The Role of Courtroom Sketch Artists

Courtroom sketch artists unfold the history of some of the most famous trials with the stroke of lead across a page.

Heavy black satchels full of over 200 markers make up their professional lives.

In the wake of more cameras in the courtroom some people believe that these unusual artists will disappear in the name of progress. Outlines become faces as testimonies emerge. Witnesses or defendants are often cartoons in themselves, so how do you draw a cartoon of a caricature? In between drawing, artists listen to details coming from the lips of those on the witness stand. Five years ago these artists made a couple of hundred bucks a day or more. Courtroom sketch artists fill the empty space where cameras are sometimes not allowed and they even have their own fraternity.

Their work often promotes laughter among their own little group, more so than tears. Speed is also a factor if you want to be a courtroom sketch artist and their work can sell for as much as $10,000 a piece.

Gary Myrick, who I've known personally for 11 years, was one of those courtroom sketch artists who covered noteworthy trials such as the Texas millionaire Cullen Davis' of Fort Worth, TX, Paula Jones, accuser of former President Bill Clinton and Darlie Routier's murder trial among others. Myrick, a native and resident of Fort Worth, is an accomplished artist whose work dates back nearly 30 years and includes the 1981 trials of Vicki Daniel and the courtroom events surrounding Paul Fielding, a former Fort Worth City Councilman now in prison after pleading guilty for mail fraud and extortion. Myrick was also hard at work during the famous Branch Davidian incident, drawing the arraignments in Waco. He's sketched judges, witnesses, experts, defendants, spouses, and family members of defendants like Jones who levied sexual abuse charges against Clinton. He has even drawn the U.S. Supreme Court for ABC News.

When he worked, people would often look over his shoulder as he drew the major players and he was known to attract a crowd during court recesses.