Page 21 - Aug Sept 2016

An Insirational Interview with Lois Gibson
Sonya Trippett: Tell me about how you began your career as a Forensic Artist?

Lois Gibson: I began my career in forensic art by convincing the Houston Police

Department to create a job for me. Previous to me they had no such person on staff.
I had always drawn faces from an early age and had an art degree. After being a
victim of a brutal crime, I was left with a burning urge to help catch persons who do

things that are cruel to innocent victims.

Sonya Trippett: Have you ever had to testify in court? What did you have to testify
about and what was the outcome of the case?

Lois Gibson: I have testified in courts of law almost 100 times (far more than 80)
over a period of 27 years. I have only testified in one case where the prosecution
lost. Mostly I simply say I did the sketch, with whom I did it, and briefly how I

created the image. Then the drawing speaks for itself. Usually it is very similar
and when the jury realizes I did not see the accused, but rather created that image

from the witness’s memory, they are very favorable impressed about my image as
evidence that the witness saw the accused and he was guilty. I am now successful
enough that the district attorney’s office in my county considers me to be an asset to

their prosecution.

Sonya Trippett: There are quite a few skills that can be used by a Forensic Artist
such as composite drawing, crime scene sketching, image modification and image

identification, courtroom drawings, demonstrative evidence, and postmortem and
facial approximation aids. Which of these skills did you use when solving cases

while working with the Houston Police Department?

Lois Gibson: As a forensic artist at my police department I never do courtroom
sketches, or crime scene drawing. I only do image modification to repose faces

in surveillance photos, postmortem portraits, and witness memory drawings (you
called them “composite drawing”. However, I do freelance courtroom sketches for
local TV stations and I never do crime scene drawings. The disciplines I mentioned

first are those I use to help solve cases.

Sonya Trippett: What is the most difficult case that you ever had to work on such
as drawing portraits of murder victims in various stages of decomposition?

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