History Main / PhotoDoodleRecognition

[[caption-width-right:348:[[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker That's when you realize]]...]]

* In the French series ''Largo Winch'', Largo recognizes an attacker as someone who tried to murder him earlier by adding glasses and removing his stubble from the police sketch.

* In ''[[Anime/ShowByRock Show By Rock!!]]'' Yaiba draws yellow hair and stars on the unearthed photo of Amatelast so Crow and Aion can recognize the singer as [[spoiler:Shu☆zo, who's now in Trichronika]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm'' Bruce Wayne realizes a gangster in an old picture is the Joker after drawing his trademark grin on it.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' has Dee Dee showing Dexter that he is a were-clown by taking a newspaper picture of the clown and drawing Dexter's glasses, hair, lab coat and boots over it.

!!Examples:

[[AC:AnimeAndManga]]

[[AC:ComicBook]]

[[AC:Films -- Animated]]

[[AC:Films -- Live-Action]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:WebOriginal]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'': Flynn is easily recognized from his wanted poster after a character uses their hand to cover the [[FacialCompositeFailure ridiculous and inaccurate]] CleopatraNose.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' has Dee-Dee showing Dexter that he is a were-clown by taking a newspaper picture of the clown and drawing Dexter's glasses, hair, lab coat and boots over it.

* Played with in ''Anime/{{Gintama}}''. Gin scribbles on a photo of someone whom he assumes has gotten plastic surgery, while his friends deride both his art skills and the possibility that anyone would possibly choose to look like that. They look up from the drawing to see just such a person. It's the wrong guy.

* Played with in ''Anime/Gintama''. Gin scribbles on a photo of someone whom he assumes has gotten plastic surgery, while his friends deride both his art skills and the possibility that anyone would possibly choose to look like that. They look up from the drawing to see just such a person. It's the wrong guy.

* A variant happens in ''Film/AceVenturaPetDetective'' when Ace is trying to find the whereabouts of a former footballer suspected of kidnapping the Miami Dolphins' mascot. At one point, a dog lies on the photo he's using for reference, and the lay of its hair makes him realize the man he's looking for had become a woman he's been dealing with throughout the film.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* In the live-action adaptation of ''Film/MrMagoo'', Mr. Magoo infiltrates an auction for criminals by disguising himself with black hair and a moustache. He is discovered when Austin Cloquet sees a photo of Mr. Magoo in a newspaper and draws in black hair and a moustache on his photo.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm'' Bruce Wayne realizes a gangster in an old picture is the Joker after drawing his trademark grin on it.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' has Dee-Dee showing Dexter that he is a were-clown by taking a newspaper picture of the clown and drawing Dexter's glasses, hair, lab coat and boots over it.

* In the live-action adaptation of the film ''WesternAnimation/MrMagoo'', Mr. Magoo infiltrates an auction for criminals by disguising himself with black hair and a moustache. He is discovered when Austin Cloquet sees a photo of Mr. Magoo in a newspaper and draws in black hair and a moustache on his photo.

* In ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles'', SherlockHolmes recognizes the BigBad from a series of Baskerville family portraits, and demonstrates to Watson by putting his arm over the hat and period costume. Now seeing only the facial features, Watson sees the similarity at once ([[spoiler: which gives them the motive, the BigBad is the son of the Baskerville BlackSheep, and so is set to inherit the manor if the current owner dies]]).

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie'', the citizens of the Wild West town don't recognize Emmet. However, one MechaMook asks the hunter to draw a sombrero on the picture, at which point he confirms that the stranger that rolls into town was, in fact, Emmet.

* After [[Recap/TheNostalgiaCriticS1E13 his review]] of ''Film/TheWizard'', WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic was going through its young stars, dismayed to find that each one didn't have their careers ruined by it, until he came to the kid playing the eponymous wizard. Staring at the kid's picture, he drew a pair of glasses and realized he grew up to become TheAngryVideoGameNerd, which provoked a [[SkywardScream pronounced reaction]]. This is a subversion though, in that the Nerd (Creator/JamesRolfe) really didn't star in that movie (the actor was Luke Edwards), and the similarity is just coincidence.

