They don’t bust down doors or chase perps with tactical-ninja precision. But forensic artists play a pivotal role when it comes to identifying both suspects and victims.

The blog Ask a Forensic Artist explores that role through interviews with forensic artists across the country. After many interviews of her own, the woman who anonymously runs the blog agreed to answer some of our questions.

She is a forensic artist, of course. Oh yeah, and she wears tactical pants.

How does someone become a forensic artist? It seems like a pretty specific job.

It is actually very specific, and that’s the exact reason I started my blog: to tell people about this field as a career, and to give them a direction to go in if they want to pursue it. I think it’s confusing for people because there are actually four separate areas to forensic art (composite drawing, image modification, facial reconstruction of unidentified remains and demonstrative evidence). Each requires a somewhat different route to get there.

Some artists will be in an environment where they can do all four. But for the vast majority of forensic artists, composite drawings make up the bulk of their casework. I think the strongest, most direct shot you have at working in this field for any length of time is to focus on becoming a composite artist.

Being employed by a law enforcement agency first and pursuing composite art from there will save you years of pounding your head against the wall trying to break in from the outside. Once you’re established as a composite artist, the other areas can open up much more easily. Establishing a reputation, establishing trust, is key.

Do you find it to be a morbid career? Like on the same level as a coroner or something?

Not at all; it’s absolutely fascinating to me. Of course, if you told me 15 years ago that I would hold human skulls on an almost-daily basis, go to a morgue or be able to look at autopsy and crime scene photos without having nightmares, I would have said you were crazy.

But there’s something funny about forensic art: Once it finds you, you get hooked.

It just doesn’t occur to you to be bothered by those things anymore. I don’t distance myself and become insensitive; I just roll up my sleeves and do the work that needs to be done. My job is all about helping victims of crime and getting justice for them and their families.

What do you draw the most often?

Faces. All ages, all ancestries, in any condition, living or dead.

And these can either be hand-drawn with a pencil and paper, or drawn on the computer using photo-editing software. It all depends on the case and the quality of the images we have to start with as to which medium we use. Our whole job is about identification, so we use the best tool for the job. Sometimes it’s a pencil, sometimes it’s a pixel.

What’s the most interesting/exciting kind of case?

The ones that keep me up at night are the unidentified victims. The skull I’m working on is not just another case but a human being. They had a mom and a dad; they had a life, and a job, and they went about their day-to-day business. And now….

They’re a skull in an evidence locker. That bothers me immensely.

So, a facial reconstruction is very likely their last chance to get their name back and to bring them home to their family. By the time an unidentified skull makes its way to a forensic artist, the case is already cold. Either DNA and fingerprints didn’t come back with match, or they weren’t able to get usable samples to start with.

So, I feel a tremendous responsibility in these cases. Of course, forensic artists don’t do this alone; we work as a team with the forensic anthropologist, the case detective, the ME. When an identification is made, it’s extremely satisfying, but I know it was a team effort, and I’m just proud to be part of that.

With composite drawing, how hard is it to draw something that another person is describing?

It’s challenging because every case and every victim or witness is different. But forensic artists follow a general procedure, and we use reference images, too. A witness could describe someone with “beady eyes and a long nose,” but their perception of those features is very likely different from MY perception of them. So, once a witness has exhausted their verbal description of the person, we introduce reference photos to clarify what they are describing.

Also, people think the most important thing in a composite drawing is the drawing, when in fact it’s listening. You’ll hear experienced forensic artists say this: “a mediocre artist with excellent interviewing skills will catch more bad guys than an excellent artist with mediocre interviewing skills.” And that’s 100 percent true.

This work is not about drawing pretty pictures. Any decent artist can do that at home or in a classroom, where there’s no pressure, nothing’s on the line. Where push comes to shove is sitting next to a distraught witness, listening to them, and putting down their memory of that person on paper.

I would say the hardest part is the emotional drain. Artists that do a high volume of composite drawings have my utmost respect, because it takes something out of you, emotionally. Drawing is the easy part.

We read that there are very few full-time or freelance forensic artists out there. Instead a lot of folks wind up doing the artist bit along with a standard LEO gig. Is this true? What advice would you give to someone who is interested in checking it out as a career?

Absolutely true. But just because there are very few full-time artists doesn’t mean you can’t have a very fulfilling, very busy forensic art career as a component of your “regular” job in law enforcement.

The fact is, forensic art is a “niche” field. Not every agency believes in it, and even if they do, not all of them can afford to keep someone on their payroll for forensic art and nothing else. Having something else to bring to the table makes you much more valuable to the agency; it doesn’t dilute the effectiveness of forensic art in the least.

Also I would advise anyone interested in this as a career to examine WHY they want to do it. Do they want to show what a great artist they are, do they want to get their name in the paper, be known as some sort of altruistic hero? If so, find something else.

Also, remember what the term “forensic” means. As in, related to the judicial system. Any drawing you do will put you in court with a defense attorney whose sole purpose in life is to discredit you, get the drawing thrown out and save his client. This isn’t a job for the hobbyist.

But, if you are willing to work hard, with little to no acknowledgement of what you brought to the case, for little to no extra money, then I would say: develop your art skills, search out an agency that has enough crime to support the work of a forensic artist, and has the politics to support it as well, and go for it. Let the agency know your interest; show them you are willing to do the work. Actions, not talk.

If you are more interested in facial reconstruction than composites, get a degree focused on art, anthropology and anatomy, and become employed by a Medical Examiner’s office or police agency where they have a large number of unidentified remains. You need be where the work is.

This job isn’t for everyone, but I can’t imagine doing anything else. I absolutely love it. And I encourage anyone that has an interest in it to pursue it. We can always use another dedicated forensic artist in the field.

Now this seems like a pretty silly question, but we always get surprising answers—do forensic artists wear tactical pants? There’s a lot of pocket space for all sorts of art tools!

I actually do wear them most of the time at work! A good half of my time is spent drawing, sculpting with oil-based clay, or just running around the building getting things done. I come home with smudges of graphite, or bits of clay imbedded in my clothes. So this is not a job where I spend time contemplating what earrings to wear, or matching my nail polish … I dress to WORK.