Unlocking Crime with Forensic Art: A Deep Dive with Lois Gibson

Get ready to be captivated as Lois Gibson, the world’s most successful forensic artist, enthralls us with her powerful story of transforming personal trauma into a mission to fight crime. With her unique talent, Lois Gibson is recorded in The Guinness Book of World Records as "The World's Most Successful Forensic Artist."  Her sketches have helped law enforcement identify more than 751 criminals, making mere sketches a profound weapon against crime.

Lois's fascinating journey continues beyond there. She's a remarkable artist and a provider of invaluable safety tips. With keen insights into crime avoidance, Lois teaches us how to decipher the expression of potential criminals and what steps to follow if we feel threatened. There's also a deep discussion on the significance of trusting your gut instinct and learning from the news to keep ourselves safe.

Take advantage of this compelling exploration of forensic art, its profound impact on law enforcement, and how it's changing the world, one sketch at a time.

**Contains graphic content about murder, sexual assualt and other topics which may be triggering.

Contact Lois:
https://loisgibson.com/
Email:
giblois@comcast.net

Resources discussed in the episode:

Faces of Evil- Murderers, Kidnappers, Rapists and the Forensic Artist Who Puts Them Behind Bars by Lois Gibson and Deanie Francis Mills

https://www.amazon.com/Faces-Evil-Kidnappers-Murderers-Forensic/dp/0882822586/ref=la_B001IZX44A_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1489704765&sr=1-2

Forensic Art Essentials - A Manual for Law Enforcement Artists by Lois Gibson

https://www.amazon.com/Forensic-Art-Essentials-Enforcement-Artists/dp/0123708982/ref=la_B001IZX44A_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1489704765&sr=1-

Connect with Jen:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ineedbluepodcast/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/needbluepodcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp1q8SfA_hEXRJ4EaizlW8Q
Website: https://ineedblue.net/

The background music is written, performed, and produced exclusively by Char Good.
https://chargood.com/home

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Everyone has a story. They just don't always have a place to share it Music. Welcome back. This is Jen Lee, creator and host of I Need Blue podcast. True Crime to True Life. As a survivor of armed robbery and abduction, I understand the trauma and triggers survivors experience Knowing this and through my powerful podcast, I offer survivors a safe place to share their lived experiences. Survivors need blue to feel they belong, they are loved, understood and my favorite empowered. Please note I Need Blue does contain sensitive topics which could be triggering. Please seek help if needed and remember you always come first. I Need Blue episodes can be found on Apple Podcast, Spotify and many listening platforms, including my website, wwwineedbluenet. There you will find valuable resources, safety tips, my newly released book and e-book why I Survived by Jennifer Lee. I would like to thank Shar Good, the talented violinist who composed and performed this opening music. You can find information about Shar Good on my website. As always, thank you for listening.

Speaker 1: 1:35

Let's begin today's episode. Lois Gibson is recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's most successful forensic artist. Her sketches have helped law enforcement identify more than 751 criminals. Wow, she drew the first forensic sketch shown on America's Most Wanted, which helped identify the suspect and solve the case. Today we will discuss the traumatic event of her past which led to her calling to catch criminals through forensic sketching. We will discuss crime avoidance tips, which, as the listeners know, is a passionate topic for me. We delve into why only a few states employ forensic artists and how you can become a forensic artist.

Speaker 1: 2:38

Lois published a textbook Forensic Art essentials a manual for law enforcement artists, by Lois Gibson. I will include the Amazon link in the show notes. She also wrote Faces of Evil Murderers, Kidnappers, Rapists and the Forensic Artist who puts them behind bars, by Lois Gibson and Deanie Francis Mills. After decades of catching criminals, Lois has a new mission to create a movement resulting in every police department employing a forensic artist. Lois, thank you for being my guest today and welcome to the I Need Blue podcast.