[[caption-width-right:348:[[TheJoker That's when you realize]]...]]

* In one pre-Crisis story, ComicBook/{{Superman}} is to be featured on a postage stamp. He goes to great lengths to make sure that a side shot of him is chosen, rather than a full-face view, because if the stamp was postmarked in a town with a double-O in its name, the letters might land on his face in such a way that they resemble a pair of glasses, which might give away his secret identity. Presumably kids in the DC universe never doodle glasses and mustaches on newspaper photos, which might also be a bit of a clue.
* In one GoldenAge ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'', Bruce Wayne realises that a new playboy in town and the master thief he is hunting are one and the same when Dick Grayson doodles a moustache and goatee on a picture of the playboy in the newspaper.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', season 2 episode 18, "Make 'em Laugh", Joker is discovered to be the one responsible for brainwashing famous comedians into committing crimes when Alfred shows Batman and Robin a video tape of the previous Gotham Comedy Competition. When one of the contestants look familiar, Batman edited the video to have that contestant have Joker's hair and eyes.

!!Examples

* In the live-action adaptation of the film ''WesternAnimation/MrMagoo'', Mr. Magoo infiltrates an auction for criminals by disgusing himself with black hair and a moustache. He is discovered when Austin Cloquet sees a photo of Mr. Magoo in a newspaper and draws in black hair and a moustache on his photo.

* In ''TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles'', SherlockHolmes recognizes the BigBad from a series of Baskerville family portraits, and demonstrates to Watson by putting his arm over the hat and period costume. Now seeing only the facial features, Watson sees the similarity at once ([[spoiler: which gives them the motive, the BigBad is the son of the Baskerville BlackSheep, and so is set to inherit the manor if the current owner dies]]).

* After his review of ''Film/TheWizard'', WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic was going through its young stars, dismayed to find that each one didn't have their careers ruined by it, until he came to the kid playing the eponymous wizard. Staring at the kid's picture, he drew a pair of glasses and realized he grew up to become TheAngryVideoGameNerd, which provoked a [[SkywardScream pronounced reaction]]. This is a subversion though, in that the Nerd (Creator/JamesRolfe) really didn't star in that movie (the actor was Luke Edwards), and the similarity is just coincidence.

!Examples

* In Manga/RanmaOneHalf, when Principal Kuno is introduced, he shows a large picture of his long-lost son who is shaved bald in the picture. Ranma promptly uses a paintbrush to paint hair on the head - confirming the son's identity as Tatewaki Kuno.

* Once when Drake Mallard was flipping through his high school yearbook on ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' Goslyn thought the science nerd in his class looked strangely familiar and started drawing on it. Drake was initially irate, until she showed him that [[EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether he'd actually gone to school with Megavolt]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm'' Bruce Wayne realizes a gangster in an old picture is the Joker after drawing his trademark grin on it.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', season 2 episode 18, "Make 'em Laugh", Joker is discovered to be the one responsible for brainwashing famous comedians into committing crimes when Alfred shows Batman and Robin a video tape of the previous Gotham Comedy Competition. When one of the contestants look familiar, Batman edited the video to have that contestant have Joker's hair and eyes.
* An episode of ''DextersLaboratory'' has Dee-Dee showing Dexter that he is a were-clown by taking a newspaper picture of the clown and drawing Dexter's glasses, hair, lab coat and boots over it.

* After Woody is taken in ''Film/ToyStory2'', the other toys are conducting an "investigation", with Etch drawing a sketch of the guy who took him. When Buzz asks him to draw the man in a chicken suit, everyone gasps as they recognize Big Al, the owner of Al's Toy Barn toy stores.