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[-[[caption-width-right:350:[[StylisticSelfParody "What are these weird bumpy things between their eyes?"]]]]-]

->'''Gumball''': Big skull!... He had a big skull for a head.\\
'''Principal Brown:''' Skull, hmm? So, something like ''this?!'' (holds up drawing)\\
'''Gumball:''' That's a boat.\\
'''Principal Brown:''' (mumbling) Yes, well I was never really good at drawing faces.
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball''

The facial composite is a standard technique in police investigations. It is a drawing created to try and identify a suspect whose appearance alone is known. While the quality and accuracy of these drawings can vary based on the quality and accuracy of the eyewitnesses, you can reasonably expect the sketch to resemble who the police are after.

That is, of course, unless the RuleOfFunny is in play.

When this happens, the composite sketch will inevitably be a hideous caricature of the actual person. Of course, because it's the Rule of Funny we're talking about here, this will typically do absolutely nothing to prevent people from recognizing the person on the sketch ''anyway.''

A frequent inversion is for the composite sketch to be very accurate but the character himself, either out of obliviousness or vanity, insisting it looks nothing like him. Another variation will feature a character creating a face completely out of their imagination to blame something they did on a made-up individual, only for the person they described to actually exist and be arrested as a result of their lie. In a bout of StylisticSelfParody, animated or comic mediums will have the composite [[FourthWallPortrait drawn in a realistic style instead of the art style of the series itself.]]

Contrast SuperIdentikit. This can also sometimes happen because the SuspectIsHatless.

----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* An old Yellow Pages commercial shows a Chinese shopkeeper describing a robber to the police sketch artist. He gives a reasonable description. The artist finishes and asks, "Is ''THIS'' the man that robbed you?" He shows us a stick figure with only a general resemblance to the description. The victim flips out. "You're not an artist! You can't draw!"
* InvokedTrope in a Dove ad where a criminal sketch artist draws two versions of the same person, one where they describe themselves, and one where someone else describes them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* During the first arc of ''Manga/BusoRenkin'', Kazuki creates a composite sketch of Papillion... that looks like it was taken out of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''.
* In ''Literature/DragonarAcademy'', Avdocha the Executioner's wanted poster makes her look like a hot, grown up woman with huge breasts. The main characters are flabbergasted when they learn she is really a small girl who looks like she hasn't gone through puberty yet (she's really 20 years old).
* There's an instance in ''Manga/FromEroicaWithLove'', when Eroica and the Major are reluctantly working together at the Vatican and end up getting the police on their tail. Unfortunately the sketches turn out a bit "artsy" -- meaning that the gruff Major ends up looking something like a model posing on a magazine cover. The only one who ever recognizes him based on that sketch is the overeager Italian detective. (The Major is not amused, but Eroica wants to color the picture, preferably with lipstick.)
* After the Lab 5 incident in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Ed draws up a report of what he saw, which includes a copy of the transmutation circle he found and drawings of the homunculus he met. The drawing of the circle is spot on, the drawing of Envy bears little resemblance. Justified by the fact that Ed learned technical drawing as part of becoming an alchemist (as precisely drawing out complex diagrams is a key part of the work), but he never studied portraiture.
* Played for drama in ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex''. Master hacker [[TheAdjectivalMan the Laughing Man]] is able to hack into anyone with a cyberbrain in real-time, replacing his face with what would become an [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_laughing_man_logo.jpg iconic logo]] to protect his identity. The police thought they caught a break when they found two unaugmented people who got a good look at his face, but quickly learned that the Laughing Man's hack was [[MindRape more insidious than they realized]]: every time the witnesses tried to describe the face they saw to the cops, the sketch artists could only draw the logo. [[spoiler:He does the same thing to Togusa in episode 11.]]
* ''Manga/JacoTheGalacticPatrolman:''
** This is the primary BerserkButton of the title character after he gets in trouble with the police. It reaches the point that when the police stop trying to arrest him he ''demands'' another accurate one... [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption That is just as bad]], at which point he decides to go on TV.
** Jaco himself draws one of these in ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'' and its retelling in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper''. The one he portrayed? ''Freeza''.
* In ''Literature/MushokuTenseiJoblessReincarnation'', Kishirika's enemies are trying to hunt her down now that she's reincarnated and have spread wanted posters of her across the Magic Continent. She's managed to avoid them because the posters are all based on her previous incarnation's busty, adult appearance; in her current body she's still a prepubescent child.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Sanji spent a great deal of time desiring to get a bounty put on his head (since a bounty translates directly into [[PowerLevels fighting power and awesomeness]]). When that finally happened, the cameraman that tried to get a picture of Sanji [[CameraObscurer left the lens-cap on]], so they had to make his poster based off second-hand descriptions. Sanji's wanted poster ended up as a terrible artist's rendition that looks only vaguely like him. However, the second part of this trope didn't kick in much since everyone but a zombie with Luffy's personality legitimately failed to recognize him from the sketch. The sketch's consequences come up in a different way when the crew encounters [[spoiler:Duval, whose face is near-identical to the sketch]]. This did work in Sanji's favor, as [[spoiler: this led to Sanji's father, Vinsmoke Judge being unable to find him]]. Luckily for Sanji, after the TimeSkip, he gets an actual photo, albeit an incredibly embarrassing one.
* ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'': Gold has to give a description of Silver to a police officer. He exaggerates all of Silver's facial features so much that it looks like a grotesque monster and nothing like Silver. This was however, done deliberately -- he didn't want the police interfering with [[ItsPersonal his vendetta]]. We do get to see Silver's reaction when he's walking through a town and sees his wanted poster on the wall. He looks at it, {{Face Fault}}s, then stares at it for a moment while {{Sweat Drop}}ping. It eventually turns into a BrickJoke of sorts: [[spoiler:when Blue tries to arrest Silver for the things he did at the beginning of the ''Gold/Silver/Crystal'' arc, Gold pulls out the wanted poster and points out that it looks nothing like him]].
* ''Manga/SamuraiUsagi'': Suzume reacts to facial composites being handed out of her and her allies by wanting to hunt down the one who drew them.
* ''Literature/ScrappedPrincess'': The fact that it seems the police sketch looks totally the same when one drawn by a person with zero artistic skill, or a "professional" street painter, makes it looks like the whole world suffered from the [[PlanetOfHats Bad Artist Hat]].
* A RunningGag in the manga ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'' is that none of the Seven Deadly Sins' wanted posters really resemble the actual person. They're ''so'' inaccurate that Meliodas, their captain, [[RefugeInAudacity has the posters on display in his own bar]]. Only the girls have posters that resemble them which could imply that the witnesses were DistractedByTheSexy.
** This one is interesting in that the wanted posters are for people who were well-known celebrities previously, and despite the concealing armor and helmets they wore most of the time there are dozens of people who knew each of their faces well, and who were used as sources for drawing each poster. All of the drawings actually make ''sense'' if you think enough about them, and while you wouldn't be able to find any of the Seven going off their posters (including the girls), it's for a new reason in each case.
* ''Manga/SketDance'': Bossun tries to sketch a profile of something with "a protruding head, an antennae, a face like a bat's and has spotted butterfly-like features". His drawing ends up looking like a disgusting alien monster and, according to Himeko, "Nothing would look like that crap". However such an object does exist, much to Bossun's own surprise, though obviously it turns out ''not'' to be the object Quecchon is looking for.
* ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'': When a bounty is put on Lina's, Gourry's, and Zelgadis's heads, their wanted posters turn out something like this.
* ''Literature/TheStoryOfSaiunkoku'' plays with this a little; when Seiran and Ensei get wanted posters put up for them during the trip to and through Sa Province, [[{{Bishounen}} Seiran]]'s likeness is perfect, but Ensei -- who ''would'' be {{bishounen}} if he hadn't grown out a coarse, shaggy beard to disguise his face -- is drawn as a wild-haired, jagged-toothed monster not unlike a bear. Ensei finds this rather unfair.
* In ''Anime/WorldConquestZvezdaPlot'', because Zvezda has technology that scrambles their faces on recordings, their wanted posters feature hand-drawn illustrations instead. The illustrations are all terribly drawn and look nothing like them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* Used as a RunningGag in ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}''. For whatever reason, Flynn's wanted posters always have wrong nose. Upon seeing one with [[GagNose a ridiculously long nose]], he replies, "Now they're just being mean."
** In a subversion of the "recognize the subject anyways" clause, Maximus (who has encountered Flynn in a criminal act) originally doesn't recognize Flynn on the poster; he has to cover up the nose to realize that yes, that IS the guy Max encountered earlier.
** And then in ''WesternAnimation/TangledEverAfter'', [[spoiler:when he and Rapunzel are getting married]] he finds out they ''still'' can't get it right. [[spoiler:During the hijinx that Maximums and Pascal get up to trying to recover their rings, the image gets folded in on itself, resulting in what looks like an even '''longer''' nose.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'': After Woody is stolen, the toys launch an investigation into the culprit, with the Etch-a-Sketch initially providing a composite sketch of the man with a really long beard (which he obviously didn't have). After some investigating of his own, Buzz has Etch draw the man in a chicken suit, and the toys recognize him as the owner of Al's Toy Barn, who wears such a suit in his TV commercials.
-->'''Bo Peep:''' He didn't have a beard like that.
-->'''Hamm:''' Fine. Uh, Etch, give him a shave.
-->''(Etch redraws the suspect clean-shaven)''
-->'''Slinky:''' The kidnapper was ''bigger'' than that!
-->'''Hamm:''' Oh, picky, picky, picky!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Not exactly played for laughs in ''Film/AtlanticCity'', but Lou is ecstatic when the police sketch over the news looks nothing like him--he knows that he's going to get away with a double murder.
* ''Film/TheBraveOne'' references the TruthInTelevision phenomena below regarding a person thinking of a well-known face when they are unable to recall a face clearly.
* ''Film/DangerDiabolik'' has a bunch of criminals use a ''weird'' device to come up with a sketch of Diabolik's girlfriend. It doesn't work too well. ("[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S10E13Diabolik No, she wasn't]] [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]]!") Said "weird device" is a regular old light box -- the kind artists use for tracing -- over which the criminals placed transparencies with various pre-drawn facial features, kind of like a low-tech version of computer compositing.
