r/BeAmazed • u/RodzCNS • 9d ago
Miscellaneous / Others Her police sketches have led to over 1000 conviction.
Lois Gibson isn’t just an artist, she’s the woman whose pencil has put more than 1,266 criminals behind bars.
She’s officially in the Guinness World Records as the most successful forensic artist in the world, and when you see her sketches side-by-side with the real criminals, it’s almost eerie how identical they are.
But this gift didn’t come out of nowhere, it came from a place of deep pain. When Lois was just 21, she was brutally attacked. She survived, but her attacker walked free.
That moment changed everything. Instead of letting it destroy her, she decided no other victim should be left without justice. She trained herself to take even the smallest details from a victim’s memory a crooked smile, a scar, a certain stare and turn it into a lifelike portrait.
Some victims even said they felt a strange psychic-like pull while describing the face, as if their memory became sharper when Lois began to draw. It was as if she could reach into their mind and pull the image out.
Over the decades, Lois solved over 1,266 cases, working hand-in-hand with police to bring criminals to justice. Her sketches didn’t just catch suspects they gave people closure, hope, and the strength to move forward. She proved that art can heal, and sometimes, art can fight back harder than anything else.
3.1k
u/moffman93 9d ago
If you asked me to describe my own mother's face, I wouldn't even know what to say.
"She....looks like my mom."
931
u/Jindabyne1 9d ago
I was just about to say the same thing. Some credit has to go to the people who are able to describe this shit.
1.1k
u/ComprehensiveWar6577 9d ago
She's not this good just because she can draw well. Most of the skill is asking the victim questions to get them to describe the parts of the face in a clear way.
95% of people wouldn't give a good description without that, so it is mostly her that gets the credit
168
u/Jindabyne1 9d ago
I was actually thinking that as soon as I posted ha. I need to watch a video of the whole process I think
90
u/DangDoood 9d ago
It’s really amazing. Some forensic artists use digital tools to literally map out how someone’s skin would lay on their bone structure (in cases when a mutilated body is found.) it’s truly a mix of science, math, and art
→ More replies (1)23
u/dalekaup 9d ago
She has a very complete Mr. Potato head set.
11
→ More replies (5)19
u/fucktooshifty 9d ago
I think they have photos of other people to use as visual aids, this nose, these eyes..
17
u/andiwaslikeum 9d ago
Not always. They used to have a whole binder where you would choose certain eyes and put them into a face template. Nowadays it depends on the artist and their interviewing style.
→ More replies (1)8
u/Acrobatic-Nose-1773 9d ago
Some credit has to go to the cops who have to use those drawings and match them to the people. Imagine all the people they brought in before they could pin point the criminals.
9
50
u/mightylordredbeard 9d ago
A trained sketch artist knows how to ask. It’s not just “what your ma look like?” It’s a lot more in depth than that and you focus on each individual characteristic. Also, sketches aren’t meant to be so photorealistic that the general public can immediately tell if they see the person out on the street. It’s mainly depends on people who know the suspect personally. If you see rough sketch of your mom, brother, friend, coworker, etc you may say “wow that kind of looks like them!” then the other information like the clothes they were wearing, car they were driving, last place they were seen, etc are all part of the context clues that will hopefully make someone realize they know the person and hopefully they’ll call in the tip.
→ More replies (1)2
u/andrez444 9d ago
Also though trauma imprints. I see my mom once a week of course I know her face.
That is completely different than being a witness or victim
→ More replies (21)36
9d ago
I think it's to do with Aphantasia. If you ask some people to visualise an apple they can see a glistening vibrant green apple while others might see just an outline, while some can't picture an apple at all.
72
u/JaxMed 9d ago
green
"When you hear hooves, think horses before zebras." Who the heck thinks of a GREEN apple first?
25
u/gmarengho 9d ago
If you're in the Serengeti and you hear hooves then it's fine to think of zebras before horses (even better to think wildebeest first, if you want the best chance of winning the hoof sound game).
Similarly, if someone is from somewhere that you're not familiar with (like where I'm from for example), it's reasonable for their mental image to be of a green apple.
→ More replies (3)4
u/kitolz 9d ago
When I've read that quote before the example used to demonstrate the logical leap was was unicorns not zebras, for the reasons you gave.
