CHAPTER 2 Light and Shade

Although some three-dimensional changes can be made in creating makeup for the stage, more often than not we create the illusion of three-dimensional changes, using the principles of light and shade.

When we look at an object—any object—what our eye observes depends on the light that is reflected from specific areas of that object to the eye. Thus, because of its structure, your own face will reflect light in a certain pattern, and this pattern of light reflection is what reveals the structure and causes you to look like you instead of like someone else.

But suppose you want to look like someone else. You can, if you wish, actually change the shape of your face with three-dimensional makeup. If you do that, the new face will reflect different patterns of light from your normal one, and you will no longer look like you. Instead of actually reshaping your face or parts of it, however, you could simply paint on patterns of light to match those your face would reflect if you were actually to change its shape, thus creating the illusion of the face you want the audience to see.

This is essentially what the painter does. (See FIGURE 2-1.) But instead of a painter’s flat, white canvas, the makeup artist—or the actor—begins with a three-dimensional face—a face that will reflect, as the actor moves his head onstage, a continually changing relationship between the face and the source of light.

In spite of these differences between the painter and the makeup artist, the principles of their art remain the same. Both observe in life what happens when light falls on an object. Both see the patterns of light and shade that reveal to the eye the real shape of an object. Then, with colored paints of varying degrees of lightness and darkness, of brightness and grayness, both re-create those patterns. And if they are sufficiently skillful, observers will be led by those painted patterns of light and shade into believing that they are seeing the real thing. In the case of painted portraits, of course, that is not strictly true, for one is always aware that one is seeing a picture. In fact, only in trompe l’oeil paintings is it the aim of the painter to imitate reality so closely that viewers are fooled into believing they are actually seeing the real thing rather than a painted representation of it. But in creating a realistic makeup, the makeup artist must aim to convince the audience that they are seeing the real thing.

FIGURE 2-1 Light and shade used to create the illusion of a 3-dimensional head. Oil painting.

Since the basis of actual makeup technique lies, then, in understanding and applying the principles of chiaroscuro (or light and shade) that have been used by artists for centuries, our next step is to study these principles in theory, to observe them in life, and then to apply them in monochromatic drawing.

Flat and Curved Surfaces

How are we able to tell by sight alone whether a surface is flat or curved? The general outline of the object may provide a fairly reliable clue. But suppose we are trying to distinguish between a cylinder and a box of approximately the same size. If we cover up the ends, the outline will be exactly the same. But we shall still have no difficulty in determining which is which simply because the patterns of light and shade will be completely different, as illustrated in FIGURE 2-2. What, then, is chiaroscuro?

Perhaps the simplest way to approach it is to imagine the two forms in FIGURE 2-2 in total darkness. This would result, of course, in their appearing completely black. In other words, there is a total absence of light; and light, after all, provides the only means of our seeing these or any other objects. But if we turn on a light in the position of the arrow E, on the right, the light hits the objects and is reflected from them to our eyes, enabling us to see them. Observe, however, that the light does not illuminate the entire object in either case. Only those surfaces upon which the rays of light fall directly are fully visible because only they receive light rays to reflect to the eye. Surfaces that are situated away from the light source remain in darkness. That enables us to determine the direction in which the surface planes of an object lie and whether they are flat, curved, or irregular. In other words, it tells us the shape of the object.

FIGURE 2-2 Modeling curved and angular surfaces.

Hard and Soft Edges

In both of the forms in FIGURE 2-2, part of the form is lighted, and part remains in darkness. But the shift from the lighted plane to the nonlighted or shadowed plane is entirely different in the two. In one there is a gradual shift from light through semilight (or gray) to dark. In the other the shift is sudden and sharp. Thus, we know that one object has a rounded surface and that the other has flat, angular surfaces. The sharp division between the two flat surfaces is known as a hard edge, and the gradual change between planes on the curved surface, though technically not an edge at all, is known as a soft edge. That is a principle basic to all character makeup.

Look, for example, at the two largest wrinkles in the face—the nasolabial folds, which extend from the nose to the lips. In a nasolabial fold, especially if it is well developed, as is the one in FIGURE 2-3, there is a definite crease in the flesh—and in drawing or painting, the effect of a crease is created by means of a hard edge, with the darkest dark next to the lightest light. The puffy part of the fold is somewhat like a half cylinder, with a gradual transition from the dark at the crease to a soft-edged highlight along the most prominent part of the fold and fading away into a soft-edged shadow.

This effect occurs—and can be reproduced with makeup—in various areas of the face, neck, and hands. Forehead wrinkles, eye pouches, sagging jowls, prominent veins in the hands—the illusion of all of these can be created with highlights and shadows—provided one understands the principles of hard and soft edges and learns to apply those principles meticulously in doing character makeups.

FIGURE 2-3 Nasolabial fold. Note the combination of hard and soft edges.