Speaker 2: 3:28

I'm so glad to be here. This is my place. I was nearly killed by a violent felon. It was a sexual assault that strangled me almost to death and I was too embarrassed to report it. I was destroyed and then I had a miracle from God six weeks after my attack, even though I couldn't report it, I saw him get arrested for another crime. I saw justice and that's how I can stand to do what I do.

Speaker 2: 3:57

I've drawn since I was tiny and I've done lots of portraits. After I got attacked I had this intense desire to go back to the middle of the country and then I got an art degree and went to the Riverwalk in San Antonio and did about 3,000 tourist portraits. They were realistic, they were not caricatures, they were really fine art portraits. After 3,000 portraits, that's a lot of practice. If you're not very good, you don't get past the first or second one. I did 3,000 and moved to Houston and I heard about all the crime and I heard about a terrible rape.

Speaker 2: 4:35

I was with my girlfriend and we heard that a man had raped a dance instructor in front of her little 12 year old students. I thought I could draw a picture of all those little girls that had seen him and my girlfriend. So I sent her to the gas station. I didn't go with her. She looked at the guy. She came back and described him. Then we both went back to the gas station and it looked just like the man she had described. I broke down crying at the gas pump because I knew if I could draw people. I couldn't see From witnesses who had seen crimes that I would catch people. Originally I just wanted to catch a rapist, just one person. I was dumb. I didn't think. Then, when I did attach myself to the police department, they used me over and over. Now I'm in the Gittis Book of Records. I've helped catch more than 1,266 of some of the worst felons that walked the face of the earth. So this has been terrific therapy.

Speaker 1: 5:42

That's amazing To kind of put things in perspective for people, for how long you've been doing this and your experience. How long ago did the rape occur?

Speaker 2: 5:52

I was attacked in 1970. I was 20 years old. I've been doing this for 40 years at the Houston Police Department. I've worked 5,089 cases. I have hours where I draw a sketch of a woman that kidnaps a 10-hour-old baby with the mom that just gave birth. It's been kidnapped. I did the sketch of the kidnapper. It looks like the kidnapper posed for it. I drove home, I sat down and turned on the news and they said they got the baby back. I saw the nurse that was in the hospital holding the baby and kissing it. Wow, so yeah, I've been doing it for 40 years.

Speaker 2: 6:33

I've had two criminals that I sketched that. When those criminals saw my sketch on TV they turned themselves in. One guy raped a 10-year-old girl and it wasn't very close but he saw it and he turned himself in. One guy killed a father and my witness was 17-year-old, going to work with his daddy at 5.30 in the morning, sees a man shoot him to death and then go through his pockets. That guy felt guilty because when he saw my sketch and it wasn't the best I ever did he called and turned himself in. But HPD took seven and a half years to give me a full-time job. 45 states do not have a forensic artist in the entire state. Forensic Art Essentials. I wrote that so even after my death, you can learn how to be a forensic artist. I dare you artists, practice this with a friend. You can draw people you can't see. Get a friend to be your quote-unquote witness. Take a cell phone picture. Hide the cell phone. Don't cheat and draw from someone's memory. I promise you right now you will shock yourself how wonderful you are.

Speaker 1: 7:38

Well, yeah, I want to ask you because I know from my robbery like I was amazed afterwards how many things that I actually remembered Even earlier that day customers that had been in the store and in yada, yada. But I'm curious, how much do you think for you was intuition? You had a talent, obviously for drawing, but do you think you have a special intuition?

