Facial reconstruction is a main course offered by forensic art programs. Such courses are designed to instruct forensic art students how to draw three-dimensional face images that include bone, muscles, racial groups and expressions. Variations for facial reconstruction courses exist to offer students a well-rounded education, such as how to do facial reconstruction from hand versus through graphics on a computer system.
Composite imaging is a specialty in the forensic art world that enables artists to recreate human suspects that witnesses may have seen and can describe from a crime scene. Composite imaging programs teach students how to recreate human appearances, which can be released to enforcement personnel to abet the search for a suspect. Training in composite imaging is necessary for forensic artists who wish to obtain a forensic artist certification through the International Association for Identification located in Minnesota.
Age enhancing art techniques are important for allowing forensic artists to create an image of what a missing victim or suspect may look like years later. Facial aging techniques are offered through many forensic art academies and by the FBI. The FBI offers training on age-progressed imagery through the Forensic Facial Imaging three-week program, which students with the appropriate prerequisites can apply for through the FBI website.
Postmortem reconstruction is the drawing or graphically enhancing of the deceased. Artists learn how to take skeletal remains or the features of a recently deceased individual to render an image that would help enforcement personnel, family members or others in the community identify the deceased person. Postmortem reconstruction is a course offered by most art academic programs, including the FBI program in Virginia.