CHAPTER 6 Designing the Makeup

Once you have decided what you want the character to look like, the next step is to put your ideas into concrete form—either an experimental makeup or a sketch showing what you have in mind. Which you do will probably depend to some extent on whether you are an actor or a makeup designer. In either case, making a sketch or a drawing of the makeup can be extremely helpful. For a makeup designer, professional or nonprofessional, it is almost essential. (See FIGURES 6-6, 6-9, and 6-12.)

The Makeup Designer

If all of the makeups are being designed by one person, he or she will first study the play, then consult with the director, the costume designer, and, ideally, with the actors before designing the makeups and will also obtain photographs of the actors before making the sketches. Then, after the sketches have been approved by the director, the designer should make certain that the actors can do the makeup. If not, it is the responsibility of the makeup designer to teach the actors to do it, making sure they understand the instructions on the makeup charts. (See FIGURES 6-10 and 6-11.) And if the time for actually making up is going to be limited (as with quick changes or with the actors playing more than one part), it is the makeup designer’s responsibility to make certain that the makeup, as designed, can be done by the actors (or the makeup artist) in the time available. Unless the makeups are unusually simple, all of this should be taken care of before the first dress rehearsal. The makeup designer should be present at the first dress rehearsal with lighting in order to see the makeup in action on the stage. He or she can then consult with the director if necessary and suggest to the actors any changes that need to be made. Only when the designer is completely satisfied that the makeups are being executed satisfactorily should the actors be left on their own. In the case of a long run, the designer should check the makeups regularly.

In television and film, on Broadway, and in opera, the makeup designer is a professional makeup artist. In regional theater and dance companies the makeup design is often the responsibility of the actor or the costume designer and is executed by the actor. On occasion, a makeup artist will be contracted for special makeup effects. In academic theater the designer may be the makeup teacher, the costumer, or, ideally, one of the more advanced makeup students, who should, when competent to do so, be given the opportunity to design the makeups for public productions. Professional or nonprofessional, the designer should start work well in advance and have it essentially completed before dress rehearsals, which should be used for adjusting the makeup to the lighting and making any other changes that may be needed.

Although in most professional productions (and in some nonprofessional ones) the actors are expected to create their own makeups, there are productions that need the services of a makeup designer. And occasionally, in both professional and nonprofessional productions, a makeup artist may be called in to help actors who are not prepared, by training or experience, to do the makeup required. In that kind of situation the makeup artist does not usually submit designs to the director, but deals directly with the actors. Thus, instead of determining what the makeups are to be like, the makeup artist works with the actors in creating them.

When the makeup is finished, photographing it with an instant-picture or digital camera can be very helpful and may, in fact, lead to further work on the makeup. When the actors are satisfied with the makeup, they then learn—with the help of the makeup artist, if necessary—to do the makeup themselves, using drawings and photographs as a guide. The actors should also keep the photographs on a dressing table until they are secure in doing the makeup without them.

The makeup designer should always allow sufficient time—including additional sessions—for the actors to learn the makeup. If time for doing the makeup in a performance is going to be limited, the designer should make sure that the actors can do the makeup in the time available. And the designer should, of course, look at the makeup onstage and then make suggestions for any changes considered desirable.

The Actor as Designer

If there is no makeup designer for the production and no makeup artist is called in to help individual actors, the actors then become their own makeup designers. As such, they have the advantage of knowing, better than anyone else, the character as they want to portray it. They also have the opportunity to experiment with the makeup over a period of time until they achieve the results they want. An instant-picture camera can, if it is available, provide the means for actors to look at the makeup objectively. They can then make any changes or corrections that seem desirable.

In designing their own makeup, actors can begin either by sketching their ideas on paper, as a makeup designer does, or by experimenting directly with makeup on their own faces. They should, of course, choose whichever method works better for them.

If actors do sketches, they may wish to show them to the director for approval or suggestions. Or they may prefer to show the director photographs of makeup ideas they have been working on. Although neither of these will be expected, either can be useful in avoiding basic disagreements about the makeup the first time the director sees it at a dress rehearsal.

