History Main / PhotoDoodleRecognition

* 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 (And perhaps more importantly, the seven figure fortune that came with it) if the current owner dies]].

-->'''Ivy:''' Babe, I’m telling you it’s not him. (''Harley shows her the edited photo'') [[OhCrap Oh,]] ''[[PrecisionFStrike fuck]]… it’s him!''

-->'''Ivy:''' Babe, I’m telling you it’s not him. (''Harley shows her the edited photo'') Oh, ''[[PrecisionFStrike fuck]]… it’s him!''

* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'':{{Exaggerated|Trope}} In "The Laughing", Dee Dee proves to Dexter that he's the were-clown terrorizing the neighborhood by taking a newspaper picture of the clown and drawing a full portrait of Dexter: glasses, hair, lab coat and boots, over it. This shows that the clown is the exact same height, build, and proportions as Dexter.

* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': In "The Laughing", Dee Dee proves to Dexter that he's the were-clown terrorizing the neighborhood by taking a newspaper picture of the clown and drawing Dexter's glasses, hair, lab coat and boots over it.

* Parodied to hell and back in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie''. While the Simpson family is on the run, Marge notices a wanted poster of them in a convenience store, and distracts the cashier while Bart sneaks behind and draws various changes. Then when he's finished, the cashier looks back at the poster, then back towards Marge, and notices a family identical to the hideous scribbles Bart made, who are them promptly arrested.

!!Examples

[[folder:Comic Book]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* {{Inverted|Trope}} in ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'': Flynn is easily recognized from his wanted poster after a character uses their hand to cover the [[FacialCompositeFailure ridiculous and inaccurate]] nose.
* After Woody is taken in ''WesternAnimation/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.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm'' when Bruce Wayne is looking over an old picture of Sal Valestra's gang (i.e the Phantasm's victims), he feels that the last member looks familiar, picks up a red pencil and draws a big grinning mouth over him. [[OhCrap Much to his shock]], the gangster in the photo is none other than Joker.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In ''Series/AgentCarter'', SSR agent Sousa snaps a picture of a blonde woman suspected in an assassination, who is really his (brunette) coworker Peggy in disguise. The photo is taken from the back, though, so he doesn't have enough to recognize her. A witness he interrogates later reveals the woman is actually a brunette, so Sousa tries darkening the woman's hair in the photo. It's still not enough for him to recognize Peggy, though, [[spoiler:until he later sees scars on her shoulder that match the photo's.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'': In "Clash Reunion", Goslyn looks at her father's high school yearbook, thinks the science nerd in his class looks strangely familiar and starts drawing on it. Drake is initially irate, until she shows him that [[EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether he'd actually gone to school with Megavolt]].

* ''Film/AceVenturaPetDetective'': A variant occurs when Ace is trying to find the whereabouts of Ray Finkle, who he suspects of kidnapping the Miami Dolphins' mascot. When Ace's dog lies on the photo he's using for reference, the lay of his hair makes Finkle look like police lieutenant Lois Einhorn, and Ace makes the connection ([[DudeLooksLikeALady to]] [[UnsettlingGenderReveal his]] [[BrainBleach utter]] [[ShowerOfAngst horror]]}.

* 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.
* 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, Ace's dog lies on the photo he's using for reference, and the lay of his hair makes him realize the man he's looking for had become a woman he's been dealing with throughout the film.

* In ''Film/OneOfOurDinosaursIsMissing'' a British spy smuggles a secret out of China. Soldiers are looking for him, with a photo showing him clean-shaven and wearing a monocle, looking as British as can be. They recognize him disguised as a local peasant after scribbling in a Fu Manchu moustache and a [[AllAsiansWearConicalStrawHats coolie hat]].

* Similar to the ''Hound'' example, in ''Literature/HerculePoirot's Christmas'', Poirot [[spoiler:attaches a false moustache to the portrait of the murder victim, thereby confirming that the heavily moustached investigating officer is his illegitimate son]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Season 14 "West to Mexico", in a Western-based story, Stan is a wanted man who is running from Roger the bounty hunter. Stan grows a mustache and later on his face is bruised badly by Bullock and his gang. Roger doesn't recognize Stan at first due to his mustache and bruised face, but when his cough causes him to spit blood over the wanted poster of Stan, he recognizes him when his blood forms the same features on Stan's face.

* 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]].

* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': "The Laughing" has Dee Dee showing Dexter that he's the were-clown terrorizing the neighborhood by taking a newspaper picture of the clown and drawing Dexter's glasses, hair, lab coat and boots over it.

* 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 (And perhaps more importantly, the seven figure fortune that came with it) if the current owner dies]]).

* In one pre-Crisis story, Franchise/{{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 the Belgian 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.

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

* 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 ''WebVideo/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.

* 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 (And perhaps more importantly, the seven figure fortune that came with it) if the current owner dies]]).

* Similar to the ''Hound'' example, in ''Literature/HerculePoirot's Christmas'', Poirot [[spoiler: attaches a false moustache to the portrait of the murder victim, thereby confirming that the heavily moustached investigating officer is his illegitimate son]].

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'', when Static and Gear are looking at an old photo of [=SheBang=]'s parents and their colleagues, Static catches sight one of the scientists. By doing a little digital doctoring, he confirms that the scientist is Bigfoot, the villain of the episode.

* In ''{{Film/Spellbound}}'', someone recognizes Dr. Petersen's paper in the paper after a policeman draws glasses on it.