Also called: Composite Sketch Artist, Facial Reconstruction Artist
Draws suspect sketches from witness descriptions and reconstructs faces of unidentified people.
Forensic artists interview victims to draw a suspect's face, age-progress photos of missing children, and sculpt faces on skulls to help identify remains. Many work for the FBI, big police departments, or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Fine arts training plus forensic art courses; IAI certification.
Ways in: 4-year college, Certification, Self-taught. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Fine Arts, Illustration, Anthropology.
Growing slowly. Tiny field.
Medium risk in 5 years, high in 10. AI now makes composites and age-progressed photos from descriptions; few jobs left, centered on skilled interviews.
Classes: Drawing / portrait art, Sculpture, Psychology, Anatomy.
Official data: O*NET occupation 27-1013.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.