Costume Designer’s Influence
on the Makeup Design

The first images to appear when developing the look of any character will, more often than not, originate from the costume designer. After spending months in collaboration with the director, scene designer, and lighting designer, the costume designer will produce a sketch or rendering of each character in the production. These sketches are based on thorough research of the period in history in which the production is placed, on a thorough examination of each character, on the designer’s intuition and aesthetic, and on a thorough understanding of the meaning and intentions of the story being told. The sketches are intended to represent the “look” of the production. They provide visual information about the character to the director, to the actor, to the costume shop, to the milliner (when appropriate), and to the hair and makeup departments. Some designers’ sketches are to be interpreted literally and are such detailed and precise representations that fabric design, shoe styles, and even eye shadow and lipstick colors can be perfectly matched. (See Appendix G, FIGURE G-17.) Other designers provide sketches that allow for greater interpretation.

Costume designers’ renderings can often be used as character sketches, revealing not only the costume, but also the personality of the character through physical appearance. The sketches in FIGURE 6-1 have been selected from full costume renderings to illustrate the costume designer’s insight into the character and how that might influence the makeup design for that character.

Sketches and Drawings

Two kinds of sketches or drawings can be used in designing makeups—character (those which present a visual conception of the character, as in FIGURE 6-1) and makeup (those which show the character conception adapted to the actor’s face, as in FIGURE 6-5 and 6-6). Whether they are called sketches or drawings depends largely on the relative degree of spontaneity with which they are executed. A sketch (FIGURE 6-1, for example) is the more spontaneous and is usually done more quickly than a drawing (FIGURES 6-5 and 6-6). It is the makeup drawings, rather than the character sketches, that show what the actor can really be expected to look like when the makeup is finished.

PRELIMINARY SKETCHES Preliminary sketches of the character can be done in any medium you choose—pencil (FIGURE 6-2), charcoal (or charcoal pencil) and chalk, pen, and ink (FIGURE 6-3), pastel, or conté crayon. (Some of the materials used for the various mediums are illustrated in FIGURE 6-4.) They will usually be in black and white or sepia but can, of course, be in color if you wish. If you are inexperienced at sketching, it may be easier for you to use outlines of heads with features indicated, such as those shown on the worksheets in FIGURES 6-8 and 6-9. A student sketch, using a similar worksheet, can be seen in FIGURE 6-10. You may wish to do a number of sketches and then choose the one that seems best to express the character.

FIGURE 6-1 Costume designer renderings used as character sketches. A. Marley by Shiela Hargett from A Christmas Carol. Southwest Texas State University. B. Francis Flute by Martin Pakledinaz from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Pacific Northwest Ballet. C. Scrooge by Esther Marquis from Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol, A Ghost Story of Christmas. The Alley Theatre. D. Antonio by Shiela Hargett from The Tempest. Southwest Texas State University. E. Amelia by Susan Tsu from LOST Electra. Asolo Theatre Company. F. Dr. Watson by Robert Morgan from Sherlock’s Last Case. G. Kate Hardcastle by Susan Tsu from She Stoops to Conquer. Theatre Virginia. H. King Arthur by Desmond Heeley from Camelot. National Tour with Richard Burton. I. Dona Elvira by Robert Morgan from Don Juan. The Huntington Theatre. J. Trinculo by Shiela Hargett from The Tempest. Southwest Texas State University. K. Salome by Martin Pakledinaz from Salome. Santa Fe Opera. L. Dracula by Susan Tsu from Dracula, A Musical Nightmare. The Alley Theatre.

FIGURE 6-2 Pencil drawing. One of the wicked stepsisters in Cinderella. In ballet and opera, the stepsisters are usually danced or sung by men. The 1833 hairstyle is based on a drawing in Fashions in Hair, Plate 116.

