Active Topics Memberlist Calendar Search Help | |
Register Login |
Closed Topics ( Forum Locked) | |
Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board :Archives :Closed Topics |
Topic: Looking Older( Topic Closed) | |
Author | Message |
toobusy
Walk-On Joined: 7/11/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0 |
Topic: Looking Older Posted: 7/11/05 at 11:28am |
Are there some quick and simple techniques for looking older? I'm familiar with the Richard Corson "Stage Makeup" book, but haven't purchased one, yet. I'm playing Ben Franklin in 1776 and need to add some lines and age to my face. Since I'm middle-aged and bald already, its not a big stretch. Its a small theater with the audience, literally, on top of the actors, so makeup must be applied sparingly and/or carefully.
|
|
Welcome to the pinches from the stagehands, it's the only quiet thing they do.
|
|
IP Logged | |
Topper
Celebrity Joined: 1/27/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 543 |
Posted: 7/12/05 at 1:25am |
A quick trick is to close your eyes, hold your breath
and scrunch your face up as tightly as possible into twisted mask and, using a powder puff, dust on a liberal splash of powder. Open your eyes and relax your face. You will see the lines where the powder missed. Trace the lines with a light or medium brown pencil. Sometimes, if you have a ruddy complexion, a reddish brown pencil works well, too. Flick off the excess powder with a soft brush. Stay away from black pencils. In close proximity the marks look fake. (Unless you add a line about Ben Franklin being involved in a horrible ink mishap while printing Poor Richard's Almanac.) Best of luck to you. |
|
"None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone
|
|
IP Logged | |
k8tt
Star Joined: 4/05/05 Location: Canada Online Status: Offline Posts: 73 |
Posted: 7/12/05 at 12:05pm |
Topper has good suggestions. We just finished a run of Murder's in the Heir and three of us had to look older. Our audience was practically in our laps, too! I played the housekeeper and had to look in my 60s. I used the brown eyeliner pencil lightly in most of my existing 'laugh lines' and any other forehead, neck, cheek, jowl, etc. lines. I rubbed the liner pencil in a bit so it wouldn't stand out as 'drawn-on' lines. I used dark brown eye shadow under my eyes to create a 'tired' look, with a touch of white shadow just under my lower lids above the dark 'bags'. This makes the 'bags' stand out. When you draw the lines down next to your nose towards your mouth and jaw with the brown pencil, put some light brown shadow on top of that and white/cream shadow to highlight it. I also highlighted my cheekbones and around my mouth (where I drew some 'pursed lip' lines). I topped everything off with dusting of light powder just to blur the lines, and then sprayed my hair white. Don't forget your eyebrows should be grey too. The young guy playing the old man had to use a half-bald wig and brush-on latex to make his own skin wrinkle up. It was difficult to use and hard to get off during intermission (same actor plays the grandson in Act 2). We won't use that latex stuff again unless absolutely necessary. I think that this website: www.redbirdstudio.com has a page on makeup tips. Good luck. |
|
IP Logged | |
POB14
Celebrity Joined: 7/01/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 349 |
Posted: 7/13/05 at 4:00pm |
Highlights and shadows work better than lines. Get black and white photos of older people (check your newspaper) and see where the shadows fall. Better yet, get some paintings of Franklin - after all, a painter does the same thing you want to do: reproducing the signs of age with color, highlight, and shadow. There's a good B&W one here with a link to a high-res version. Hope this helps. |
|
POB
Old Bugger, Curmudgeon, and Antisocial B**tard |
|
IP Logged | |
Forum Jump |
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |