How to Apply Kabuki Makeup

Kabuki is a time-honored Japanese theater style, with a striking tradition of dramatic makeup. Each player in the Kabuki story will do his or her own makeup, which is said to help the player get into character. The Kabuki makeup is used primarily to accentuate facial features and dramatize movements of the face, so eyes, mouth, eyebrows, and cheeks are highlighted so that their movement becomes exaggerated. The colors of Kabuki makeup also have meanings, and give insight into the temperament of the character: red lines are used for boisterous, angry characters; blue generally for non-human characters; cheerful characters use pink; and light green is used to show tranquility in a character.

Things You'll Need

• Face paints, white, red, black
• Makeup sponges
• Makeup sealer (optional)
• Art brushes, small sizes
• Water

Instructions

1. Apply white face paint to the entire face and neck using a makeup sponge. Make sure the entire face is covered, with no skin color showing through. The vast majority of Kabuki characters have a white face, with the exception of a demonic character, who has a light red face.

2. Spray on the makeup sealer with short, light sprays, if you choose to use it—this helps the makeup to set properly so you do not have running and smudging. Most professional stage makeup utilizes sealer, because of the extra heat stress on the makeup from the stage lights; if you are only going 'Kabuki style' to a fancy dress party, you will not need the sealer.

3. Dip a small-headed paintbrush in red face paint and paint a line from the inner corner of the eye, along the eyelid, extending it out and upwards past the end of your eyebrow. Extend another line from the inner corner of the eye down the bridge of the nose for about half inch as well. Repeat on the other eye. This Kabuki character is an aragoto hero; the red symbolizes boisterous energy, verging on quick-tempered, and is used to highlight features on the face and exaggerate facial movements.

4. Blend the red line of the eye, using short, upwards strokes of the brush, so that the majority of the eyelid and around an inch up from the line is shaded in a reddish pink. Redo the original red line, shading it again, to add more vibrancy to the color. Repeat on the other eye.

5. Paint another red line on the underside of the eye. Connect the inner corner lines, and extend the first nose line around half inch further down the side of the nose. Shape the outer-corner line to mirror the line on the upper eye, but this time shade the color downwards, towards the cheeks. These lines help to accentuate the eye movement of the character, and because they are red, also signify to those watching that the character may be quick to anger.

6. Paint a continuous red line that starts with a small spiral around the sides of the nose, accentuating the sides of the nostril, then dips down around one inch above the corner of the mouth, then back up to follow the natural curve of the cheekbone, dipping down slightly at the end to finish at the earlobe. Repeat on the other cheek and side of the nose, before blending the line down towards the jaw line. Paint red under the nose, connecting the two cheek lines, but leave the bridge and end of the nose white.

7. Draw a red line along the jaw line, blending the color upwards, making it more prominent on the chin, and blending a peak into the chin, like a dimple. Finally, with the red, paint on a U-shaped line in between the eyebrows, that extends up onto the forehead, blending the inside of the line. If you want your character to be quite fiery, extend the lines to within an inch of the hairline; milder character's forehead lines are only around one-inch long.

8. Dip a clean paintbrush into the black paint, and draw on the eyebrows—position the eyebrows around half inch or more above your natural eyebrows. The line should be at an angle, with two vertical lines on either end--one pointing downwards towards the bridge of the nose, and one longer, pointing upwards towards the hairline. The line should be solid black and at least half-inch thick for the eyebrows. Do not blend.

9. Paint the lips in black, ignoring the natural contour of your lips. Make the bows of the lips quite large, and the line of the lip sloping downwards, ending like an oval at the corners of the mouth. The bottom lip should follow the same line as the top, with a wider line. Again, do not blend.

10. Paint a black line around the entire eye to finish the look.

Tips & Warnings

• There are many different styles of Kabuki character makeup to choose from, like the fiery demons and spooky otherworldly character to the refined onnagata, or female Kabuki characters, with the distinct ‘geisha-style’ mouth, which paints only around half an inch of red into the center of the top and bottom lips, leaving the rest of the lips white. Despite portraying female characters, onnagata roles are played by men in Kabuki theater.

• Makeup sealer can be found at most makeup stores and pharmacies or purchased on-line.

• Each Kabuki actor applies their makeup to reflect how they interpret the character, so there are no hard and fast rules, rather, general guidelines for how each character looks.

References

• Creative Arts: Kabuki Story: Make-up

Resources

• YouTube: Basic Kabuki Make-up Tips