"A painter becomes an old painter at the age of three" and "Tracing the murderer through painting". Do the portrait artists in crime dramas really exist?

Audit expert: Zhang Haiyan

Excellent science and technology counselor in Hefei, Anhui Province, professional hand-painted portrait artist

Because of the thrilling plot, suspenseful criminal investigation dramas have always been loved by the audience. The 2022 criminal investigation drama "Hunting Crime Picture Book" is popular, showing us criminal cases with distinctive characteristics that closely follow social hot spots. The biggest feature of the play is the innovation of the subject matter. While exploring the truth and upholding justice, it leads the audience to know a little-known profession-portrait artist. Many friends have seen police comrades in legal programs or criminal investigation TV dramas relying on eyewitnesses' descriptions of the suspect's appearance to draw almost lifelike portraits, and then successfully capture the suspect and solve the case. We have been accustomed to seeing criminal police and forensic doctors in various film and television dramas since childhood. We can't help but ask a question, that is-does the "three-year-old painting old" portrait artist really exist? If so, how does it play a role in solving the case and tracking down the murderer?

Source: TV series poster

Portrait Artist: The “Giant Panda” among Policemen

Portrait artists do exist. They are a type of police officer in the public security criminal investigation profession. In addition to the basics of painting, portrait artists must master a lot of criminal investigation techniques and medical anatomy knowledge. Therefore, there are very few portrait artists in the police station. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are the giant pandas among the police. Therefore, most people don’t know much about this profession and have never even heard of the job of a portrait artist.

In the TV series "Hunting Crime Picture Book", the male protagonist Shen Yi drew what Captain Lei would look like at the age of 35 based on a photo of Captain Lei when he was three years old. This shocked the criminal police captain Du Cheng. In order to prove himself, Shen Yi drew what Du Cheng looked like many years ago.

Many viewers may think that the plot of the TV series is too exaggerated, deliberately exaggerating the ability of the male protagonist. In fact, the portrait artists of the public security department do have the ability to draw a three-year-old, touch bones, and even draw based on blurry surveillance.

Source: Screenshot of the TV series "Hunting Crime Picture Book"

In fact, the male protagonist Shen Yi has a prototype in reality. The simulated portrait artists in reality are more "amazing" than those shown in the TV series. The simulated portrait artist Lin Yuhui, who has been reported many times by the central media, is the prototype of Shen Yi. He is a senior engineer in the Audio-visual Room of the Physical Evidence Identification Center of the Shandong Provincial Public Security Department and the chief simulated portrait expert of the Shandong Provincial Public Security Department.

After many years in the profession, Officer Lin Yuhui has drawn more than 100,000 portraits and has played a crucial role in dozens of cases. For example, he drew portraits of Sun Zhuo, the abducted son of Sun Haiyang, the prototype of the character in the movie "Dear", twice, providing important clues for the FBI to find his son; he assisted the FBI in drawing a simulated portrait of Christensen, the murder suspect in the Zhang Yingying case, with a similarity of up to 80%.

Lin Yuhui Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

Although Lin Yuhui has retired now, he still insists on making his own contribution to the country. He has drawn more than 100 simulated portraits of missing children and helped hundreds of children find their original families.

Essential skills to become a "detective" portrait artist

Ordinary paintings pursue art and beauty, while simulated portraits pursue similar features, ensuring that the eyes, nose, mouth, and eyebrows are accurately similar. In addition to striving to restore the appearance, attention should also be paid to the simulation of the expression and the changes in the facial features of the characters at different ages.

The purpose of simulated portrait is to assist investigators in solving cases and eventually arresting suspects. In cases where there is no criminal record photo of the suspect but there are witnesses, the portrait artist's job is to combine the suspect's features described by the witnesses and use tools such as brushes and simulated portrait software to draw a facial portrait of the suspect. If the portrait is highly similar to the suspect's appearance, then this simulated portrait can be used as a useful clue.

Lin Yonghui

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

In addition, the portrait artist's job is to use portrait reconstruction to complete portrait comparison, that is, to judge the appearance characteristics of the suspect through blurred surveillance video, such as inferring the hairstyle through the face shape, and inferring the shape and size of the eyes through the eyelids and the situation around the eyes. This ability is based on the portrait artist's long-term research on portraits. For example, based on the understanding and feeling of the appearance of obese people, it can be inferred that the suspect's hairstyle is a flat head. This is because the hairstyle is related to a person's body shape, head and face shape, personality, and identity. People with obese bodies and round faces usually like short hair. Professions with more short hair include police and athletes.

In terms of personality, people who are relatively decisive, straightforward, and quick to act like to have short hair. Based on the understanding of the characteristics of hairstyles of various groups of people, and referring to the case situation and combining the experience of previous simulation portrayals, the simulation artist can infer the hairstyle of the suspect. In the simulation portrait, if the hairstyle and face shape are drawn correctly, the simulation portrait is basically successful. Portrait reconstruction has high requirements for portrait artists. A qualified portrait artist has undergone a lot of hand-drawing training and practical experience before he can reconstruct a portrait using blurred surveillance video.

News Photo

Source: Nan Fang Daily

Therefore, to become a portrait artist one must not only have a solid foundation in painting and be able to accurately draw the details of the human body, including expressions and emotions, but also master knowledge of criminal investigation techniques, medical anatomy and criminal psychology.

In order to deeply understand the appearance characteristics and criminal psychology of various criminal suspects, portrait artists often need to go to the crime scene like criminal police and get first-hand clues left by criminal suspects. The feeling is beyond imagination. These strict requirements require those who aspire to become portrait artists to make great efforts to become qualified portrait artists and truly help police comrades solve cases.