How to Apply Stage Makeup to Look Old
Stage makeup is gentle enough to use repeatedly and lasts only a few hours. There are subtle techniques of makeup used for intimate media, such as film and television, where the audience sees every line on a character's face; and there are more broad applications for grand settings such as opera, dance and the theatre, where makeup is a vehicle that must carry expression to remote corners of the house. Aging an actor's face uses a few basic principles in any medium.
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Things You'll Need
- Face moisturizer or cleanser
- Cream or water-based base
- Dark liner
- Light liner or Clown White
- Dark rouge and shadow
- Small natural sponge
- Brushes and pencils
- Colorless powder and puff
Instructions
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Study faces. Actors study how people move and talk. Makeup people study faces, anatomy and color. As we age, we all develop creases and lines because of age and loss of elasticity in the skin. Most people's faces start to line where the skin folds when they laugh or concentrate hard---around the mouth, at the corners of the eyes, across the forehead and between the eyebrows. Skin begins to sag as it ages, creating new lines around the jaw line, under the eyes and in the neck. Before you can successfully age a 20-year-old actor, watch older faces and take notes.
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Consider using latex amendments only if you are comfortable with this fast-setting substance. It's great for film and television, where the face often fills the whole screen. The liquid is brushed onto the face, and then the actor simply talks and laughs---gently---until the stuff dries. The result is a set of wrinkles and laugh lines in the places the actor will have real wrinkles 30 years from now. Cover latex with a dry or cream base, line lightly and highlight with a lighter shade or (not too obvious) Clown White makeup.
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Start with a base that's a bit lighter than the actor's skin. Our skin blanches as we age and loses a bit of color. A cream base will allow you to blend lines and highlights easily, but pancake makeup has its advocates, who insist it's easier to draw on a dry base. Whichever you choose, blend the base thoroughly, covering behind the ears, into the hairline and down below the costume's neckline. If your actor is young, do her hands, too.
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Have the actor smile, frown and concentrate while the base is damp. Little creases will appear---"crow's feet" (no more than three) around the eyes, laugh lines around the mouth and lines across the forehead. Line the face with a fine brush or liner pencil (black for dark hair, brown for redheads and blonds), following these lines. Lightly line one side of each line with very light (or Clown White) liner and blend lightly. Draw the eye lines around the eye as you would for any character, dotting the inside corner with white instead of red.
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Apply dark-maroon or wine-colored shadows (less or more, depending on character) with your fingers or a small sponge under the eyes and just below the cheekbone, finishing with a slight shadow parallel to the laugh line. Blend carefully to sculpt the face. If the costume will show the neck, use a sponge to draw long shadows on the neck, and highlight with light (or Clown White) liner down the front of the neck and down the sides along the tendons below each ear. Blend lightly. Powder everything lightly to "set" your work. Keep rouge and lipstick colors dusky (except for flamboyant characters, where bright color is important). Dab on a bit of eye shadow that matches the actor's eyes, then highlight the ridge just under the eyebrows and blend.
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Tips & Warnings
If your actors are close to the audience, line and highlight the backs of their hands. Add a few lines to lips, if the character is very old.
Clean your fingers frequently while blending, so you don't smudge. Smudges don't add age, they just add smudges.
Resources
- Photo Credit Towson University, Microsoft Office clip art
