Janet Hamlin is an illustrator whose clients include Time Warner, Universal Studios, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, IBM, HarperCollins and Associated Press.
She is also a courtroom sketch artist. The latter role is one of those fascinating areas in which photography has not replaced drawing as a form of reporting, primarily because cameras are not allowed in courtrooms in many instances.
In particular, Hamlin is noted as the only sketch artist present at the military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from 2008 to the present, including the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
A number of sketches from those sessions and others have been collected in a recently released book, Sketching Guantanamo: Court Sketches of the Military Tribunals, 2006-2013 (Amazon link). There is an illustrated review on the New York Review of Books and additional information on the Fantagraphics site, including an 18 page excerpt as a PDF.
The book not only publishes 150 of her Guantanamo courtroom drawings, but delves into the process and demands of the practice. I find it interesting that the drawings are larger in format than I would have expected.
Hamlin’s website also includes several sections of her book and editorial illustrations in various categories, of which I particularly enjoy her portraits of noted figures — done in a variety of media and stylistic approaches.
She also has a portfolio on Behance, a blog devoted to her illustration work and another that features her sketches from figure drawing sessions.
[Suggestion courtesy of Daniel van Benthuysen]