Speaker 2: 8:03

First of all, everybody is psychic. I won't go into that, I'm positive, it's God. Secondly, you don't have to have intuition. If you read my book, the answer to how you get it out of the witness is called sympathy love. My attack being nearly killed helps me do this, because I literally tell the witness well, someone tried to kill me. And then they just relax because they know, I know kind of sort of how they feel and then if you feel sympathy, you say the right things, you ask the right things, you act the right way. It's just human love and the ability to draw and it's always a wonderful thing for the witness. It's a soothing, therapeutic thing. You make it therapeutic. You have to make the person feel better. But Jen, you know that instinctively you got to be just like a wonderful mama and you got to love people. I mean, didn't you figure out, when I got a little four-year-old boy in Ulysses, kansas saw his mom and dad slash to death the day he turned four? He was a young four-year-old but I did a sketch nevertheless from his memory because they had the Steinberg catalog, samantha Steinberg catalog. He picked out the features with his little baby finger and I put together a sketch, turned it around. You do the sketch with the witness isn't looking from the catalog and then you say I'm going to change anything you want. I turned it around to this four-year-old and he got really mad because he goes why did you draw that man? He was mad. But then after a second everybody started crying because we had a picture of the guy and they took it near the neighborhood and everybody pointed to a house Go to the house, go to the house. They knocked on the door. A guy came to the door that looked like the sketch. He had the knife. He confessed there was blood on the knife. But a being, but a being. Artists could be solving thousands of cases in this country. They are not being engaged. I think artists cannot sketch an identifiable image from a witness. But I'm absolutely positive after 40 years, artists can do it.

Speaker 2: 10:16

I had an officer with shot in the head, shot in the back and then, after he laid unconscious, the shooter, who was in escape combat, got back in his car and ran over him, drug him 65 feet. He walked back and called in his own assist and I went to the hospital bed and he said I didn't see anything. I didn't see his face, I only saw the flash of the gun. Future forensic artists, here's your number one trick. They all say they didn't see the face. Be nice, don't argue with them and then say, wow, what kind of expression did they have? If they answer that question, they saw the face and you're going to get a sketch. Paul, the officer that was shot, said he looked like a shark. He looked like he didn't care about anything at all. I did the sketch. A man was arrested for shoplifting a chainsaw from Sears. Two days later, two guys at the jail thought he looked like the sketch. They had a voice lineup or a video lineup at Paul's hospital room and he picked him out. He got tried and convicted and they went to the parking lot where the attacker's car was. He got life.

Speaker 2: 11:26

What was your most memorable drawing? I did the first sketch for America's Most Wanted. It was Opal Zacharias' murder on Chantilly Lane, and my witness saw him jump over a fence and looked at him and then he jumped back over the fence because he didn't realize she would be there. She gave me a sketch. They got an immediate tip the detectives but for two years they were looking for Dang Lee. What about this tip? We can't find him. No, you got the name wrong. It's Lee Dang, and they found him immediately. And they solved it from my sketch on America's Most Wanted.

Speaker 1: 12:03

That is awesome. Was that earlier in your career?

Speaker 2: 12:07

That was really early in my career. That was before I got a job. It took seven and a quarter years for law enforcement to get a job, even though every third sketch would solve a crime and scientifically there's been a study in the forensic journal. Officially it's 31% of the time. Even in the worst circumstances your sketch artist is going to solve your case. In Kansas I have about 95% to 100% success rate. They fly me up there when they had bad crimes and just in Kansas alone I've caught four serial killers. Get a sketch artist. Kansas, full time, the whole state Colorado. Everybody does not have a sketch artist. You should have a sketch artist available for your crime witnesses.

Speaker 1: 12:57

I have a question for you because there are obviously times where you have just brought in that missing piece for them to solve the case and get the criminal. Have you been threatened by any of them?

Speaker 2: 13:10

No, that's so sweet and I don't live in there. And, to tell you the truth, the fear would be probably judges and officers and DAs, even the crooks. I've seen them in court and they look at me and it's like no, I'm not afraid, I won't be afraid.

Speaker 1: 13:25

I know you're not afraid, but that doesn't mean somebody won't send you a letter to be like watch your back. They're a criminal. Obviously they don't care right. That's why they are in court and in jail.

Speaker 2: 13:36

True, but you're thinking like such an organized person. Most people think, oh, they're so organized. No, do you realize? Almost 100% of the crime victims think they're going to come back and hurt them again. But everybody and I have my speech for them that no, they're not going to come back. But when I exercise and stuff, I carry a hidden weapon plus my knowledge.

