How to Become a Forensic Sculptor
Despite the advances in computer illustration and animations, there's still a real need for forensic artists. A forensic artist who specializes in sculpture must learn a wide variety of skills. Not only must a forensic sculptor have solid artistic skills, but she must also learn about other disciplines such as anthropology and psychology. All of these factors, plus a highly developed artist instinct help a budding forensic artist to develop the skill sets necessary to get a job in the field of forensic art.
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Instructions
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Develop the artistic skills you need to become a forensic sculptor, which means in addition to taking classes in sculpture, develop drawing, painting and photography skills.
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Practice drawing, painting, photography and sculpturing human subjects daily. This practice will acquaint you with the physical structure of the face and body. You'll learn how the muscles lay over the bones and which areas of the face are thicker in terms of skin thickness, as well as how to work with different types of artistic media.
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Learn more about anthropology. The study of anthropology teaches an artist about tissue depth which is an important skill to know when recreating the structure of the face.
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Study psychology. Forensic artists must learn to reconstruct a face from someone else's memory. However, when there is trauma involved, it affects the memory. A forensic sculptor must learn to deal with victims in a way that is gentle, but still gives the artist the information he needs to reconstruct a face.
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Take communication classes to learn to deal with different types of personalities. While this may seem trivial, a forensic artist must be able to tactfully discern whether the victim and the perpetrator are the same race because this may have an effect on how the victim may describe the perpetrator.
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Learn about anatomy and physiology. These teach you how the body is structured. The ability to correctly draw or sculpt how the muscles fall on the face will help make more accurate representations of the person being reconstructed.
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Take classes in law enforcement, as they related to forensic art.
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Obtain internships with police departments, criminal law firms or other organizations which specialize in forensic science.
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Become certified as a forensic artist.
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Create a work portfolio. Many forensic artists are freelancers. You'll need to have something to show to police departments if they are not familiar with you. However, some also work as law enforcement officers, as well.
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Tips & Warnings
According to forensic artist, Karen Taylor, forensic art is both an art and a science. Although classes in anatomy and physiology, as well as life drawing classes teach an artist the basics about drawing the human face, there's no substitute for drawing thousands of faces. This is where the intuition comes in when recreating a face. Additionally, good drawing skills remain one of the foundational skills that a forensic sculptor must also possess, which means that daily drawing of human subjects is a must.
