Rosenberg: Until they are convicted, they’re not necessarily criminals. RC: Is it harder to draw a criminal or an innocent person? And there are people behind you looking, so you need to have thick skin. It’s very hard - the pressure is tremendous. I do usually get the best seat in the house, but that doesn’t mean I can see. Sometimes they are blocked by marshals or computer monitors. A lot of times I’m stuck somewhere right behind the person I need to draw and I pray they turn to talk to their lawyer so I can get a profile. But my biggest challenge is getting a good seat and getting a view. I also need a razor to sharpen them at night. I can’t check them because if they dropped the pastels, they’d go everywhere. Rosenberg: One is flying with my art supplies. With cell phone cameras, I can now just email a photo from my cell phone. Then, with smaller budgets, they started to expect me to shoot my own, which meant I had to carry a laptop and send it in. In the early years, there would be a photographer or a camera crew waiting outside of the courthouse to photograph my drawings. There’s a lot of talented artists, but it’s hard to be a courtroom artist - it’s not like sitting in the Art Students League sketching a model. They don’t spend to cover a whole trial anymore unless it’s huge. Now, the attention span is cut, budgets are spread thin…quick headlines and soundbites are all people want. When I first started, there were only a few TV stations. Now, they send me in for opening or closing statements, the verdict, or a star witness. Rosenberg: I don’t often cover whole trials these days. In the Boston Marathon bomber trial, people would come in and tell their stories about losing limbs. He tortured her so bad and she described it so emotionally - I went out in the hall and just started crying. When he left her, he tied her to the bed and set it on fire. He tortured and raped her, and tried to gouge out her eyes. The guy followed her into her elevator and then forced his way into her apartment and held her hostage. Another case was a woman who was raped in her own home a few blocks from where I lived. Hearing testimony of how they suffered and called out, “Mommy, Mommy…” - it was too painful to sketch with the tears in my eyes. I had a child the same age as one of hers. During the Susan Smith trial - she drove into a lake with her kids strapped in the back of the car. There have been some cases where I’ve actually cried. I end up with a heap of gray and colorful dust and it takes a long time to clean up. That happened to me during the Bridgegate case. I was trying to be out of the way of the marshals running toward him. One of the terrorists jumped over the rail out of the jury box - they said he was going for the judge - and he was tackled right in front of me. They stuck me in a chair across from the jury box against the wall. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, there were so many defendants that they put them in the jury box. In the trial of the terrorists in the 1998 U.S. Rosenberg: They usually seat me in the jury box. RC: What are some of the tense moments you’ve experienced? It was only a half-hour proceeding.Īnthony Weiner courtroom sketch, courtesy of Jane Rosenberg. That’s the only sketch I finished, because I had a very short time. Then he started to read his statement and started crying. In the recent Anthony Weiner case, I made three starts - one when he first came in, with his hands in praying position. I draw as many sketches as I can of various poses in a certain day. I don’t pick any sketches I give art directors everything I’ve done with no editing from me - that’s back in the newsroom. I give my impression - this is what this person is doing at this moment of this day. Rosenberg: It’s not as much about capturing a mood. RC: Is it important for you to depict someone’s mood in your sketch? However, news directors seem not to agree and increasingly just want the photo. A piece of art shows more emotion I think an artist’s sketch can do certain things that photos can’t. Rosenberg: I believe art tells more of a story than a photo. RC: How do you think courtroom sketches stack up against photos? I’ve worked the Boston Marathon bombing, Bernie Madoff, John Gotti, Woody Allen, El Chapo, the Sean Bell killing, Brooke Astor’s son, and lots more. Rosenberg: I’ve been doing this for 37 years. True Crime: How long have you been working as a courtroom artist? And what are some of the trials you’ve sketched? We asked courtroom artist and fine-art painter Jane Rosenberg what it’s like to have a front row seat at some of the biggest trials of our time, why she never travels without a razor (but never in court), and what she expects at the upcoming Bill Cosby trial. Article Details: Exclusive: Interview with the Courtroom Sketch Artist from the Cosby TrialĮxclusive: Interview with the Courtroom Sketch Artist from the Cosby Trial
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