Adapting the Makeup to the Actor

If you have chosen to do preliminary sketches and have conceived them strictly in terms of the ideal—that is, if you have created an image intended to fulfill both the playwright’s conception and the actor’s interpretation—but you have not yet taken into consideration the practical necessity of adapting this ideal conception to the face of the individual actor, the adaptation should be done before the final drawings are made. There is no use presenting to the director or the actor a visual concept of the character that simply cannot be realized.

FIGURE 6-3 Portrait of Albert Einstein. Pen and ink drawing.

One of the simplest—and certainly most reliable—methods of adapting the ideal concept of the character to the face of the actor who is to play the part is to work from photographs—front and profile—of the actor, making sure, of course, that the photographs are recent enough so that the face will not have significantly aged. Place a sheet of tracing paper over the photograph (FIGURE 6-5A) and sketch the character in pencil (FIGURE 6-5B-H), being very careful not to change the actor’s face in any way in which it cannot actually be changed with makeup. The drawings in FIGURE 6-6 were sketched from the photographs in FIGURE 6-7A and B. FIGURE 6-7C and D show the final makeup. Note the close resemblance between the drawing and the makeup—a result of working directly from a photograph of the actor. The drawing in FIGURE 16-7 was done in the same way.

If you have not previously worked from photographs in this way, you may prefer to begin by making a drawing of the actor’s own face. This drawing can then be used with the character drawing (as in FIGURE 16-7) for a before-and-after comparison. This is the procedure:

FIGURE 6-4 Drawing and sketching materials. A. White chalk. B. Cotton swab. C. Paper stump. D. Charcoal pencil. E. Drawing pencil. F. White pencil. G. Drawing pen. H. Conté crayons. I. India ink.

1. Place a large glossy photograph of the actor under a sheet of tracing paper. You can tape both the photograph and the tracing paper to a drawing board, or if you prefer to use a pad of tracing paper, you can simply insert the photograph under the top sheet.

2. Using a sharp pencil with a medium (B) lead, trace the outline of the face and the features and fill in lips, eyebrows, eyes, and shadows. Paper stumps can be used for blending small areas, and the fingers for larger ones.

3. The hair should be sketched in but need not be done in great detail.

4. Remove the photograph and add finishing details to the drawing.

In making a drawing of the character from the photograph, follow the same procedure, but instead of copying the actor’s features exactly, change those you wish to alter for the character, as illustrated in FIGURE 6-6.

Quick Changes

If there are quick changes to be made or if your facilities or your time for making complicated prosthetic pieces are limited, then you should make sure that the requirements for the makeup are reasonable. If they are not, you will need to modify your design to meet practical considerations. In Peter Falk’s makeup for Stalin, for example, there was a fairly fast change to be made during intermission—from the first character drawing in FIGURE 16-7 to the second. Fortunately, the change could be made with cake makeup and the addition of a wig. Therefore, the requirements of the makeup were reasonable.

Working Drawings

Working drawings should be provided for the actor or the makeup artist to follow in doing the makeup. They can be in the form of drawings (such as the makeup drawings previously described or the ones used on the worksheet in FIGURE 6-10) or of diagrams of the face, with indications of changes to be made. The outline of a face, front and profile, shown on the worksheet in FIGURE 6-9, could be used for the diagrams. Instructions for the makeup could then be connected to various parts of the diagram with arrows. However, since the drawings show approximately what the makeup will actually look like, whereas the diagrams do not, the drawings are much to be preferred. If you particularly want to relate your written instructions for the makeup to very specific areas of the face by means of arrows, that can be done as well with drawings as with diagrams.

FIGURE 6-5 Making a character drawing from a photograph. A. Placing photograph of the actor under a sheet of tracing paper. B. Outlining the face with a drawing pencil. C. Shadows in the eye area being laid in with a pencil. D. Shadows being blended with a paper stump. E. Nose being reshaped. F. Jawline being aged. G. The character’s hair being sketched in after the photograph has been removed. H. Finished drawing.

FIGURE 6-6 Pencil drawings by Esther Marquis for Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol, A Ghost Story of Christmas at the Alley Theatre.

