I recently did some sketching for Fox 59 in a courtroom up in Delphi, Indiana. You can see how they used the two sketches here. Here’s a screenshot (not for reuse without their permission).
I’ve done some sketching in courtrooms, years ago in Minnesota. I have a blog with those sketches here. I like to sketch in courtrooms for a number of reasons, but mostly because it’s challenging. I don’t use photographs when I live-sketch. I try to capture the drama, the demeanor of the defendant, witnesses, attorneys and the judge. That’s what viewers expect when they watch hearings and trials captured by cameras. I live-sketch a lot, so I’m pretty certain I will get at least one sketch I won’t feel embarrassed to see on television.
Years ago, when cameras were not allowed in any courtrooms, there were professional courtroom artists who were really good. In recent years, many states allowed cameras in their courtrooms. Federal courts still prohibit cameras. There isn’t enough hearings or trials in most places for artists to make a living sketching in court. So, the result is a lot of poorly drawn art. I won’t give any examples.
It’s not so much the courtroom artists’ fault. Judges rarely allow artists to sit where they can see the faces of subjects they need to draw. Some old courtrooms had press galleries which faced the action. In all the hearings and trials I’ve sketched, I’ve sat with reporters, usually in the second row in the spectator section. I try to sit as far to the side to get a profile of the defendant. If the hearing is short, I have to work fast. Under those challenging conditions, no sketch will be a masterpiece.
The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives us the right to a public trial. I think the framers of the Constitution, if they were writing it today would permit cameras in courtrooms because video is commonplace in public, governmental proceedings. Video is what modern Americans expect “public” to be.
Imaging technology has changed the role of sketch artists and illustrators. When cameras were too bulky in the nineteenth century, artists sketched battles and other news events. With the improvement of camera technology and photo engraving, the era of the battlefield sketch artist was over. The era of the courtroom artist also needs to end. Cameras belong in courtrooms.