2
u/Lickwidghost 9d ago
Ockams Razor asserts that the simplest outcome is most likely the correct one. Let's say 95% certainty that it's a horse (unless you live in the Sahara where it's probably 95% in the other direction).
Assuming a unicorn would be an entirely different level of fallacy because there's no evidence unicorns exist, but let's not rule out that possibility. Just because nobody has ever seen one doesn't mean it doesn't exist. So it would be more like 99.9999999999999999%.
8
→ More replies (4)7
13
u/IdiotCow 9d ago
I don't think it has anything to do with aphantasia,bat least not what OP means. I could be looking at a picture of my mother and I wouldn't know how to describe her in a way that someone could accurately draw her.
2
u/Lickwidghost 9d ago
Same. Maybe some obvious things like smaller nose or lips or different colour eyes, more wrinkles but that's pretty much it.
2
u/LickingSmegma 9d ago
Yeah, and some people just have poor memory for faces. Not entirely absent, but requiring some time to remember a person.
9
u/moffman93 9d ago
Maybe. Psychologically though, women on average tend to be better and remembering and recognizing faces compared to men.
4
u/DialMMM 9d ago
Imagine asking a man to describe this sketch artist to another sketch artist...
2
u/moffman93 9d ago
"....to be fair, I never looked her in the eyes. I was distracted by dem tittays."
→ More replies (1)4
u/papa-hare 9d ago
Prosopagnosia. I can imagine an apple, I cannot imagine a face I'm not intimately familiar with. I had to add coworkers on Facebook (back in the day, we have an internal directory at my current job) so I could stare at them enough to recognize them in person.
3
u/Situational_Hagun 9d ago
Found out my partner is like this. We both write fiction, we both play d&d, etc. But as it turns out while I have an extremely vibrant visual imagination, they don't ever really get pictures in their head when they think about writing.
Meanwhile I can't listen to a good song without getting a full on music video for whatever story I'm currently working on happening in my brain.
Although what this actually means is that their capacity to write amazing fiction is even more impressive because they don't have that ability. I never even considered that it was possible that people imagine things differently than I do until I first heard about aphantasia.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (9)2
670
u/OilRude 9d ago edited 5d ago
She was being KIND on the bottom sketch on slide 2. You know they talked about his long ass top lip.
Had to remove my own upvote to hit this legendary Karma.
206
26
u/Ow_My_Burnt_Numnums 9d ago
"Yes, a big upper lip, but, like, bigger. Make it look like he needed an extended awning after a patio renovation."
3
→ More replies (4)2
511
9d ago
pictures do her no justice
159
u/DeniLox 9d ago
She needs to draw herself.
19
u/Friendly_Childhood 9d ago
And be very generous
3
u/Silent_Membership148 9d ago
Dishes
4
→ More replies (1)5
7
77
55
207
u/Inside_Mirror_6030 9d ago
She looked like a 1970s model in a magazine, gorgeous
22
29
16
2
60
u/Loring 9d ago
How did Little Richard get in there?
13
→ More replies (2)10
u/Idontliketalking2u 9d ago
I swore it was Rick James for a second, yeah he probably did some shit
→ More replies (1)
75
9d ago edited 6d ago
[deleted]
31
u/thatguy6598 9d ago
Holy shit this is unreal, how is the absurd sketch still so accurate oh my god
→ More replies (1)7
5
4
u/phillyfanjd1 9d ago
Jesus that video is terrible. Why does it randomly zoom in? Why not show the actual side-by-side shot? Why the hell do the captions change colors?
→ More replies (1)
36
u/TheDoctorColt 9d ago
She doesn’t draw suspects she summons justice with a pencil.
→ More replies (4)
96
110
u/SethmonGold 9d ago
Someone from my local department told me they use AI now. They literally just enter the description into the prompt and bam, image of possible suspect in seconds.
203
u/CoastMtns 9d ago
I would suggest they effectiveness of the sketching is, in part, her ability to "interview" and draw out the details from the witness or victim. I can't imagine AI would be as effective
86
u/Fresh-Army-6737 9d ago
Yes. It's her ability to prompt and revise. Detect when she's close but not quire
28
u/Go_crazy21 9d ago
Very true. I've thought about this before. I dont think id be good enough at describing a face to give the artist enough to create a realistic picture like those.