Speaker 2: 14:00

Girls, here's your tip to avoid crime. This will be universal. If you are alone in a parking lot or anywhere sort of open public area anywhere, and if you say see a male, okay, I'm sorry, men, but 95% of violent crime is for men. So you're walking, you're a female. You see a man alone. All you have to do is look at the expression on their face. You will know. If they are fixing to come up and jack you for your purse or your car, you will know and it will stop him.

Speaker 2: 14:32

If you exhibit knowledge, you'll go oh or whatever. So just look at the face and if you think you need to, girl, get in that car real quick and take off, lock the door. You know what the routine. Run back in the mall. If you're like Aunt Lois, maybe you have a little weapon. Surprise, but I've worked crime so much, I've worked so many murders, I have such an attitude. If someone comes up and I don't even have my weapon, I absolutely know how, with my large fingers, to take the eye, one of his eyes, out of his head and completely probably destroy him. I mean, I've worked too many murders, I'm ready. But girls, look at the expression of the face of people approaching you when you are alone and you'll know what they're going to do.

Speaker 1: 15:18

What other crime avoidance tips do you have? We had a little conversation about this and it's definitely something that's important to our audience. I am my demographic, so it is the female. For the most part, you're 18 to 55. Anybody can be a victim at any age, not to say you know. If you're not in that age group, you're not susceptible, but Well here's the number one thing.

Speaker 2: 15:40

This is what you mess up on people and guys too. If you've had a crime yes, can happen to you, Believe it, Think about it and when you hear crimes, run the scenario of what you might have done in that situation that could have saved your life. You hear the news every day, right? You read the newspaper, maybe not Look at your phone, Hear about a crime. You hear about them in parking lots. I already told you what to do, but literally run the scenario. You do it all the time anyway. Then go a little further. You drive up and you don't leave your person in your car, right? Okay, so you're trying to prevent crime.

Speaker 2: 16:18

I was in Palm Springs walking with a friend and a man was behind us and he seemed so healthy. He was walking around, real powerful and athletic, and me and my friend were older and I said, oops, I need to come over here and look at my eye and I had him just get near me while this guy walked slowly past. So he was in front of us and we were behind him. That was all I did. Use your instincts and gut instincts whatever you want to call them gut. Quote, unquote the psyche things that people have told me about that saved their life. You have that gut instinct and follow it. Follow it All kind of my victims. They said, man, I felt something before I walked in the door and they didn't listen to it and they walked in, they got attacked. Follow your gut instinct and believe it could be you and that's how you keep it from being you being a victim of crime.

Speaker 1: 17:11

Right, don't dismiss it. And you know, in my book the third story is a similar situation and I had met this individual and the first time I met him he left me with this feeling of something's not right. Right, but I dismissed it because in my head I was like, oh, you know, he's probably a really nice guy and I don't want to be mean and all of these other things. And I should not have done that, because then that just led to another situation later on during that conference. But don't dismiss it. And there's nothing wrong to say to somebody you know, you're making me uncomfortable, right, there's nothing wrong with that. And for me in that position I didn't have that confidence.

Speaker 2: 17:55

You had an instinct but next time you'll be fine, right.

Speaker 1: 17:59

Absolutely, and because of it I live in a different world where I know things can happen. But even in that situation and knowing things can happen, I still dismissed it.

Speaker 2: 18:10

I have been doing sketches for four years. Of course, before the sketches and everything, I got nearly strangled to death, horrible, really near death experience. So I've been doing sketches for four years and I told girls that were attacked especially, you'll know. I told them the parking lot, the expression in the parking lot, okay. So after I had my baby, who was 11 months old, I'm shopping and I saw a guy's expression and I had four seconds to get ready and I was right. He walked up and I was ready emotionally. He put a knife in my face and then he put it down on my stomach. He says get in the car and everything will be okay. 11 years before I met him, I knew do not get in a vehicle or a house or any area. He says get in the car and everything would be all right. So I had ankle strap, high heels, it didn't matter. I twisted my arm. He had to hold my wrist. I twisted away and I ran and he goes don't run or I'll shoot you. So I kept running and I ran a zigzag and high ankle strap, high heels, try that. I got 30 people together and I said he's out there. He threatened me with a knife and some woman said well, you're not cut, okay. Anyway, 30 people surrounded him. He went to court. He got convicted. They found the knife. He threw it in a ditch, et cetera.

