasp of what is right and wrong. The jobs in the past that have been the best for me have been the ones in which I felt like I was making a real contribution. I hate busy work. If I can have a job that allows me to really help people and my community, and it's creative, then it's a definite fit for me.

I know I can do composite art, but I need the forensic art training. A lot of the work I have already done has been composites of different photographic elements. One time I used 22 photos to recreate a vintage building and scene. I also worked from the memories of several of the client's family members.

I haven't done any age progression portraits, because most people want to look younger, not older! But I have done age-regression portraits. Children adopted at an older age from outside the United States often don't have any baby or toddler pictures. So I have worked from the youngest photos the people have and created portraits that show what the child might have looked like at a younger age. I make my best guess as to what they may have looked like. I feel very strongly that my guesses are accurate, because I base them on the known information. I work hard to get them as accurate as I possibly can.

I have also done portraits of deceased babies and babies lost as a result of miscarriage. I have drawn babies as young as 16 weeks gestational age. Sometimes the photographs are difficult to view. But I think of the end result - the family will have a beautiful drawing to remember their baby by, not traumatic hospital photos. Again, this is a situation where I feel blessed to be able to help a family.

So it comes back to personality and work experience. I have worked many years in retail management, where I did interviewing, hiring, background checks, and sometimes unfortunately I had to give someone the bad news that I needed to let them go. I've also worked in human resources. I have some medical office background -- I was office manager for an oral surgeon, and I sometimes had to "suit up" and go to the back and help with patients. I have seen a lot of blood, and I don't faint.

I can care for people like a mom, but also be able to self-protect and distance myself when necessary. I'm empathetic but I can sense B.S. when I am on the receiving end of it. I feel really drawn to do some forensic art, excuse the pun!

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.