Courtroom sketches

An underappreciated artform. Prompted by this from the Madoff trial today:

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2009-06/47774910.jpg

omg yes

there was some show i would watch as a kid, where they would draw everything as someone narrated a story, and courtrooms were involved

The dude on the far left is my favorite in that one.

yeah, so much pathos!

that 1 woman's suit jacket is kinda nuts

lovin the chick dead center with the curly brown mop

A classic from '81:

http://www.plasmatics.com/WOWPlasMySpace/DrawingCourt.jpg

Haha wow

But why is Spiderman villain Hammerhead standing at the back?

there was some show i would watch as a kid, where they would draw everything as someone narrated a story, and courtrooms were involved

― surm, Monday, June 29, 2009 12:29 PM Bookmark

omg, I don't know if we're thinking of the same show, but I used to watch one like that too in elementary school. It would start off with this brown paper and as the off-screen narrator told the story, you'd watch the artist's hands draw the characters with pastels.

Can't wait for my daughter to get a little older so I can tell her how back in my day, our cartoons were drawn as the story was told and we didn't have this mumbly-jumbly 3D art in our shows.

One of my favorites: Courtney in the Courtroom.

http://5.media.tumblr.com/YgxT8YztQ6aqe45pPg4U6VcB_500.jpg

PP, YES! i've always had those images burned in my brain

http://i40.tinypic.com/1gnczn.jpg

vice magazine of all things had an interesting interview with a courtroom sketch artist last year, accompanied with some of her work -- should be easy enough to find on the site

xposts
http://i43.tinypic.com/ziwvih.jpg

x-x-post -- What is that even about?

YES, Kerm. What was his name?

haha, surm. Now we have to find out what that show was called.

http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/040122/040122_michael_judge_hmed12p.hmedium.jpg

http://www.committeeforlegislativeaction.org/blago3.jpg

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-537330/Heather-reports-Macca-lawyer-threw-water--insulting-HER.html

xxpost

lol montage

http://www.si-la.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/montage_manson_1.jpg

Hahah oh man that Blago one.

http://lifeinlegacy.com/2002/1207/StewartWaltDrawing.jpg

http://5.media.tumblr.com/YgxT8YztQ6aqe45pPg4U6VcB_500.jpg

Is ILX participating in a "Write the Caption" contest for Playboy as well?

UK weighs in with a classic (bit small, sorry) (BTW this is 'Soham liar' Maxine Carr)

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40136000/jpg/_40136877_videolink203.jpg

http://www.monkeybusinessblog.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/21/alg_courtsketch.jpg

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/images/2008/03/19/reisercarseatdemo.jpg
At the prosecution’s request on March 19, Hans Reiser demonstrates to the jury how he disposed of the passenger seat from his Honda CRX.
Courtroom sketch: Wired.com / Norman Quebedeau

http://streetknowledge.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/micheal-vick-dogs.jpg

PP: "Cover to Cover with John Robbins"

here I have found an article about him from the MINIPAGE of course:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19781111&id=c98PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KY8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5469,2917204

http://www.santamonicapress.com/images/book/captured_oj.jpg

GATHER AROUND, wow. thanks, Kerm.

David Hicks:

http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/hicks-drawing400.jpg

Paris Hilton, believe it or not.

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/01GO5LI9Mv3Zk/610x.jpg

Britney

http://www.etonline.com/media/photo/2007/10/33917/400_bspears_metaldetector_msedwards_071026.jpg

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00795/SNN0411DAD-280_795631a.jpg

Abbie Hoffman:

http://www.petelit.com/images/2007/09/18/hoffman.jpg

Tim Russert:

http://www.courtartist.com/images/2008/06/13/blibby0208_russert_libby_copy.jpg

yeah i've seen the paris one. the brit one is hot!

http://www.committeeforlegislativeaction.org/blago3.jpg

Is this ILX's own N/A?

http://i40.tinypic.com/1gnczn.jpg

Why is Lisa Kudrow pouring water on a priest? Is that Paul MacCartney next to her?

Next to the priest, I mean.

There's a link to the explanation 6 posts later: she's his lawyer and Lisa Kudrow is his ex-wife.

Ah, okay. Is the "priest" outfit some sort of traditional British barrister dress?

I don't think it is, but it is quite strange: http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/03_03/McCartney1703_468x849.jpg

(note the fresh marihuana plant he's always carrying :-) )

hey, pleasant plains. do you know john kushmaul (sp?)? he was a courtroom sketch artist for a time here for the local tv station he used to work for. forget which one.

How can one get a job doing courtroom sketches? I wld be very good at it.

I know John well. He was a sketch artist for the Susan McDougal trial. I tried to find one of his, but none of them are online. He was on CNN and everything! There was another trial he sketched for, though I can't remember what it would have been. Something federal here in town.

Abbot, our friend just grabbed a seat in the gallery, drew his sketch and sold it to the networks. He had to show up pretty early, and I don't know what kind of arrangements he went through to get all of his art stuff in there.

Huh! Maybe I could just do it for fun.

that 1 woman's suit jacket is kinda nuts

― surm, Monday, June 29, 2009 1:32 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

I'm pretty sure that was one of the victims who spoke -- she was all "EXCUSE me Judge Chin, I WAS NEXT. It's MY TURN TO SPEAK."

https://cdn.greatlifepublishing.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/01150952/jsus-2-728x409.jpg

Did glem gormwald sell him out too

https://c.files.bbci.co.uk/17A1/production/_128394060_elonmuskdrawing.png

have they stopped teaching life drawing with models in art colleges these days? lol

Big question to potential jurors in the ComEd corruption trial: Do you have the time for this? https://t.co/FN4LIFrsji via @politico pic.twitter.com/Eet6Q19JsC

— Shia Kapos (@ShiaKapos) March 15, 2023

Donald Trump during his arraignment. Courtroom sketch by 🎨 Jane Rosenberg pic.twitter.com/DdfXkHhnUA

— Reuters Pictures (@reuterspictures) April 4, 2023

lol he's like a jaundiced Grinch.

aren't there actual photographs of this thing? do they still do the courtroom sketch for fun anyway?

Hey I'm having fun

Pretty sure cameras, still or motion, are still not allowed in most courtrooms. Our local courthouse requires you to put your cell phone in a locker.

Not allowed in federal courtrooms either, so it'll be all sketches if Trump ever gets that call.

They allowed a couple photographers in before the hearing began, but then booted them... so there are some real photos, but not of the arraignment itself

if you were a courtroom sketch artist who couldn't be bothered schlepping all the way to the courthouse, it must have been tempting to just stat at home, wait for the pre-arraignment photographs to appear on twitter and then just base your sketch on them. It's not like anyone's appearance is going to have changed too dramatically in the interim.

Just wait for the AI sketchers

jaymc already on it.

AI-generated courtroom sketch of Trump two weeks ago (via @EliotHiggins) vs. actual sketch today (via @reuterspictures) pic.twitter.com/UdsQhbu32P

— John M. Cunningham (@jmcunning) April 4, 2023

non-AI is clearly superior

what if you specifically ask the AI to make a courtroom sketch of Trump where he looks like the Grinch, though

it would produce something amusing, but far too literal for that prompt

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1b3e30d8d4875e55181713b8fbeab637f1a6f4d3/0_273_3024_1814/master/3024.jpg?width=620&dpr=2&s=none

"Sam Bankman-Fried, with his short hair"

He seems so happy

starting to think some of these courtroom sketch artists lost money on FTX pic.twitter.com/36hzJkzaqa

— Molly White (@molly0xFFF) October 11, 2023

Lookin' suave:

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:ejihld4sywvvqwe67cdkn4jq/bafkreianwbswqdc2256qbdrhoxktvvvsgqcz4tdshklab4xx6ftqjzn7da@jpeg

Lookin' suave:

🖼

oh no! not bernie too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okoYy6Glazw

An alternate approach

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:v4ohdv3xxwoqbitlvaifelue/bafkreia6jpbkchqwkeovg5f2feevo7feng25ttmftebf537j7ef73z5k3i@jpeg

we have a winner

https://i.imgur.com/RzeHtmr.jpg

Goddamn smirky eyebrow raised Poochie cartoons nowadays

lol. He does make that face sometimes, although I imagine in the courtroom he has the badass scowl going.

For real though can I hire this courtroom portrait artist pic.twitter.com/oD4XFeOehu

— Austen (@Austen) October 30, 2023

Italy has the bug!

https://andreaspinelliart.it/courtroom-sketching-arrives-in-italy/

This one is pretty great, honestly:

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qrllvid7s54k4hnwtqxwetrf/bafkreiadurkgsewblowpvf6547ikkkerop23wyoywvta36tbt3xmwwo3di@jpeg

Some courtroom sketch artists are good enough to have their own book.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/8141x5oyOwL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg

This courtroom sketch artist can take the rest of the day off ... because these are just epic. pic.twitter.com/3eLJ3AoZgs

— Ryan Parker (@TheRyanParker) November 26, 2024

Even before clicking I knew it had to be Rudy.

The purple background highlighting was an inspired choice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqf-wLAPK8Q

While we’re on lunch break in the Madigan case, behold the before and after sketches of Deno Perdiou, the AT&T exec whose testimony was interrupted after he fell down a flight of marble stairs and his his head on a railing.
By the great courtroom artist Lou Chukman pic.twitter.com/qk42b2YvZo

— Jason Meisner (@jmetr22b) December 18, 2024

love it

Aw yeah:

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wie6s34baaupvunlv6dfxxqx/bafkreib63h5d4dsgb3z6pi6prz5ifu23jg3x6wv4pubjeme6lrcyqlrznm@jpeg

holy fuck

It's amazing how Trump continually destroys people who work for him and yet more people willingly flock to fill their places. To coin a phrase, "wake up, sheeple!"

Shades of Munch

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/10/03/19/102688935-15160491-image-a-63_1759516705465.jpg

https://www.instagram.com/p/DPWenkZjY80/

^relevant Stan Kelly cartoon

“cartoonist angry that the courtroom sketch artist was incompetent and also I now have problems with the verdict due to the bad courtroom artist” is an amazing Kelly bit

I didn't know what the "innocent koalas" thing was about: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/sean-diddy-combs-tells-courtroom-artist-he-looks-like-koala-sketches-2025-06-05/

Oh we got something here, folks. To quote the Bluesky post starting the thread:

Um...so I accidentally stumbled onto the UVA law library's collection of 6,000 drawings by courtroom sketch reporter Ida Libby Dengrove, who worked in NYC mostly in the '70s & '80s, & they're kind of...amazing..??

https://archives.law.virginia.edu/resources/184198/object/94394

But here are some featured choices -- "Clown Attack"

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rtjcwrrc6f2lkildglhz3zyj/bafkreiespoeclbadns76hjz6ypy2lotjoxblx4u34kj7txtlinmwnmogpe

"Voodoo Doll"

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rtjcwrrc6f2lkildglhz3zyj/bafkreicszg26qitfvnggfadrtn74wbptcoyqilvgzsbrbdb3pg5ejg4kmi

Also, this amazing detail from that general page:

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rtjcwrrc6f2lkildglhz3zyj/bafkreibfiou2ttx2plwzsb63kv4jweabhcn6j6mun5w2xqscvcc4iraqi4

thanks!!!!!

(UVA grad here, but ASchool not law)

I was at the Clown Attack and that's a pretty accurate depiction of what went down