Speaker 2: 19:34

Be ready, think it could happen to you. That makes you safer. And you better tell your baby kids I'm sorry, kids, here's my tip Tell your babies. No adult should have to ask you for help. No adult this is me, mom, papa or me no adult should ask you for help finding puppies or anything. If an adult asks you for help, that means run away, scream. Feel free to scream. What should you scream? I've told people this is adults and children for years. Finally, I had one really intelligent Asian woman do it and she knew what to do. If you are in trouble, do not just scream. Scream fire, fire. Every single person will jump immediately because they think they could get burned. Firework goes, scream fire. A girl did that and she got 20 or 30 people. Don't do it if you're faking it, kids. No, no, no, no, no. You scream fire. Everybody will jump and at least look at you to see if you're burning and they want to take a video, right, but anyway.

Speaker 1: 20:41

Sadly, that is true. I never thought of that. We always talk about screaming, but wow, Even me. As soon as you said fire, I came to a different alert level.

Speaker 2: 20:53

It's a quickie. That means even people that move slow. They're going to go quick and, I'm serious, they're going to at least open the door and look. Please memorize that everybody, if you really need help, you're going to get it. Also, I need to bring this up because I've worked so many crimes. Yes, I've had four people. They had to run out naked because they were being either arm dropped or raped or whatever. You will get help if you run out naked. You will. I'm sorry about your embarrassment. How about those extra pounds? Never mind To save your own life, please.

Speaker 2: 21:29

Running naked works as another safety tip. I don't care if you think your neighbors are tacky, or I don't care. Whatever it is. As a matter of safety, go over and knock on the door and go. You know, as a matter of safety, aunt Lois says I need to meet you. This is what I look like. I see you, I'm over there. You need help. Run to my door and I'll help you. You should know what the neighbors look like. You don't have to be friends, you just like that's what they look like and meet them and understand at the very least.

Speaker 2: 22:02

When it's really bad if it's life or death or armed robbery or whatever, you can run to them. If somebody comes in the front I worked over 100 home invasion If you hear people coming in the front and you'll know if it's a breaking. Now I don't know if you're going to have enough snap to do this. If they're coming in one way, go out the other way. Open the door, open a window, take your cell phone hopefully naked, remember that's okay, but get out. If they're going to come rob your house and you leave it, that means they have to stop robbing your house because they know you could be calling 911. And if they do rob, nothing in your home is worth you being killed. So get out the other way. Any feelings you have about gold, jewels or anything in your house appliances, vehicles you care more about your life Go out the other way and let them have it.

Speaker 1: 22:54

Very true. Do you teach classes on this, like it's very?

Speaker 2: 22:57

good? Well, because I've talked to over 5,000 people and they said this happened, that happened and this happened. I can't forget them.

Speaker 1: 23:07

Now I have a question. You've been doing this for so many years and, like you've said a few times now, just the homicide, the things that you've seen, the things that you've heard. How are you taking care of yourself, your well-being, your mental health, because that's a lot of continual conversation and being involved in those types of things?

Speaker 2: 23:29

Good, question the Holy Ghost. Were you to be like a Christian and you understand that that's going to comfort you. And I get special comfort when I get a very bad call. I get extra comfort and you feel like a welling up in your chest, like when you see your child do something makes you proud, or when you fall in love you feel it in your chest. I got a call. A 9-year-old girl sees her mother, her hogtide, strangled to death, raped, and then he rapes the little girl. It's 3.30 in the morning and the chief says come on down. And I felt the welling up in my chest. I'm given special comfort by Heavenly Father. And then, of course, in the end when they catch the person, they caught the person from that 9-year-old. I went and she was 9 years old.

