The Art of Courtroom Sketch Artists

Courtroom sketch artists are still in demand, but why? Find out why these artists are necessary in a digital world.

Courtroom sketch artists seem like an unnecessary career the further technology advances. The sketch artist is there to create a visual representation of actual events that took place during the court proceedings… but isn’t that something a computer could do? As the video says, even your phone has a camera.

So, if artificial intelligence could handle the job, why are sketch artists like Christine Cornell still employed? Because cameras aren’t allowed in a courtroom. And if that’s the case, you might as well hire sketch artists to interpret events using pastels and paper.

Watch as Vox explores the tradition and artistic interpretation of courtroom sketch artists:

We sat down with Christine Cornell, a courtroom sketch artist who has been covering trials for over 40 years to talk about why even in an age where everybody’s cellphones have cameras on them, we still often need artists to portray what happens in courtrooms.