* ''Film/EverbodysFamous'': One of Debbie's kidnappers, Willy, is later seen entering her apartment. Debbie's neighbor provides the police a description of Willy--a "tall thin man of North African descent" who bears no resemblance at all to short, blond Willy. When Debbie sees the police sketch that looks nothing at all like Willy, she says it's because her neighbor is a racist who blames everything bad on Moroccans.
* In the 1964 ''Film/{{Fantomas}}'' movie with Creator/LouisDeFunes, this occurs in a process similar to the ''Diabolik'' one, but the criminal ends being recognised as police commissioner Juve (played by de Funès) -- the actual criminal, Fantômas, used LatexPerfection to disguise as him.
* In the live-action ''[[Film/TheFlintstones Flintstones]]'' movie, Fred's WantedPoster is drawn in the style of cartoon Fred.
* In ''A Guy Thing'', Jason Lee's character Paul fabricates a story about being mugged, and when questioned by the police, describes the mugger as black AND white, with red hair in dreadlocks, a gold tooth, and a tattoo of barbed wire around his neck. His response when asked to identify a man matching this description as the mugger: "It's not him."
* During the end credits of ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle'', a news report mentions that the titular characters are still wanted by the police. However, the provided police sketch depicts a stick figure in a turban and goatee, and another wearing a Chinese hat, squinty eyes, and big teeth.
* While the composite of Émile Leopold Locque that Film/JamesBond does with the help of Q in ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'' ''is'' accurate (with cutting edge CGI rendition of the time no less), Q goofs up at one point and gives him a hilarious Pinocchio-like long nose ("A nose, not a banana, Q!") as well as a [[GagLips duckface]].
* ''Film/JoeDirt''. With two pictures. They are funny. The joke is that his mom actually sort of looks like her picture.
* In ''Film/JohnnyEnglish'', the main character makes up a perp to cover up [[SelfOffense his own mistake]]. He describes an utterly ridiculous figure with orange hair, an eyepatch and identical banana-shaped scars on both cheeks. At the very end of the film, [[BrickJoke a guy fitting the description appears reading a newspaper]].
* In ''Film/LoadedWeapon1'', one woman is describing a suspect, and the police guy fumbling at what looks a bit like a Mr. Potatohead. [[BrickJoke And later,]] we see two policemen arresting a guy who swears he is innocent -- looking just like that.
* ''Film/NachoLibre'' has a variation in the form of a caricaturist whose drawing of Nacho's sidekick winds up looking like a (reasonably attractive) woman.
* In the second ''Film/TheNakedGun'' movie, a police sketch artist is tasked with drawing a suspect described by the glamorous Jane. It turns out that he spent the entire time [[DistractedByTheSexy drawing a portrait of her instead]].
* In ''Film/WrongfullyAccused'', Ryan Harrison (played by Creator/LeslieNielsen) finds a wanted poster of himself in a store flanked by three well-known TV personalities, including John Walsh of ''Series/AmericasMostWanted'', and scribbles all over it. When one of the personalities recognizes someone, he draws his gun, causing Ryan to panic... and watch as the guy pulls away the guy who looks like the scribbled picture.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''[[Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo 1634: The Baltic War]]'' three fugitives hiding out in London are helped immensely by the fact that the only detail their wanted posters get right are their beards, which are a very common style in the city. The poster even actively hinders the up-timers trying to work out who they are.
* Discussed in ''Literature/TheDayOfTheJackal''; a group of French counterespionage officials are discussing making an identity sketch based off of a hotel clerk's having briefly seen the Jackal two weeks earlier. One of the officials dismisses the idea, saying that such sketches based off of such a short encounter from such a long time ago are often inaccurate to the point that they could be of anybody, and at times even look like a completely different person.
* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKidCabinFever'': The police sketches of Greg and Rowley after vandalizing the school do not look anything like Greg and Rowley.
* In ''Literature/{{Incompetence}}'', Harry checks out the news to find out if he's been identified by police. Due to the fact that PoliceAreUseless, not only does it look nothing like him, it strongly resembles Dr. Zaius from ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes''.
* In the Creator/EvaIbbotson novel ''Literature/IslandOfTheAunts'', the police circulate composite drawings of the aunts, who are wanted for kidnapping. However, the descriptions result in grotesque caricatures that look nothing like the real women.
* ''Literature/MaxAndTheMidknightsTheTowerOfTime'': When the Midknights get to the town of Peasoup, they find a WantedPoster of Max's twin sister, Mary. The picture has a different nose, and more realistic-looking eyes than the BlackBeadEyes that the girls have.
* Played with in the French novel ''Monsieur Malaussène'' (part of the Malaussène series by Daniel Pennac). The person on the facial composite is very familiar to the AmateurSleuth, but she only recognizes her after retouching by a professional photographer, especially [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic blurring]] the facial composite.
* In ''Literature/{{Relativity}},'' Michael and Ravenswood are unable to accurately describe Vera Barracuda... probably because [[MyEyesAreUpHere neither of them got a good look at her face.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheAmericans'': Turns out, a PaperThinDisguise can be extremely effective as long as it's used on a stressed out, untrained target; when she explains every last ridiculous detail of their faces to the police, the sketches emphasize the parts that were clearly part of the disguise, but without a framework of details to wrap it around the sketches have nothing in common with the spies' actual faces.
* Played to brilliant effect in a series of sketches on comedy supergroup ''Series/BigTrain''; a lady describes her assailant using a barrage of adjectives that have nothing to do with visual appearance to an increasingly frustrated police officer.
