Forensic arts

Forensic art is any art used in law enforcement or legal proceedings. Within this field are such skills as composite drawing, crime scene sketching, image modification and image identification, courtroom drawings, demonstrative evidence, and postmortem and facial approximation aids. Not every forensic artist uses all of these skills.

The term forensic comes from the Roman forum where law and politics were debated. From this beginning, the word forensic now means anything pertaining to law or law enforcement or debate.

The skill of facial approximation is closely associated and related to forensic anthropology in that an artist specializes in the reconstruction of the remains of a human body. Generally this discipline focuses on the human face for identification purposes. The forensic artist can create a facial approximation in a number of ways to include 2D (drawing), 3D (sculpture) and by methods using new computerized technology. Forensic artists generally can add greater character and make their subjects come back to "life."