Nine years ago, Bellevue police Detective Greg Bean reluctantly agreed to become a department sketch artist, his colleagues say.

Now his work has earned him a 10-page spread in the quarterly art magazine Drawing.

The spread includes police sketches, commissioned portraits and other fine art.

Bean started as a police officer 25 years ago and started as a detective in 1994. He became a forensic artist and took classes, both against his will, Bellevue police spokesman Greg Grannis said.

His success led other agencies to borrow his services, and led the department to hire two additional forensic artists.

Grannis didn't discuss specific cases Bean worked on. The sketch artists plans to talk in detail about his work Thursday at Bellevue City Hall.

"For forensic art, the most important part is the interview," Bean said in a statement. "You have to be able to bring the information out of the victim's or witness' mind and put it to paper. A bad interview will result in a bad drawing, and bad drawings don't catch criminals."