** Australian comedy ''Series/FastForward'' had a similar skit involving a romance novelist describing her assailant in PurpleProse.
* On an episode ''Series/CornerGas'', Karen takes an art class, saying she needs to get better at sketching suspects. Cue {{Flashback}}.
-->'''Karen:''' Is this the man who stole your cabbage? ''[reveals squiggle of formless blob]''\\
'''Old Woman:''' ''[squinting]'' ...Kind of. He had a hat.
* ''{{Series/CSINY}}'' had an episode where the drawing failed because the boy who witnessed the crime was actually describing a character in his comic book.
* Happened on one episode of ''Series/DearJohn''. Kirk is robbed by the girl he's dating and gives the police an exaggerated description of a very tough guy. The sketch artist then congratulates him on being the first person on the block to be beaten up by Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger.
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial ''The Mind Robber'', the Second Doctor's companion Jamie is turned into a faceless cardboard figure. In order to restore him the Doctor must reassemble his face from photographic segments, but he picks the wrong ones and Jamie is revived with a different face. This was actually a clever device to replace Jamie with another actor because actor Creator/FrazerHines was off sick, and it works perfectly in the context of the story's MindScrew plot. In the next episode the same thing happens, and of course this time the Doctor gets it right, restoring Jamie's original appearance.
* ''Series/{{Elementary}}'' had a sketch of a criminal that aroused some suspicion from [[TheWatson Joan]], because she had the feeling she'd seen him before; Sherlock was already suspicious because the descriptions given by the various eyewitnesses were unusually similar, even when recalling their descriptions much later. [[spoiler: The sketch was actually of Torgo from ''Film/ManosTheHandsOfFate'', and the witnesses who described him were colluding with each other to conceal their own involvement in the crimes under investigation.]]
* ''Series/FlowerOfEvil'': Moo-jin the reporter deliberately engineers this in episode 4, giving an incorrect description of Hee-sung in order to delay the police. Moo-jin is working with Hee-sung to find the real killer and doesn't want him arrested.
* ''Series/TheGoodies''. After the Jolly Rock lighthouse goes missing, police produce two identikit pictures of high-up members of the Royal Family (as the [=QE2=] sailed past it shortly before the lighthouse was [[RuleOfFunny launched into space]]).
* A parody of Hawaii 5.0 made by Creator/EugenioDerbez had a witness describe the suspect as having yellowish skin, a round face and a "sinister smile" and the sketch that comes out is simply a yellow smily face. Subverted at the end when the cops capture the criminal and they claim "he looks nothing like the sketch", only for them to notice he has a mask and underneath he looks just like a smiley face.
* ''Series/{{Hunter|1984}}''. Hunter comes home to find the [[DropDeadGorgeous body of a beautiful woman]] in his house, [[ItWasThereISwear which later vanishes]]. He has a sketch artist reproduce her features, but is later embarrassed when Hunter shows the sketch to someone who knew her in life, who says it's a good likeness but whoever made the sketch must have been in love with her because she wasn't ''that'' beautiful.
* In the [[IntoxicationEnsues Lemon Wacky Hello]] episode of ''Series/JustShootMe'', Nina gets robbed, and she asks Elliott to draw a sketch of the burglar. [[ReactionShot We don't get a chance to see it]], but the cop points out that it should be easy to track down the guy. After all, how many eight-armed cowboys with beaks are there in New York?
* ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'': "We're looking for a man with huge cheeks and a 6-inch forehead!"
* In the second episode of ''Series/LoisAndClark'', a Daily Planet artist is drawing Superman based on Lois's description ... but she keeps insisting he looked ''nothing'' like Clark Kent.
* An episode of ''Series/{{Medium}}'' had a witness describe, instead of the suspect whom she was terrified of, the man on the cover of a magazine nearby. The resulting sketch is a pretty good likeness of Creator/MattDamon.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}''
** One of the team appears to be describing a suspect to Abby, who's making a composite on her computer. When the picture is shown to the audience, it looks exactly like Ducky. {{Subverted|Trope}} when it turns out that they already knew the identity of the suspect and were just playing around with the composite program.
** In another episode, Kate is doing a composite of one of the [[VictimOfTheWeek Victims of the Week]] from memory (the body having been burned beyond recognition by a bomb going off at the scene after they left), and Tony is "helping" her by doing a composite of his own based on her description. Tony completes his first and hands it to Kate, revealing it to be a stick figure [[WingdingEyes with Xs for eyes]]... and then Gibbs walks in and berates Kate for the poor quality of "her" sketch.
** Palmer served as a witness in one episode and turned out to be terrible at it. The first description he gave Abby wound up with a composite with cartoon dimensions (nose set to minimum, ears to max, etc.), which he declared perfect, because it captured the suspect's "essence." They tried again with Palmer under hypnosis, and this time they wound up with a workable composite... of the barista Palmer frequents. For whatever reason, that was the image he had in his head. Third time might have been a charm, but they decided not to bother.
* An episode of ''Series/NewTricks'' had the team working from a realistic looking sketch that accurately fits the witness's description, but can't find anyone connected with the crime who remotely resembles it. [[spoiler:It turns out that the witness had wanted to conceal the perp's identity, but needed to tell ''something'' to the police sketch artist, so just described Arnold Schwarzenegger instead.]]
