Billingham Forensic Images

Friday 25 May 2012

Taking Forensic Art To The Next Level

Remote composite sketches is it possible?, do they work? I have recently found out the answer to that and YES they do work. As a forensic artist myself I was so excited to see forensic art be taken to a new level and something that I myself will be adding to my services.
Sure remote composites are not new, some artists will say they have been doing them for years, however the technology that ID Forensic Art uses is just awesome and takes it to a different level. Don't be mislead, it may be digital art but the artist still has to manually draw the composite so art skills are a must.

ID Forensic Art has had huge success and it can only get better. The images you are seeing are the work of forensic artist Natalie Murry who is one of the artists behind ID Forensic Art. Natalie uses a Cintiq Wacom tablet for the sketch and video conference software for interviewing victims or witnesses, and don't worry the software is pretty much compatible with any computer.

As you can see Natalie has introduced colour to her sketches enabling her to set skin tones, eye and hair colour. There are mixed feelings about using colour amongst forensic artists, but I say each to their own, if it works for you you, use it. I personally like the colour touch and is something that I will be looking into at a later stage.
 I have been fortunate enough to actually see Natalie at work on the Cintiq, when she showed us a demo during a Karen T Taylor class I attended this year. We were all pretty impressed but then again Natalie probably made it look easy.

So, lets hear it for ID Forensic Art. I can only image what this must mean for small or remote Police Agencies that other wise would not have access to a forensic artist, now they have one at their fingertips, any time of the day or night across of the whole of America, and I am sure we will see this implemented across the across the world.
Just imagine how this is going to develop the possibilities are going to be endless, I for one am very excited about that.


https://www.leadsonline.com/main/leadsonline-sketches/about-sketches.php




















Sunday 6 May 2012

2-D Facial Reconstruction

2-D facial reconstruction is a technique used to rebuild the face to a likeness of when the person was living. This technique process is used when the human remains are skeletal or the face has such trauma that it is impossible to make an identification.
In 2 dimensional reconstruction the skull is photographed with all the relevant tissues depth markers in place, tracing paper or other form of transparent paper is placed over the image of the skull, the artist then draws on the transparent paper carefully following the tissue depth markers and contours of the skull. It is very important to follow the markers and shapes in accordance to the skull, being extra vigilant to the features such as teeth, orbital shapes, nose bridges and nasal apertures.

The renderings below are images taken during my class Karen T Taylor Advanced 2-D Identification Techniques.






Copyright (C) Jane Billingham 2012