Speaker 2: 24:17

I did a sketch and they just took the sketch to the next apartment complex down and the security guard pointed to a door and they knock on the door and the guy says no, he looks like the sketch. No, I was here all night. My girlfriend will tell you. Behind him is stacked all kind of stuff stolen from the murder scene. So I handle this because Heavenly Father made me to do this and then I fell in love with somebody after I did thousands of portraits and moved to Houston and then I was drawn to the police department and, given the strength to fight, the Houston police department Fought me. They said we don't need you, you need forensic artists. I'm positive, Go to Lois Gibson. I have a YouTube telling you how to get practices. If you do those practices, if you can draw real good and you think you got the inner strength, the inner toughness to stand this work, if you think you can do it, see that YouTube video. And if you go and say, hey, I'm going to draw somebody in front of you, with you having somebody from your personnel be a witness, I promise you'll be able to do it. Convince them that they should at least try you on a freelance basis. If they tag $5,000 in City Hall, you charge 500 a case. In 10 cases, I promise you, in a smaller city, you at the very least will solve three cases.

Speaker 2: 25:37

An artist, become a forensic artist. You want to draw and get the most fulfilling job, the most difficult job. If you think you have it and it's just a simple drawing. Most people use graphite pencil. I use pastels on gray paper. It's a monochromatic Understand, it's not full color. So you go quick and you got to be able to erase it and change it when the witness says and you got to have a witness tell you what to do and do exactly what they say submit to their will. You can solve crimes. 45 states have no forensic artist. Call me, I want you out there. If you can draw anywhere, I will help you. Find me lowest Gibsoncom and email me. I'll give you the hints. By my book forensic art essentials, I wrote faces of evil and it's about my best cases that I helped solve.

Speaker 1: 26:31

Yeah, you're very confident in your approach when it comes to law enforcement. I know, like in our conversation as well, you're like we need them, even though you have this frustration in this mission over here, because you know that they're needed. Tell me, from your perspective and your experience, why we need our law enforcement.

Speaker 2: 26:51

Hey, jen Lee, thank you to bring me back because I got my one bone to pick with them. I want to tell the public. If you think that you should not like law enforcement, you just don't know one of them, or you met one you didn't like because you were speeding. They have to be so strong. In one year that I read about, there was over 6 million interactions with law enforcement and public. It could have been a ticket or whatever arrest, whatever. Look, 99.9% of the time when you're with an officer, all you have to do is follow their orders, because that's actually what you have to do and you're fine. You are fine. I've seen homicide detectives work murder cases. I've seen them cry. I saw a detective with a case where a blind woman, six and a half months pregnant, was raped and we saw that. We saw that case. But they care so much. They are family people.

Speaker 2: 27:49

And this thing with hating your police and defunding the biggest mistake in the world. And if you think you want to hate police, they've had police since Roman times and since before 4000 BC, 6000 years and before. We've always had to have police. If you want to hate and destroy your police, you want your civilization to die and in areas where they have hated their police more, we see that their civilization is dying more than places where they love their police. But they're deeply spiritual. Or they could not handle working crime and they couldn't handle helping you with your problems. They are superior in personal toughness and in spirituality, or they would all commit suicide when they weren't murders and you could see the woman's hands up with cuts across where she tried to fight the knife off before it hit her chest 20 times. No, they are spiritual and they care. Don't ruin your own city and your own area and your own life by hating cops. Cops are you. Love them, love yourself, love your city.

Speaker 1: 29:04

Thank you for sharing that. And it's also true and, in all honesty, our first responders, even outside of law enforcement, you know their mental health is such a topic of urgency and importance because they do just like you. They see things we can't possibly imagine, and they see it over and over and, over and over again.