* Attempted to invoke on ''Series/NoOrdinaryFamily''. Jim is a sketch artist, so when someone comes to describe the person they saw (him) to him, he tries to steer them in the wrong direction. They insist though on describing him accurately, except for giving Michael Chiklis long stringy hair.
* One episode of ''Series/{{The Office|US}}'' has Pam drawing a composite of a suspect who flashed Phyllis in the parking lot. When Dwight takes it upon himself to find the offender, Pam draws Dwight's face and adds a small mustache.
* In ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' "Baby Blue," after Finch kidnaps a baby, an AMBER Alert is sent out with a sketch of Finch. It's a pretty bad caricature.
-->'''Finch:''' It's no wonder they never catch anybody with these things.
* Played for laughs in the pilot for ''Series/{{Psych}}'', Shawn "reads" the victim's hot sister to describe the "perp" to a composite artist. Of course it looks like her boyfriend in a picture of them skiing.
* A Weekend Update on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' featured an interview with the guy who did the sketch of the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, comparing the image with the eventual mug shot, and how the two look nothing alike. It then showed his sketches for the "Ten-Gallon Hat Bandit," and a criminal in a chef's hat, both with large hats and sunglasses, despite how neither criminal actually wore those items. The sketch artist notes he's not good with eyes or hair.
** Another earlier Weekend Update had anchor Creator/NormMacDonald show the sketch and joke that police had sent out an APB for the arrest of Music/WeirdAlYankovic.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] on Season 5 Episode 2 of ''Series/WhiteCollar''. Neal has been given a new handler, and the trail of their current case has led to [[spoiler: Mozzie, posing as a man named Theodore Winters and running a stolen art business]]. When Neal is asked by Peter to do a sketch, he does so in Peter's office, fudging it just enough so that it matches [[spoiler: Mozzie's]] description without looking anything like [[spoiler: him]]. Then when Peter wants the new handler to confirm the sketch, Neal turns his back to Peter and shows him an actual sketch of [[spoiler: Mozzie]], which had been cleverly hidden on the next page of the sketchpad.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Music/{{Gorillaz}}: In the latter part of Phase 1, Murdoc Niccals had his Winnebago RV stolen by a mysterious "Mr. Wurzel", whose composite is just a haphazard collage of different facial features. It's safe to say that nobody on Earth looks remotely like him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* In ''ComicStrip/LibertyMeadows'' when the cow kidnapped a visiting wildlife show host Leslie tried to give a description to a police sketch artist who looked suspiciously like Frank Cho's AuthorAvatar, and ended up with a picture of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_the_Cow Elsie]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''[[VideoGame/BatenKaitos Baten Kaitos Origins]]'' has the PowerTrio find wanted posters of themselves in Sudal Suud. PerversePuppet {{Golem}} Guillo is drawn with a beak and claimed to be a ''man'' in a mask (despite Guillo's female physical features being more prominent than Guillo's male ones). Milly wears way too much makeup and is reported as a kleptomaniac. Sagi appears to be much older than he is, and it says he's a ''marriage con''.
* In ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'', after Booker gets the entire city after him, you hear a PA announcement describe the 6'1", brown-haired, green-eyed, Caucasian and thoroughly American protagonist as "either a Mulatto dwarf or a Frenchman with a missing left eye, no more than four foot five inches." Since Columbia is so [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain violently xenophobic]], it makes sense they'd rather peg a minority than an American. Later, you find a woman describing Booker to a sketch artist, and the picture looks like [[VideoGame/Bioshock1 Sander]] [[MythologyGag Cohen]].
* In ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'''s story modes, the wanted poster of Ragna The Bloodedge is drawn with such absurd levels of {{Gonk}} that [[TheDitz Taokaka]] insists "Good Guy" (Ragna) can't possibly be the same person as "Rawgrna" (Ragna's poster). Unfortunately for Ragna, other characters ''can'' identify him by this poster, [[VideoGame/BlazBlueCrossTagBattle Orie]] included.
* A variation happens in ''VideoGame/DisgaeaDimension2''. Laharl demands statues be made of him and at first they look fine. But then the camera swings around to show the face, [[https://24.media.tumblr.com/9e418aaced495d7bd739bf8e4dfb61a6/tumblr_mudtf2HgOO1sr2lf5o1_1280.png which has very strange bug-eyed expression.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}}'', the player gets to try making a composite image of the protagonist. You're ostensibly supposed to try your best, but it can be more fun to add ridiculous mustaches and hairstyles.
* In ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'', the newspaper article after each mission will have a different composite image of Mr. 47 [[http://images.wikia.com/hitman/images/5/5d/Notoriety_police_sketch.jpg depending on what your notoriety level is at the time.]] At low notoriety, the image will be wildly different from 47's rather distinctive face. If 47 was a "Silent Assassin" during the mission (and therefore was not placed at the scene ''at all''), the picture is one of the recently deceased target
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'':
** An early Limsa Lominsa quest has you giving a sketch of a dine and dasher to the local guards. While you don't see the sketch yourself, the person you give it to comments that the sketch looks more like the prow of a ship than a man's face.