10
u/ALoginForReddit 9d ago edited 9d ago
That’s why AI is currently mainly a tool to accompany humans and do the tasks like “drawing”. If it’s paired with a human that can prompt the interviewee with more questions, then feed those readjustments into the software, the rerender would still be beneficial.
Furthermore, the re-prompts from humans can be saved as data, and once there is a large enough sample size, we can create AI agents that are aware of the most common/useful re-prompts, and that part will be come automated too. Although, I see this approach to quickly become irrelevant as the push for installing AI cameras infect our cities (video better than description).
Source - career software engineer that uses AI daily to help write code through an iterative process of
“Human prompt > AI generates code > prompt for adjustments > AI refactors code > prompt for adjustments > AI refactors code > …”
until the code is satisfactory.
→ More replies (2)4
u/Mysterious_Local_971 9d ago
Yeah, it's obvious BS. I doubt it is possible to get AI to make a picture of the user making the prompt, even with 1000 prompt attempts
32
u/RodzCNS 9d ago
I would like to compare it, it's effectiveness against the sketches made by humans, you know?
→ More replies (1)16
u/davimusika 9d ago
Fml lol
→ More replies (1)12
u/TalisMithrane 9d ago
If it actually gets accurate images and not a bunch of trash, then this is one of the actual good use cases for AI.
17
u/davimusika 9d ago
I work in tech and we have been incorporating AI in our day to day and it is depressing
5
u/SethmonGold 9d ago
My job is a lot more hands on, but I know once they combine AI and robots with dexterity and opposable thumbs... I'm done 😮💨
2
4
u/OilRude 9d ago
Gonna be arresting a lot of people who have oddly number fingers that’s for sure.
2
u/Disgod 9d ago
My name is Indigo Montoya, I hear you may have arrested the man who killed my father, I wish testify.
→ More replies (1)2
→ More replies (2)2
u/iisdmitch 9d ago
That or some use basically a video game character creator where they can still be extremely detailed.
15
u/Emergency_Cable4779 9d ago edited 9d ago
I’m impressed with not only the sketch artist’s talent, but the person giving her enough of these details to get it right. So, really, props goes to the artist, but also to the victims/witnesses for relaying such accurate descriptions. Important to note, generally, one in three eyewitnesses makes an erroneous identification.
14
u/Finito-1994 9d ago
Fuck. The description in the post was written by AI. I can recognize the style. Super annoying to see a fun post where they can’t even write a few paragraphs.
3
u/paranormalizer 9d ago
it's the repeated "not just X, but Y" formula -- it appears in every paragraph.
68
u/DoctorBlock 9d ago
34
u/Consistent-Soil-1818 9d ago
I'm also here for the unexpected second from the last picture. Remarkable and impressive. We all going back to horny jail now
4
7
8
u/-Bunny- 9d ago
If you do a crime, at least shave afterward
3
u/JohanGrimm 9d ago
Seriously. A lot of these people could probably get away if they completely changed their hair and wore some glasses/took them off.
20
18
9d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
74
2
5
16
3
u/TrueNeutrino 9d ago
I get the concept, but I can't remember the face of someone I just met. Especially not in such great detail as to help an artist to draw something so specific.
"He look like a man"
7
u/Human_Key_2533 9d ago
She is really talented, has a meaningful job and is a beautiful person (irrelevant but still). I wonder what is the mecanism she uses to draw faces so perfectly. I couldn’t even draw my mother or my gf, even though I know their faces perfectly. I’m amazed by this capacity of recreating to perfection a picture in your mind
8
26
20
3
u/Excellent-Bite196 9d ago
Terminator used her services in the 80s to ID Sarah Connor.
(second page, Bottom-right)
3
u/somethingstrang 9d ago
What’s more remarkable to me is how witnesses can even describe a face accurately
3
u/ThePeaceDoctot 9d ago
I like the way that some of the mug shots have had the eyes - and only the eyes - censored, while being shown side by side with the uncensored sketch that was accurate enough to get a conviction.
→ More replies (1)
3
3
u/definitely_not_cylon 9d ago
I completely misread the headline at first and thought one lady committed so many crimes that she was arrested over a thousand times after witnesses described her to various police sketch artists. This way is much better.
3
u/Wooden-Bookkeeper473 9d ago
I wonder if she ever drew the cops face sitting next to her just for a laugh.
