Podcast Summary: How to Be Anything – Episode 7: How to Be a Forensic Artist

Host: Emily McCrary
Guest: Melissa, Forensic Artist
Date: August 20, 2025

Overview

This episode of How to Be Anything dives into the fascinating and emotionally charged world of forensic art through the lens of Melissa, a professional forensic artist in California’s Bay Area. The conversation explores the nuanced skills required to turn trauma and fragments of memory into useful sketches for law enforcement—often aiding in solving serious crimes and bringing closure to families. The episode balances storytelling with insight into the psychological and ethical complexities of this unusual profession.

Key Discussion Points

1. The Human Side of Witness Interviews

• First Steps with Witnesses (02:02)
  • Melissa’s primary focus is ensuring the witness feels safe, comfortable, and not pressured to recall details immediately.
  • She emphasizes empathy:

    “I'm there to be almost the opposite of a police officer... And it's okay for them to just shove all that weight on me.” (Melissa, 02:02)

• Witnesses often put pressure on themselves; Melissa reassures them it’s fine not to remember specific details or to offer only vague impressions.

2. Extracting Memories for Sketches

• Techniques for Gathering Facial Details (03:12–06:48)

  • Melissa sometimes asks witnesses to recount the event to jog memory, acknowledging the emotional toll this can take.
  • She recalls a powerful moment when a witness’s attention to "smell" rather than appearance became the gateway to a breakthrough:

    “She said, his smell... My first reaction was, like, oh, crap. What do I do? I can't draw that. It took a bit for me to realize…she’s literally there.” (Melissa, 03:44)

  • Once the witness re-engaged with their memory, their ability to describe visual details improved significantly, transforming trauma into empowerment.

• Case Outcomes (05:53)

  • Sometimes, precise sketches made by Melissa have directly led to the arrest of suspects within days.

3. How Composite Sketches are Created

• The Iterative Drawing Process (06:23–07:46)

  • Melissa starts broad (“Tell me about the nose”), then drills into specifics (“Was it flared?...What about the bridge?”).
  • She notes that references are subjective—witnesses might describe a “large nose” relative to their own features.
  • After an initial solo sketch, she collaborates with the witness for iterative revisions.

  “If they happen to have a larger nose and they say average, I might go a little bit larger than average…there could be changes.” (Melissa, 06:48)

4. Age Progressions and Unusual Requests

• Challenges of Age Progression (07:46–08:46)

  • Melissa considers factors like smoking, drug use, ethnicity, and family resemblance, but often must work from a single old photo.
  • The eyes and smile lines age first; certain lifestyle factors show up in new wrinkles.

• Boundary-Ethics in Forensic Art (08:46–10:37)

  • She receives bizarre requests—including sketches of “aliens” or “Satan”—and politely declines.
  • More complex are requests from grieving parents to depict deceased or stillborn children as they might look now. Melissa struggles with whether fulfilling these is helpful or potentially harmful, being clear about the imagined nature of such sketches.

  “There's that whole am I helping or am I hurting? It's a tough line. I don't know.” (Melissa, 10:37)

5. Post-Mortem Sketches and the NAMUS Database

• Process for Unidentified Decedents (11:42–13:25)

  • Post-mortem sketches can involve drawing from photos or from skulls, and often come into play in cold cases with all other leads exhausted.

  “I'm almost like the last hope for them.” (Melissa, 11:54)

• Utilizing NamUs (12:20)

  • The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) aggregates post-mortem sketches and other details to enlist broader help in identifying unknown deceased persons.

  “Anyone can search the NAMUS database…law enforcement agencies and the public can work together to solve some of these cases.” (Emily, 12:20)

• Preference for Working from Skulls (13:25–14:22)

  • Melissa prefers drawing from skulls, which provide reliable anatomical data, over decomposed remains.

  “A skull is not going to lie to you…there’s your key point right there.” (Melissa, 13:25)

6. The Path to Forensic Art

• Early Fascination with Faces (14:40–16:14)

  • Melissa always drew faces growing up, filling sketchbooks and experimenting with feature composites.

• First Training and Validation (15:40–16:14)

  • Taking a course with renowned forensic artist Gil Zamora, she learned critical witness interview techniques (“shadow sketching”).
  • Her early successful composite—matching a real suspect photo—was a pivotal moment that affirmed her career choice.

  “Everything just seemed so ridiculous until I saw it actually happen. And at that point, it turned into, okay, if I don't pursue this, I'm doing a disservice.” (Melissa, 16:14)

7. Relationship to Crime and Trauma

• Distance from Crime Media (17:18–17:51)

  • Contrary to stereotype, Melissa dislikes horror movies and true crime shows, finding them exploitative or stressful.

  “I hate horror movies…they stress me out. I don't really watch crime shows. Just not my thing.” (Melissa, 17:23)

• Coping with Emotional Toll (17:51–19:17)

  • While the stories and images could be haunting, Melissa finds hope and meaning in the act of helping, which shifts her emotional experience from passive distress to active engagement.

  “On the job, it just gets put to the side. It's almost like the more I work on it…the better I feel…just because they're just working on it harder.” (Melissa, 18:08)

Notable Quotes

• On Re-traumatization and Empowerment:

  “I know that I'm bringing them back there…But those emotions turned into a source of, like, power in a way. So she's getting back some kind of power that he took.”
  —Melissa (03:44)

• On the Ethics of Personal Requests:

  “Am I helping or am I hurting? It’s a tough line. I don’t know.”
  —Melissa (10:37)

• On Her Childhood Fascination:

  “I was obsessed with facial features…I would just fill [sketchbooks] up and just go through them.”
  —Melissa (14:40)

• On the Value of the Work:

  “Something is being done. So many horrible things happen to everybody, but not everybody gets heard…I guess my only focus is like, hopefully we can…help.”
  —Melissa (18:08)

Timestamps of Important Segments

| Timestamp | Topic | |---------------|------------------------------------------------| | 02:02 | Melissa describes her approach to interviews | | 03:44 | Emotional case; sensory memory tips breakthrough| | 05:53 | Case resolution story | | 06:23–06:48 | Building a sketch from memory | | 07:46–08:46 | Age progressions and technical challenges | | 08:46–10:37 | Boundary-ethics and personal sketches | | 11:42–14:22 | Post-mortem sketches and NamUs | | 14:40–16:14 | Early passion, first course, and pivotal moment| | 17:23 | Views on crime media | | 18:08 | Coping with trauma through helping |

Memorable Moments

• Drawing ‘Smell’: When a witness’s first clear memory is a scent, leading to a unique breakthrough in visualization (03:44).
• The Shadow Sketch that Matched: Melissa and her instructor’s independent sketches both closely resembling the eventual suspect, confirming her skill (16:14).
• Struggles with Ethical Boundaries: The internal questioning about whether making age-progressed images for grieving families helps or harms (10:37).
• Professional Distance from the Genre: Melissa’s aversion to horror and true crime, despite her daily proximity to real trauma (17:23).

Further Resources

• Visit howtobeanything.com and the show’s Instagram for Melissa’s sketches and more on the NAMUS database.
• Suggested further reading: Gil Zamora’s The Mindful Interview, Retrieving Cognitive Evidence.

This episode provides rare insight into a career where art and empathy intersect with crime and closure—highlighting both the technical expertise and deep humanity required to be a forensic artist.