"Faces go through a tremendous amount of growth and change"

In the chapter Anatomy and Design from Todd Debreceni's Special Makeup Effects Debreceni talk about the process of how our bodies and faces age throughout different stages of our life and what can influence this. 

He says as we grow, our bodies go through a whole series of physical changes. Faces especially go through a tremendous amount of growth and change from youth to old age. However at the same time there is also a significant constancy of appearance. A persons face normally looks very similar throughout their whole life, no matter the age. This similarity is called gnomatic growth (a process that leaves facial features in later years similar to how they were in youth.)The first twenty years of life are constructive and growth orientated, the years after this are degenerative and destructive.

For a makeup artist nothing is more beneficial to makeup designs than reference images. You also need a firm understanding of how the human body ages. Depending on which part of the body, aged skin wrinkles and folds in specific directions – these lines were mapped out by Austrian anatomist Karl Langer in 1861.

20 - Karl Langer's skin tension lines

Everyone ages differently due to the fact there are factors beyond genetics that contribute to the ageing process. These include smoking, alcohol, drug abuse, stress, fitness (or the lack of) lifestyle, environment (sun exposure, pollution etc.) – these can all contribute to visible ageing whether it be premature or prolonged. However even with these factors there is a fairly predictable series of changes that seem to occur in a similar order for most people. For example, wrinkles will appear in certain areas and then in others - usually first on the forehead, then around the eyes, then the nose and the mouth. Wrinkles also have a progression so first they appear as lines, then grooves, then furrows then folds.  Wrinkles always appear perpendicular to the stretch of underlying muscle for example the horizontal lines across the forehead are perpendicular to the vertical pull of the fronticulis muscle of the face.

21 - Facial Anatomy

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20s

-          Fine transverse lines may appear across the forehead.

-          Fine vertical glabeller lines may appear in people who frown frequently

-          Fine central orbital lines (or crows feet) may appear in people smile often or spend a lot of time in the sun

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30s

-          Transverse frontal lines deepen

-          Vertical glabeller lines deepen

-          Lateral orbital lines increase in number and deepen

-          Transverse nasal lines may form across the top of the nose

-          Nasabial lines or furrows become noticeable

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40s

-          Inferior orbital groove may become apparent

-          Eyebrows may descend slightly

-          An excess of upper eyelid may develop and a portion of the superior orbital groove may be obscured on the lateral side.

-          Jawline becomes less firm

-          Circumoral striae becomes noticeable, especially in smokers

-          Lips begin to thin

-          Oromental groove may begin, depending on facial structure.

-          Mentolabial groove becomes apparent, depending on facial structure

-          Fine lines in neck become noticeable

50s

-          Inferior orbital groove may define a developing pouch under the eyes

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-          Excess upper eyelid tissue may worsen, obscuring more of the superior  orbital groove out the lateral side and creating more lateral orbital lines

-          Nasobial furrow becomes more noticeable

-          Dromental groove deepens

-           Lips continue to thin, especially in people who have naturally thin lips

-          Dental changes may  become apparent, increasing lines accordingly

-          A buccomandibuular groove may appear

-          Jawline becomes much less firm

-          Jowls and double chin may appear

-          Lines in neck are more noticeable

-          Arcus senilis may begin to appear in the eyes (cloudy grayish or whitish arc or circle around the periphery of the cornea of older adults. It’s caused by fatty acid deposits in the deep layer of the cornea. More commonly found in men)

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60s

-          All aforementioned lines become exaggerated

-          The circumcural striae may cross the vermillion border of the lips

-          Jawline is very soft, and tissues under the neck sag

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70s +

-          All aforementioned lines become more pronounced and defined, accompanied by a marked loss of elasticity of the skin and sagging tissue

28 - Age sculpt for The Curios Case of Benjamin Button

29 - Vincent Van Dyke age makeup

It is important to remember that hair loss and slight weight gain can affect appearance of ageing beyond normal chronology.

Overall I believe this section of the chapter was extremely helpful for my project. The detailed list of what each ageing process is at the different decades is very helpful for my age sculpt and also for my portrait research as my model will be younger than my portrait. I enjoyed the stress the chapter put on the importance of knowing the the facial anatomy of ageing and the picture references it showed for this.

Debreceni, T (2013) Special Makeup Effects for stage and screen. 2^nd edition. Abingdon. Focal Press