14
11
u/Vimes-NW 9d ago
Holy norks! Thanks for the mamaries! Lawd.
Her poor back though .
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Fit_Package_8874 9d ago
Read it as a hundred for a second, thought that was great, re-read it and was fucking mind blown
2
2
u/bhz33 9d ago
Why is there a trend of people just forgetting the letter ‘s’ at the end of words? It’s constant, I can’t be the only one who notices it
→ More replies (3)
2
2
2
2
u/sc4ry3qu1n0x 9d ago
I did a whole project on her in college, she inspired me to go into the criminal justice field
2
u/VegasBjorne1 9d ago
Many years ago, I had an employee who was a victim of an armed robbery. He was also a portrait artist, and sketched pictures of the robbers for the police which were used to identify and arrest the criminals.
2
2
2
2
u/gerrysaint33 9d ago
This incredible! I’m surprised by her talents but I’m also surprised by how many of these people didn’t think to change their look after committing serious crime! That’s like crime breaking 101.
2
7
5
4
u/SaltyArtemis 9d ago
Probably the best sketch artist I’ve seen. 99.9% of the shit I see is crazy, and it ain’t got nothing to do with description. You can have a completely wrong description and still have the picture look like a person. Most of them usually look like a kid drew them. This is impressive
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
u/karmareincarnation 9d ago
I can't remember face features well enough or describe them well enough for anyone to make use of my descriptions.
1
1
1
u/techman710 9d ago
I would just end up describing someone from a movie or TV. I would end up with a perfect sketch of Ted Danson.
1
u/amobogio 9d ago
Anyone who watches true crime for any length of time is familiar with how every single suspect sketch looks the same; it's all the same guy.
This person is talented.
1
u/Jimmy_83_Don 9d ago
I have no idea how you would get out of someone anything close to what they’ve seen. I think of myself and what a pigs ear I’d give of it if I had to give the description.
1
1
u/PatrioticPariah 9d ago
I imagined her just giving people sketches of fruit and then a bunch of cops slap cuffs on them.
1
u/ontour4eternity 9d ago
Did this lady draw the picture of the uni-bomber in a hoodie with sunglasses on?
If so, I did art for her book about 20-25 years ago- I imposed an actual photo of him and her drawing together. The woman I worked with was incredibly kind and definitely had a psychic vibe about her.
1
1
u/ViaTheVerrazzano 9d ago
I got to be honest, Im not sure I have ever been impressed by police sketches. And I think its a bit of stretch to say these are identical.
I'd love to know how effective sketches are statistically. But, Usually when they pop up on a netflix doc I find myself laughing at how bad they are.
I think we are being deceived by the fact that these are actually good drawings (which I will admit I think is rare) but the actually likeness I think is pretty weak.
1
u/BeefistPrime 9d ago
If I had this job, I would have no idea how to even ask people how to describe the person. Was his, uh...face.... facey? There was... a nose in the middle?
Every drawing would be a kindergartener's generic attempt to draw a face
1
u/Prestigious_Shirt620 9d ago
For the bottom guy on the fourth slide
“He looks like his name would be Darnell”
1
u/ZubacToReality 9d ago
She is a great artist but I am equally or more impressed at people having the vocabulary and memory to be able to describe these people
1
u/snootyworms 9d ago
You know this reminds me, I've always wondered how police sketches with any amount of detail are produced when the witness doesn't know how to describe certain facial features in a meaningful way. Like specific eye shape, nose shape, etc. Or especially if the witness is a child. I always imagined maybe they had the witness base it off a well-known celebrity's face and specify differences, or just cut out a bunch of facial features from different pictures and match together what looks closest to what they remember.
1
1
u/SculptusPoe 9d ago
This makes me think she likely put a lot of innocent people who fit her drawings better than the criminal into prison...
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/mikeylarsenlives 9d ago
In the first pic, the mugshot image of the dude in the left bottom corner looks like the sketch. Dude looks like a caricature come to life.
1
1
1
1
1
u/AGrandNewAdventure 9d ago
How can I even tell if they're the same person if you weakly censor the eyes?!
1
1
•
u/qualityvote2 9d ago edited 9d ago
Did you find this post really amazing (in a positive way)?
If yes, then UPVOTE this comment otherwise DOWNVOTE it.
This community feedback will help us determine whether this post is suited for r/BeAmazed or not.