Speaker 2: 29:28

Jim, we need the police. Just trust me If you don't understand, we need the police. If you read a book about Marxism and you want us to be Venezuela or whatever, or and you are part of that is, you have to destroy the police. How about we'd be Americans and love each other? You can show you love your community and yourself by being loving toward your officers. And who doesn't love firefighters? No, no, no, no. Cute, cute, cute, yes.

Speaker 1: 29:55

Has your laughter been part of your coping mechanism of dealing with the? Because you're funny like.

Speaker 2: 30:03

Officially I am. I am the funniest person if you've almost been killed. I covered in my book the Holy Grail of a Great Interview is to get the witness to laugh. I have witnesses obviously have been through the worst thing in their life and a whole bunch of them have said because I do know how to make people laugh they have said these witnesses Wow, that's the first time I've laughed.

Speaker 1: 30:27

Did Houston PD get another forensic artist once you retired?

Speaker 2: 30:33

Yes, I worked real hard and with great spirit. I have four artists installed at HPD and they all took my class and I love them and I help them, you know, give them hands, stuff. So you mentor, I mentor. Yes, I've mentored people all over the world. I started somebody's career in Israel, romania, portugal, brazil. There is no forensic artist in the entire continent of Europe except for in Germany, britain. No forensic artist. No, they'll try to say, oh, we do this, we do that, I don't call it. If you get a computer, that's not it. That's not it. You have to have a human being. Listen, computers don't work. By the way, somebody out there their brain's going ask her, if computers work, that computers don't work. Okay, so do it by hand artists. If you can draw by hand, you can do this. You just need the Samantha Steinberg catalog and you can do it. From a witness memory, I'm positive.

Speaker 1: 31:40

Yeah, and I'll put these links in the show notes so people can easily find them. So, aside from mentoring, what do you do in your spare time now?

Speaker 2: 31:51

Well, now I'm doing the most exciting thing in my life. I'm so happy about it. I'm doing paintings of the men who died at the Alamo in the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. And there are no photographs of them, but I have taken descendants photos and extrapolated the main features and this does work successfully. And feeding into that is my forensic art. Being able to do that is because I was able to successfully facially reconstruct skulls. With only a skull I've successfully done faces, so I have a deep understanding of the face. And then I do age progressions. So I do age progression and facial reconstruction on skulls. Rather, and because of that I'm taking the descendants. I've done four.

Speaker 2: 32:46

All my easel right now is William P King. They think he was 15 and maybe died the day he turned 16. His uncle was there at the house and Colonel Travis came by to pick up the uncle to fight in the Battle of the Alamo and he volunteered to replace his uncle, william P King, and he died at the Alamo in 1836. So they're hanging in the museum behind the Alamo which I need to bring up as air condition. If you're in San Antonio, you go to the Alamo and then you go behind it, the air condition building and you can see my portraits. They have lowest Gibson at the bottom.

Speaker 1: 33:25

That's awesome. That is like so purposeful too, especially for their living relatives.

Speaker 2: 33:32

Yes, the relatives. It brings them to tears. That's what I want. I'm a Pisces. I like emotion, but that means it looks like them.

Speaker 1: 33:44

I don't even have to ask you what makes you happy because, like you said, that emotion bringing closure for people, because when you catch that criminal, that is part of their whole closing process, of course, and then they want justice throughout the court system as well. So impactful. I think there are things forensic artists, the impacts they can have that they don't realize. It's not just sketching.

Speaker 2: 34:08

I know, but how sad. I can't even allow myself to think about Chicago and all the crime they have. And they have zero forensic artists to use. Get a forensic artist. I trained two and they used to use them, but they wouldn't use them on cases, they made them do other things. Law enforcement believe in a forensic artist. If you have an artist and they have a catalog the Steinberg catalog you have someone that saw a face. Put them in a room with that artist and in about an hour you're going to get an image of the person for whom you search.

