Sunday Mailbag: Courtroom Sketches?

Q: What do you think of courtroom sketches? Here in the UK, artists are not allowed to draw in the courtroom, and must draw from memory. Could you render a scene from memory, quickly, and with recognisable likenesses? How would you approach the task, if you were required to do it?

A: I have no familiarity or experience with courtroom sketching. I know a couple of artists who do it as a side gig, but they are allowed to draw in the courtroom as the proceedings take place. I don’t know of anyone who does it as you describe, having to work from memory after leaving court. It would be an interesting but tough thing to do.

There is a caricature “exercise” some live caricaturists I know sometimes do, where they go get a cup of coffee and try and memorize a couple of faces from the coffee shop, and then go back to the drawing board and attempt to draw them from memory. Again, it’s an interesting exercise but to me it’s more of an exercise in memory than in drawing. That said, one of the tricks would be to try and simplify your observations since it’s easier to visualize and remember simple shapes as opposed to complex ones. Doing that could help you develop your “eye” in seeing basic shapes and forms, which is the basic foundation of drawing anything. Being able to effectively draw something from memory alone also probably improves your mental visualization skills, which in turn helps you understand what you are drawing better and that would improve your overall drawing.

I don’t foresee my ever doing courtroom sketches… I doubt the defendants would appreciate being seen on the evening news looking like they have a watermelon for a chin and ears the size of dinner plates. Of course if I REALLY had to do it I would attempt a portrait rather than a caricature.

I guess if I was required to do it, I would spend my time in the courtroom doing a drawing in my head… attempting to visualize the completed drawing as opposed to trying to take a “photo” in my head and do the drawing from that. I’d imagine the process, starting with basic construction lines to the finished piece, over and over again as long as I could, then immediately leave and go do the artwork. I have no idea how it would turn out. I suspect I’d have to do a number of them before I started getting the hang of it, if I ever did.

Thanks to Hugh Morris for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!