Drawing with Highlights and Shadows

In order to make sure that you understand the principle and can apply it, draw some simple, three-dimensional objects, such as a cylinder and a box, with charcoal and chalk on gray charcoal paper. These will serve to demonstrate the principles of light and shade you will use in makeup.

Perhaps the simplest way to begin is to do a drawing similar to the one in FIGURE 2-2. Before beginning your drawing, pay particular attention to the areas indicated by the arrows. Arrow A designates the darkest area on the cylinder and B designates the lightest. You will observe that neither of these areas is precisely at the edge of the cylinder. The edge of the dark side (C) is slightly less dark than the darkest part, whereas the light edge (D) is not quite so light as the highlight (B). The reason for this is simply that on the dark side a small amount of reflected light is always seen at the extreme edge, and on the light side the surface of the edge is curving away from us so abruptly that it seems to be less brightly lighted. If you were to draw a cylinder with maximum light and dark areas at the extreme edges, the cylinder would seem to stop abruptly at the edges instead of continuing around to complete itself.

The source of light in the drawing in FIGURE 2-2 has been arbitrarily placed in the position of the arrow E. Thus, the right side of the cylinder is in direct light, resulting in a strong highlight and a gradual diminution of light from this highlight to the darkest part of the lowlight, or shadow, on the opposite side of the cylinder. No matter from which direction the light is coming, it will create a highlight on the part of the object on which it falls and leave a lowlight on the opposite side—a natural phenomenon that must be carefully observed in doing makeup.

This phenomenon occurs no matter what the shape of an object may be. In the rectangular object in FIGURE 2-2, for example, there is a sudden change in the plane of the surface rather than a gradual one, and therefore, a correspondingly sharp contrast in areas of light and shade. This results, of course, in a hard edge and an apparent strengthening of both the highlight and the shadow at the edge. This optical illusion always occurs when strong lights and darks are placed next to each other. It can also be observed at the crease of the nasolabial fold in FIGURE 2-3. In the drawing (FIGURE 2-2) the hard edge is intensified by deliberately placing the lightest light next to the darkest dark. In other words, both the strongest highlight and the deepest shadow are at the edge of the object nearest the eye.

In drawing such an object, there is an additional principle—that of aerial perspective—to be taken into consideration. According to that principle, first observed—or at least first applied—by the painter Ucello in the fourteenth century, the centralization of value (the relative brightness or darkness of a color) and of intensity (the relative brilliance or dullness of a color) is inversely proportional to the nearness of the color to the eye. In relation to chiaroscuro, this means simply that, with distance, both black and white become more gray—in other words, less strongly differentiated. You have undoubtedly observed this effect in distant mountains or tall buildings or even in cars or houses at a considerable distance. Thus, the near edge of the rectangle is made to appear closer by increasing the intensity, no matter what the value may be. The far edges are made to recede by means of a decrease in intensity and a centralization of value. In makeup, this principle can be applied in highlighting the chin, for example, or the superciliary bone of the forehead in order to make them seem more prominent—in other words, closer to the viewer. Conversely, either one could be made to seem less prominent—farther from the viewer—by decreasing the strength of the highlight or perhaps even using a lowlight instead.

The term lowlight is sometimes used to refer to shadows used in makeup and to differentiate them from cast shadows. When undirectional light falls upon an object, it not only leaves part of the object itself in shadow, but it also casts a shadow of the object on any area around it from which the light is cut off. In other words, when an object intercepts the light, it casts a shadow. This shadow is known as a cast shadow. A cast shadow always has a hard edge, it follows the shape of an object upon which it falls, and it is darkest at the outer edge. Cast shadows are not normally used in makeup because of the continual movement of the actor and the resultant directional changes in light. Probably the only makeup for which they might be used would be one in which both actor and light source were immobile, as in a tableau or for a photograph.

In doing your own drawings, you might do well to begin with the flat-sided box. Start with your lightest light at what is to be the hard edge, and blend it gradually out toward the outer edge, allowing it to become slightly less light as you go. This can be done by applying the chalk directly, as carefully as you can, then blending with the fingers or with a paper stump to achieve smooth transitions. The precise technique you use is of little importance as long as you achieve the results you want. When the light side is completed, do the dark side in the same way, starting with a heavy application of charcoal at the hard edge next to the white.

In the cylinder there is a gradual transition from light to dark. Both the light and the dark can be applied in either horizontal or vertical strokes, then blended, leaving the gray paper to serve as the middle tone between the light and the dark.

FIGURE 11-59 illustrates the principle of modeling a third basic shape—the sphere—and the application of that principle to makeup. Notice how the same principle is used in painting the apple cheeks in FIGURE 11-39. In the sphere all shadows and highlights fall in a circular pattern.

Remember that whenever a single light falls on a three-dimensional object, those parts of the object not in the direct line of light will remain in shadow. Conversely, whenever there is a lowlight, or shadow, there is a corresponding highlight. When the surface changes direction abruptly, the shadow and the highlight are immediately adjacent. But when the surface changes direction gradually, shadow and highlight are separated by a gradation of intermediate shades.