Speaker 2: 34:47

Use forensic artists, vet them and let them get with your witnesses. First of all, it makes the witness feel terrific. It makes them feel better. It's another advocate. Yeah, it's a vessel that the witness gets to go. Look, this is what they look like. Look, it's a beautiful union between the witness and the detective. Before I die, I want to make this happen. People, we need forensic artists. Contact me. If you can draw, I will guide you. It won't be hard, it is not complicated, it's simple and you can catch criminals. Witness memory sketches that can help solve the case.

Speaker 1: 35:31

I'm positive In closing. I was going to ask so what does it take to be a forensic artist? But let me tell you what I heard. It's quite fascinating. Empathy, like being able to get into, knowing how they feel and because of what you've been through, you get it. Making them laugh is so important to build that trust and kind of like you said, some of them may not have laughed in a long time and there is a level of assertiveness. We know your value, lois. Right, but to prove another forensic artist's value to a police department is kind of like the challenge that you're facing and your mission is to break down that barrier. How is that going for?

Speaker 2: 36:20

you. Well, I've only started because I was so busy actually doing the job. I just don't know. But God has guided me and I just honestly this is when you know I'm throwing my hands up a little bit I'm praying to God that He'll help me somehow. I may not accomplish this, but, heavenly Father, I pray. Please open up minds to just one artist per jurisdiction. There's artists that can draw so well and those sketches are just one face fits, just a quick sketch. I'll give you the courage. I haven't even made it. Do that for you and I want to.

Speaker 1: 37:03

This is maybe a naive. Do they teach that in college or anything? Are there courses where you can learn that?

Speaker 2: 37:13

No, they do not teach forensic art. Here's what's taking college All kind of life drawing, just drawing human beings, that's all. Just draw human beings. And the best forensic artist didn't even go to college at all. Be a sympathetic person, draw people really well and really quickly. The best way to train yourself is to be a sidewalk artist, like in New Orleans or go to any place where there's foot traffic. And then you have to get a show. Go, hey, let me just draw you for practice, for $3, for the paper or free, it doesn't matter. Sit them down and everybody will stare when you start drawing. And they go how much? And the shill's paying nothing. But you go yeah, that'll be $80, $90, $50, whatever you want to say. So if you draw people, live like that for money, it will force you to be fabulous.

Speaker 2: 38:01

Somebody in New Orleans that did portraits like me. He pulled me aside and he bought me a beignet and a tea and he said this gives you the ability to love people. It's a giving profession. Do portraits, people. It's also the most painful. Come on, a lot of artists don't want to do portraits. Go ahead and jump in there, people and do portraits. Have the courage to do it. But there's people out there, they already got the talent. This work is pure passion and drawing.

Speaker 1: 38:28

Is there anything you want to add before I do my closing?

Speaker 2: 38:34

I'm not kidding. I'm going to try to live as long as I can, and my goal before I die is to get forensic artists in all 45 states that do not even have one in the entire state.

Speaker 1: 38:47

Go ahead and give your contact information right now.

Speaker 2: 38:51

LoisGibsoncom. L-o-i-s. Superman's girlfriend, lois L-O-I-S Gibson. Common spelling G-I-V-S-O-Ncom, or you can just Google me.

Speaker 1: 39:05

Awesome, and your books are on Amazon, so we'll include the link for that, I guess. Then go to your website then to get your email to contact you. That'll be fine.

Speaker 2: 39:14

GhibLoiscomcastnet. Ghibloiscomcastnet. Ghibloiscomcastnet. Yeah, email me. How do I be a forensic artist? I don't care where you are. Alaska doesn't have one people. Okay, we got artists in Alaska. Call me.

Speaker 1: 39:31

Awesome, Lois. Thank you so much for being my guest today on the I Need Blue podcast.

Speaker 2: 39:38

Oh, Jen, thank you. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 39:42

You're so welcome. Absolutely. This is Jen Lee with the I Need Blue podcast. To find all of my episodes and everything you ever needed to learn about I Need Blue, you can go to my website, wwwineedbluenet, and remember you are stronger than you think.

Speaker 2: 40:27

I Need Blue.