KING LEAR
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts, and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt couriers to oak-cleaving thunder-bolts,
Singe my white head! And thou, all shaking thunder,
Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world!
Crack nature's moulds, all germes spill at once
That make ingrateful man!
KING LEAR
This old man torn to rags by a tempest of emotion, on the ultimate boundary of life, is obviously difficult to portray; tenderness and rage, madness and dignity, must all be shown. He is pent, baffled, and buffeted by things physical and mental for a while. Then there is the hurried decay of body and of brain.
In Fig. 1 observe that the nose has been slightly built up. This is done to give added dignity to the face. For the great weight of beard and hair would tend to make the nose look smaller than it really is. After the nose has been built up the wig is put on that the position of the join may be indicated, also what parts of the natural hair must be treated with white paint. The groundwork is laid on: this should be of 2-1/2 yellow and a little brown. The shadows round the eyes are of groundwork mixed with blue. The wrinkles are of groundwork mixed with additional brown and lake. The temples should be shadowed with this colour.
Find out where the wrinkles would come by pursing up the face. Use as many as possible to suggest extreme old age, being always mindful that the intentions of nature are not ignored. Be careful that the lines on the face are not drawn in too decisive a manner, as at a distance they seem much stronger than they really are. The modelling tool is most suitable for the drawing and the subsequent modification of the wrinkles. It may be also used for applying the more delicate high lights. Each wrinkle should be accentuated with a light just above it. Fig. 2 shows the make-up at a stage when it is ready for the addition of the moustache and beard. Observe the whitened hair just above the temples. This is done with white grease paint.
Fig. 3 shows the beard in position. A tape goes over the head to partly support its weight, and it is secured with spirit gum. Note the blending of the left cheek and beard with crepe hair, also how half the chin is covered, observe how the character of the face is altered by the bushy eyebrow. Fig. 4 shows the make-up almost complete and ready for the wig to be put on. Put the wig on, carefully blending the join. Accentuate wrinkles and shadows here and there. Powder and treat the eyelashes with white paint.