** In the ''Stormblood'' Hildibrand quests, Nashu tries to put together a composite sketch of the Kugane Wolf Burglar. Turns out Nashu is a TerribleArtist and the resulting picture looks like a five-year-old drew it, and the [[PlayerCharacter Warrior of Light]] clearly thinks it's not going to be of any use.
* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3'' uses this for a MythologyGag EasterEgg. After a significant character's death, Max can watch a news report about their death and see a police sketch of himself that looks nothing like him InUniverse, but matches his appearance in the ''first'' game, complete with the infamous constipated squint and slightly-raised eyebrow from his 3D model.
--> '''Max:''' Oh, Jesus... ''Look'' at that!
* Mako "Roadhog" Rutledge of ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' receives this in his wanted poster on the Dorado map. The sketch artist depicting him as [[https://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/overwatch.gamepedia.com/2/2d/Spray_Roadhog_Wanted.png?version=6e72f110af33902298909042e78b722d an actual pig-man]] instead of man in a pig-shaped gas-mask.
* The bounty posters of your group in ''VideoGame/SandsOfDestruction'' are naturally exaggerated caricatures, and seemingly can't even decide on what they want to caricature. They're bad enough that the main way you view them is by walking up to a bounty hunter and talking to him. He claims he got a tip a huge mark is about to come through town, then shows you posters...of yourself. Repeat: a ''professional bounty hunter'' who is ''actively looking for you'' '''does not recognize you''' because the posters are so bad. They change as you fight more battles, too, but never seem to get any better at capturing your likenesses.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' gives us a wanted poster showing "Shadow Mario". [[KangarooCourt This is enough to condemn Mario to clean]] ''[[KangarooCourt all]]'' [[KangarooCourt of Isle Delfino]], despite the fact that the real Mario had only been on the airstrip for [[FailedASpotCheck literally two minutes.]]
* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'':
** Lloyd Irving experiences this early in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' when the Desians put a price on his head. When the party gets a price on them in Tethe'alla, the wanted poster of Lloyd is much more accurate.
*** The poster also reappears in the sequel ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'', in which Lloyd himself uses it as a calling card for when he steals Lumen's core early in the game.
** Yuri Lowell also experiences this in ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' after TheEmpire goes after him, though he takes more offence at how low his bounty is.
** Jude and Milla both get subjected to this in ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'' as a result of their actions in Rashugal, though it's an optional scene.
*** A variation shows up in ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2'', where Ivar draws and shows off wanted posters for Ludger and Julius to be used in case they decide to do anything foolish. He knows perfectly well what they look like, but they look as terrible as the previous examples.
** Used in ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria''. Descriptions of the party are usually wildly inaccurate and typically of the wrong species. Career pirate Eizen jovially notes he has fun returning to port after an absence and seeing how badly the description was screwed up this time.
* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' the team arrive in Torigoth to find wanted posters of the members of Torna. Jin and Malos' posters are fairly accurate. Nia's, on the other hand, gets the hairstyle right, but replaces her face with [[PantheraAwesome Dromarch's]]. Nia (who switched sides as soon as Torna started killing off their hired help and is now traveling with the protagonists) is none too pleased. It becomes a BrickJoke later on when the local guard actually recognizes her because of the poster. Even further later on, one can take a look at the same billboard, with Rex and Nia's posters looking far more accurate.
* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZqZ4FO5ZOM one substory]] in ''VideoGame/Yakuza4''. Akiyama has to track down a crook with only a rough sketch drawn by his secretary Hana to help him. Hana's crude drawing looks almost inhumanly ugly and is mocked by Akiyama and his informants, but everyone who's seen the suspect all say it's astonishingly accurate. Sure enough, when the culprit is finally found he turns out to be [[{{Gonk}} exactly as ugly]] as Hana's drawing made him out to be.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* Sort of used in the ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' toon "[[Recap/HomestarRunnerStrongBadIsInJailCartoon Strong Bad is in Jail Cartoon]]". Bubs draws a sketch of The King of Town's description of Strong Bad ("Had a head like a big ol', round ol', red ol', nasty ol' egg and hands looked like biscuit dough!"), only for it to look nothing like him--in fact, it's a perfect match for someone Coach Z identifies as Biscuit Dough Hands Man who, in later cartoons, is revealed to actually exist.
* Towards the end of the first season of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', Team RWBY is in hot pursuit of a man named Sun. Weiss holds up an unflattering and simplistic drawing of the Faunus with sharp teeth and a scowl when asking for a lead on him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Invoked in [[http://www.bitercomics.com/comic/the-art-of-crime/ this]] ''Webcomic/BiterComics'' strip, where it's all but outright stated that the sketch artist himself is the culprit, and is deliberately botching the sketch to cover his tracks.
-->'''AltText:''' Plan B: Draw the accuser; [[RefugeInAudacity no one will believe the word of the now primary suspect]].
* One strip of ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' comes during the [=BnG=] News arc, and shows a supposed drawing of the person who was eating babies of the last strip. It turns out to be a crude stick figure in red and yellow. It's then revealed Chadling was the artist, and his reaction was basically "yeah, [[RuleOfFunny I don't know why they hired me either]]." The next strip averts the trope, with a much better drawing of the perp, as drawn by forumite Megami.
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' turns this joke on its head [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0339.html here,]] with a "facial reconstruction" that is a [[FourthWallPortrait much more detailed drawing]] than the usual StickFigureComic style. It's also a TakeThat to Rich Burlew's critics who thought he used stick figures because of a lack of artistic skill.
