Table Of ContentForensic Art
a n d I l l u s t r a t i o n
Forensic Art
a n d I l l u s t r a t i o n
Karen T. Taylor
CRC Press
Boca Raton London New York Washington, D.C.
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COVER ART
Front Cover: Two-dimensional facial reconstruction over the skull of “Daisy Jane Doe” by Karen
T. Taylor (see Chapter 11).
Back Cover: Drawings by Karen T. Taylor of skull-to-face relationship of the three major
racial/ancestral groups (see Chapter 3).
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Preface
The need for a comprehensive text examining the multifaceted field of forensic art
became apparent to me some 20 years ago. As a trained artist new to the realm of
law enforcement art, I quickly found a library search on the subject to be futile.
Today, many forensic art cases later, I feel both prepared and compelled for a variety
of reasons to share information about this highly specific and challenging field. Years
of service in a large state police agency provided a never-ending succession of
interesting and intriguing cases. My position with the Texas Department of Public
Safety often led me into different fields of study related to forensic art. More than a
decade of conducting workshops has necessitated the thoughtful evaluation and
assessment of the methods and procedures currently in use. As an instructor, I have
encountered hundreds of individuals anxious to learn more about forensic art and
desperately seeking sources of information. Virtually every time I have appeared in
court, it has been necessary to educate the prosecutor as well as the jury about
police art.
Since the inception of forensic art, there has been debate about who is best trained
to perform various aspects of this activity. Some have contended that an academic
background in psychology, anatomy, biology, or anthropology is necessary to maximize
the accuracy of the forensic rendering. Others argue that training as a medical illustrator
or fine artist is essential. The author and contributors are committed to a collab-
orative effort that involves the multidisciplinary expertise of professionals in
various fields. The foundation is the artist, who calls upon the appropriate expertise
of psychologists, anthropologists, medical examiners, and others to provide a set of
descriptive data that can be interpreted into the forensic rendering.
This book provides an expansive and practical guide to the various aspects
of the field of forensic art and attempts to aid in the standardization of some
of the methods and terminology being used. Hopefully, it will prevent others from
making some of the avoidable mistakes sometimes caused by inexperience or lack of
information. My goal is to organize case experience and training materials into one
cohesive work and to present them in a comprehensive, usable form for the practicing
police artist and others seeking information on the subject.
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Forensic Art and Illustration
Because forensic art cases often present challenges that require the artist to have
knowledge of a variety of subjects, this text provides an “A to Z” reference covering
each of the applicable topic areas. This book is divided into four parts:
Part I Forensic Art: The Foundation
Part II Forensic Art: Finding and Identifying the Living
Part III Forensic Art: Identifying the Dead
Part IV Forensic Art: Additional Responsibilities
Part I introduces forensic art, defines pertinent terminology, and traces more than
100 years of forensic art as an aid to law enforcement. Also examined are fundamental
particulars of the ever-fascinating human face and ways to use this knowledge in
forensic art applications with an emphasis on drawing the human face.
Part II describes methods of locating and identifying living individuals through
forensic art. Composite drawings and the associated interviewing process required
to achieve accurate and useful composites are covered in depth. Of particular signifi-
cance are the complexities of victim trauma and their effects on memory retrieval.
Information is provided on how facial growth can be used to project the possible
appearance of a child missing over a period of years. As growth ceases, facial aging
begins, and knowledge of this process, too, is essential to the forensic artist for
preparation of age progression updates of the faces of fugitives or long-term missing
adults. Part II concludes with methods of assessing and modifying images of various
types to make them more useful in criminal investigations.
Part III addresses the rather unpleasant but necessary methods of forensic art used
to identify human physical remains. Information is given for use in preparing post-
mortem drawings that are produced to help identify bodies on which facial features
are still intact. These cases require the use of crime scene or morgue photos of the
deceased or the viewing of the actual body itself. In cases of semi-skeletal or skeletal
remains, two- or three-dimensional skull reconstruction methods are used. Betty
Pat. Gatliff and I discuss specifics of each method in depth and offer important
information on skull protection and preparation for reconstruction. Forensic
anthropologist David M. Glassman, Ph.D., contributes general information on methods
of superimposition for comparison of unidentified skeletal remains with photos
of missing persons.
Part IV outlines additional responsibilities of the forensic artist, including pro-
fessional ethics, knowledge of printing and graphics reproduction, ways to
deal with the news media, and information about testifying in court. Demonstra-
tive evidence (trial displays) is a related topic, but because it involves an entirely
different and additional range of knowledge and expertise, it is not addressed in
depth in this book.
A final function of this book is to provide law enforcement personnel — often
faced with an urgent need to identify both criminals and victims without the availability
of a comprehensive team — a training guide to assist in their work. It is likely that,
in pressure situations, these individuals will need to do the forensic art procedures
whether or not they have had adequate training. Certainly there is no legal mechanism
to prevent them from doing so. It is my desire, therefore, to assist them in performing
these very important tasks by providing a model of instruction as well as the
inducement to produce optimum quality work. In light of the more than 17,000 law
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Preface
enforcement agencies in the U.S. handling one violent crime every 21 seconds, this
attitude is appropriate.*
The potential importance of high quality forensic art cannot be underesti-
mated. It is the obligation of all those who do this work to constantly strive to
improve their skills. One image can literally be responsible for the recovery of
a precious stolen child, stopping a serial rapist or murderer, or providing
closure for the family who has lost a loved one to homicide. It is my fervent
hope that these pages might provide help to better achieve such aims.
— Karen T. Taylor
* United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States,
Uniform Crime Reports. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Goverment Printing Office, 1998.
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