POST-MORTEMS are drawings or retouched images of unidentified people from morgue photos. Dead people do not look like they are sleeping. Seeing your Great-Aunt Ethel lying peacefully in an open casket is not at all how she looked when she took her last breath. It took hours of work by the skilled hands of a mortician to make her appear the way you remember her.
Death at the hands of another is horrific and violent and awful, and these are the faces forensic artists see every day. Our job is to do the forensic version of what mortuary specialists do. We digitally heal the broken bones, bullet wounds, and decomposition on the faces of the dead so they can be released to the public.
We want them to look alive again, as though they could turn and speak their killer’s name at any moment. This takes much more than just knowing how to draw. Forensic artists use their knowledge of facial anatomy and post-mortem changes to do this work successfully. The responsibility is the same with facial approximations; until the investigator knows the name of the victim, the chances of finding their killer are virtually nonexistent.
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2 comments 
Blog, Forensic Art: The Essentials, Post-Mortem Imaging
November 7, 2011
Posted by Lisa Bailey
Nov 13, 2011
Hello Lisa. I just discovered your site and found my recent post-mortem drawing on your November 2011 “In the News” category. I studied with Karen Taylor and Betty Pat Gatliff several years ago, however this is my first forensic art job with the county sheriff’s office. I’m looking forward to frequenting your site and becoming more active in this field.
Nov 13, 2011
Hi Katherine, nice to meet you! I’m glad you found the site, I really want to draw more people into forensic art, and share all the information that I can. If you ever want to post a case study, or just want to voice an opinion, you can do it right here. And if you’re looking to meet more forenisc artists, see if you can make it to the IAI Conference in July. I’ve gone for 8 years in a row, and usually there’s at least 20 artists there from all over the country. I hear Phoenix is going to be a biggie!