The drawings, which can be in either black and white or color and which should include both a front view and a profile, must be carefully rendered to give an accurate impression of what the makeup will look like when it is finished. They can be done on an artist’s drawing board, if you have one, or on a clipboard. The drawings (or photocopies of them) should be made available to the actor to mount on or near a makeup mirror (see FIGURE 16-8C).

For black-and-white drawings, pencil is relatively easy to work with, especially when making revisions. The tracing-paper-over-photograph technique described under “Adapting the Makeup to the Actor” is likely to be the most accurate. If photographs of the actor are not available, pen or pencil drawings can be made directly on the makeup worksheet, as in FIGURE 6-10, or on separate sheets of paper.

For renderings in color (and color may be advisable for some makeups, especially nonrealistic ones), there are several possibilities. Water colors require the most experience for skillful handling and are not easily revised—an important consideration in doing makeup drawings. Colored pencils—including water-color pencils—are easier for the inexperienced to work with but not much easier to revise. Pastels and colored chalk are relatively easy to work with and have some similarity to makeup paints in color and technique of blending—also in their susceptibility to smudging. The smudging, fortunately, can be virtually eliminated, when the drawing is finished, by spraying it with fixative. It’s a good idea to protect all such drawings with acetate or transparent plastic sheets.

In general, the advantages of black-and-white pencil drawings outweigh the advantages of drawings in color. If color is important, it can be indicated by referring to specific makeup numbers—either on the worksheet or in the margins of the drawing, possibly with arrows leading to parts of the makeup for which various colors are to be used.

Worksheets

When the final sketch for a makeup has been approved (if approval is required), you should then prepare a makeup worksheet to be followed in doing the makeup. The one in FIGURE 6-10 is both simple and practical. If you have not already done a finished drawing of the makeup, it can be drawn front view and profile on the worksheet, following the dotted lines or departing from them, using drawing pens or pencils (black or colored), water colors, water-color pencils, conté crayon (black or sepia), or the makeup itself. When using pencils or conté crayon, the wrinkles and shadows can be blended with a paper stump or, for larger areas, with the fingers. When using a black lead pencil, it’s possible to run your fingers lightly over the entire drawing to gray all the white areas, then to pick out the highlights carefully with an eraser. Since the edges of the erased area will be hard, those edges that should be soft in the makeup should be blended with a stump or with your finger into the adjoining gray area. When using makeup, simply place the makeup on the page and blend.

FIGURE 6-7 Scrooge in Charles Dicken’s Christmas Carol, A Ghost Story of Christmas. A. and B. Actor James Black. C. and D. Final makeup based on sketches in Figure 6-6. Figure 6-7

FIGURE 6-8 Makeup worksheet.

FIGURE 6-9 This makeup worksheet is used at California State University, Fullerton, by Professor Abel Zeballos.

Precise information on makeup colors to be used, special techniques of application, hair styles, and any three-dimensional additions to the face, including beards and mustaches, can be entered in the appropriate spaces on the chart. Additional detailed sketches or diagrams can be included when necessary.

FIGURES 6-10, and 6-11 show two styles of completed makeup charts/worksheets used to assist and train actors to complete their own makeup. After the final makeup has been approved, you should revise the worksheets, if necessary, to provide all the information required to reproduce the makeup. If possible, a photograph of the final makeup (FIGURE 6-12) should be attached to the chart. Having an instant-picture or digital camera and high-speed film available will make this a relatively simple matter.

FIGURE 6-10 Makeup worksheet for King Pellinore. By student Richard Brunner. For finished makeup, see Figure 6-12.

FIGURE 6-11 Makeup Chart for Norma Desmond in the Broadway Tour of Sunset Boulevard starring Petula Clark. By Broadway makeup artist Kate Best.

FIGURE 6-12 Makeup for King Pellinore. By student Richard Brunner. Pencil sketches for the makeups shown on the worksheets in Figure 6-10.