* ''Webcomic/ThePrincesssJewels'': In episode 3, when [[TheProtagonist Princess Ariana]] and Nell Phantom are discussing Ariana's next intended jewel, Prince Efrit Karsia, Nell talks about an incident where his mask was cracked on the battlefield, revealing his face. Rumours spread quickly, and Nell produces a composite sketch of Efrit's face... that makes him look like he's in his 40s or 50s. Princess Ariana finds it hilarious, and even Nell has to stifle a laugh.
* In ''Webcomic/{{San}}'', Cao Cao's wanted poster doesn't look a thing like him... except for his nice hat, and thus this gets him arrested.
* The Police of ''Webcomic/{{Vinigortonio}}'' mistake Platypus for a human with weird shaped head.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The inversion occurs in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mIVB6LqhGg&feature=related Episode 11]] of ''WebVideo/TheAllenAndCraigShow'', after Allen gets chased out of a party he gatecrashed. Wanted posters of him are hung up around the college, with a sketched picture of him that is detailed perfectly. Allen complains loudly about the poster, complaining that the guy on it has copied his army helmet look, noting that it looks ridiculous.
* ''Website/NewsBiscuit'': [[http://newsbiscuit.com/2009/05/29/man-with-identikit-style-face-arrested-again-110/ Man with 'Identikit-style' face arrested again.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' had a police sketch depict Hayley and Jeff as [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Velma and Shaggy]].
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''
** Subverted ''and'' played straight when a news report releases an accurate sketch of a suspected serial killer, and then shows a sketch of a suspected accomplice, "believed to be his wife". This composite is also accurate -- but since the killer's wife is [[ImaginaryFriend imaginary]], the screen is blank.
** Another episode had Peter and Lois on the lam, described as "[[UglyGuyHotWife a fat man inexplicably married to an attractive redhead]]"; the police sketch of them is [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Fred and Wilma Flintstone]].
** Peter once lost a job as a police sketch artist for drawing racist caricatures (a crude smilie face with buck teeth, slanted eyes, and a conical hat). Subverted moments later when Chris is mugged by a man who looks identical to Peter's sketch.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** An episode has a police sketch artist draw the boys in a very realistic manner, completely different from the animation style of the show itself. Kyle's mom says the sketches are a bit off.
** Another, weirder instance had Mr. Garrison trying to describe the escaped lab mouse that was [[ItMakesSenseInContext used to grow his soon-to-be grafted new penis]]. Based on the description he gives, the police sketch artist ends drawing a cheerful WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse, [[RagingStiffie pitching a massive tent]].
** Happens again when the boys play detective, and a little girl comes in to report her doll being stolen. When she describes what it looks like to Kenny, he proceeds to draw a stick figure with massive tits.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Hall Monitor", the police show Patrick a sketch of the Open Window Maniac, which is clearly a stick figure of [=SpongeBob=]. Patrick screams in horror every time the picture is shown.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has played with this one quite a few times.
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E7TheGreatMoneyCaper The Great Money Caper]]", Bart was making it up (because there wasn't really a perp) but it ended up looking just like Groundskeeper Willie.
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E3HomersOdyssey Homer's Odyssey]]" while the Simpsons visit city hall, Chief Wiggum reports on the roving graffiti artist "El Barto" and distributes a sketch of him which looked like a mean, teenage version of Bart. Homer's response: "Wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley," completely oblivious to the fact that it's his son.
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E8MotherSimpson Mother Simpson]]", there's a scene where [[Series/{{Dragnet}} Joe Friday and Bill Gannon]] were asking a cabbie about Mona Simpson using an old photo. When the cabbie couldn't recognize her, the agents showed him their computer telling him she would look 25 years older. The cabbie immediately remembers her, even though instead of an photo, sketch, or rendering, however, it was just a big number 25 on the computer screen.
** In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', Bart scribbles over a wanted poster in a convenience store with fake mustaches, eye patches, etc. in order to disguise his family being on the poster. As they sneak out, the owner of the store suddenly goes "Oh my God, it's ''them!''"... and points at a family which looks ''exactly'' like the marked-up sketch, complete with an eyepatch-wearing Maggie. In the DVD commentary, Matt Groening comments that he wants to do an episode about that family.
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E2BrothersLittleHelper Brother's Little Helper]]" when Bart went missing, the police take Marge's description of him as being "towheaded, button nose, mischevous smile and possibly armed with a slingshot" and they came up with a picture of... [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS Dennis the Menace]].
-->'''Lou:''' Looks like the kid who roughed up the Wilson widow.
* A WantedPoster of Toph appears in the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "The Runaway". Being blind, Toph couldn't actually see the picture, but was pleased when Sokka said it wasn't a bad one (though it was [[https://img1.etsystatic.com/029/0/6357953/il_fullxfull.592343929_4wa5.jpg far more cartoonish that it really should be]]). Also averted when the Gaang had enough sense not to use the pictures of Appa drawn by Sokka, which earned only [[StealthInsult Toph's praise.]]
* An episode of British ''ComicStrip/{{Dennis the Menace|UK}}'' has Dennis and Gnasher's pictures appear on the news and they have their faces swapped over (the newsreader also notes that anyone who recognised them from those pictures would need their eyes testing).
