Forensic Art and Facial Imaging
The Forensic Art domain covers imagery made to identify or locate people: facial composites, postmortem and skull-based reconstruction, age progression, image modification and superimposition. The exam tests method, limits and ethics rather than drawing skill.
Composite imagery
- Begin with a cognitive-style interview: free recall first, then a feature-by-feature phase using reference catalogs for eyes, noses, mouths, hairlines and facial hair.
- Build the whole face before refining parts; offer alternatives rather than suggestions; never show a suspect photograph before the composite is complete.
- Document every change, the catalog references used, and the session duration.
Reconstruction and progression
- Three-dimensional skull reconstruction places tissue depth markers at landmarks such as nasion, glabella, mid-philtrum and pogonion; depths vary with sex, age, ancestry and build, and the result is an approximation.
- Two-dimensional superimposition of a skull against a photograph supports identification or exclusion but is not a positive identification on its own.
- Age progression relies on predictable change: fat distribution, hairline recession, dentition, skin laxity and ear and nose growth; family photographs guide the result.
Worked example. A witness describes “heavy lids, a wide flat nose and a thin upper lip”. The artist builds the face shape and hair first from free recall, then uses the feature catalog to select each described feature, shows two nose variants, and records the witness's choice without indicating preference. The resulting composite is released as an investigative lead only.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating a composite or age-progressed image as a positive identification.
- Asking leading questions or showing candidate photographs mid-session.
- Presenting an age progression as an exact likeness rather than a range of possibilities.
- Omitting documentation of artistic decisions, which undermines later testimony.
- Using non-original reference artwork without rights or provenance.