Rebuilding a face from the skull

This reconstruction was made during my Master’s in Forensic Art and Facial Identification, which I completed with Distinction in 2019. The image shows the finished face on one side and the skull beneath it on the other, so the relationship between the two can be checked directly.

Working from the bone

Facial reconstruction begins with the skull. Tissue depth, the position of the eyes in the orbits, the shape of the nasal aperture and the line of the jaw all set limits on what the face can be, and the drawing has to stay inside them.

Showing the method

The split view is a way of showing the working. A reader can move across the midline and see how each feature of the face relates to the structure under it.

This piece is in the forensic reconstruction series.