* Composite sketches of ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' showed up in a couple episodes. Naturally, they're too dense to realize it's them and nobody else seems to catch on either. In at least one case, the sketches are significantly pleasanter and less {{gonk}}y than their real faces.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}''
** It is taken to extremes when Cosgrove drew stick figures for a composite sketch. This resulted in Scotland Yard arresting the Bic mascots.
** Then there was [[BlandNameProduct America's Most Hated]], which provided a composite sketch of Freakazoid disguised as a Shetland pony.
* A close variant in ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' episode 24. The sketch of Nox's two common minions (a Grouilleux and a Noxine) done by Renate is rather poorly drawn (and unfortunately using blue, despite insistence that the creatures were black). This results in the Crâ border guards, to which the poster was distributed to, to attack Yugo and Adamaï when they show up.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo'' the gang found themselves fugitives in Japan and their police sketches were drawn in an anime style.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "[[Recap/AdventureTimeS7E8VampsAbout Vamps About]]", Peppermint Butler can't draw the vampires described by Jake, thanks to Jake using weird and vague descriptions like "a wet uncle" or "a stop-sign sticking out of a loaf of bread". However, the stop-sign loaf drawing comes out surprisingly accurate, leading Marceline to recognize it, and knowing ''him'' means she knows who the others are too.
--> '''Jake:''' Nah, that's not right.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Clarence}}'' episode "Nothing Ventured", Clarence and Sumo's police sketches on the news somewhat resemble [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Ralph Wiggum]] and WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}.
* Subverted in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'' when Panda helps a policeman to make an sketch of a suspect described in the police radio: [[OccidentalOtaku Panda's]] drawing was really similar to the suspect, except for the BigAnimeEyes. Note that the suspect is a muscular, bald and bearded guy.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' had Steven describe an unknown Gem to Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Connie, with each one creating a sketch. Pearl and Connie at least tried, but went more artistic than they needed to. Amethyst admits her scribble was "trying to get a ''feeling''" rather than be accurate. Garnet just drew herself. The sketches weren't even very necessary, considering how rare Gems are on Earth and how distinctive they are from humans.
* {{Parodied}} in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Skull", Principal Brown appears to be drawing a picture based on Gumball's vague description of [[InventedIndividual the boy who trashed the locker room]]. Then Principal Brown reveals his sketch to show he was drawing a sailboat.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* In RealLife, police are now using software that builds a composite of seemingly unrelated faces (unrelated except for certain features, like lips or the eyes) to build a more accurate face. The technology ([[http://www.facegen.com/ FaceGen]]) had been developed for law enforcement and then leased for various 3D design applications, and then to Bethesda for ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion''. The software is also capable of the inversion; taking a real photographic portrait and matching points of facial features to a head model to reproduce the face in 3D. This feature generates composite failures much more often than not.
* In a related trope, the facial composite will sometimes turn out to look like someone who obviously didn't do it, like a celebrity. This is TruthInTelevision; when a person is trying to recall an unfamiliar face, they will often use a face that they are familiar with as a guide, along the lines of "He resembled [insert celebrity here]." This means that the more they think about the face the actually saw, the more their memory of it begins to resemble the celebrity's that they used as a reference.
* During the hunt for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Neilson an armed robber turned multiple murderer nicknamed The Black Panther,]][[note]]No relation to the African-American political activist group or the comic character.[[/note]] the wanted posters issued were so different that many people seeing them all displayed together assumed the police were looking for a gang.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aAXdwXYpWs This]] Bolivian Police sketch for a murderer was broadcasted under total seriousness. Funny. Subverted in that it ''actually led to an arrest!''
* Similarly, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/986f732a_f50a_4d87_ab72_6061e82dc16a_1140x641.jpg this witness sketch]] of a store robber in Pennsylvania actually jogged the memory of an investigator to identify a suspect.
* Also, [[http://www.reghardware.com/2009/02/04/mii_police_hunt/ The Japanese police are using Miis to composite images of wanted criminals now.]]
* There's an infamous police sketch of a man in a baseball cap and large sunglasses, with the bottom of his face hidden with a bandanna. What was that drawing supposed to accomplish?
* An even more bizarre example occurred in Thailand, where a police sketch was made of a man [[http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/photogallery/police-sketches-only-a-mother-could-love.html?curPhoto=10 wearing a motorcycle helmet.]]
* According to Creator/DaveChappelle, the police sketch artists "keep drawing the same brother over and over again" to the point of simply using stencils whenever the suspect is black, which might explain [[http://www.unquality.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/reporter_suspect.jpg this image]] where the composite sketch strongly resembles the ''newscaster''.
* [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-11380834 This British photofit.]] It's apparently meant to show a man with wavy blonde/greying hair, but looks more like he has a lettuce on his head.
* There was one St. Patrick's Day news report on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crichton_Leprechaun "Crichton Leprechaun"]] that quickly went viral, due in no small part to the "amateur sketch" being presented on-air.
* This trope is why many police departments are leaning away from composite artists. The utility is bad with hand-drawn and even worse with computer-generated pictures.
* A joke from {{UsefulNotes/China}} combines this with RacialFaceBlindness:
-->A crime occurred in a Chinese village. The police composite was used to make sixty arrests.
[[/folder]]
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