More about faces! This time the subject is how faces age. The Ekman book isn't very helpful so I'll have to take a stab at analyzing the pictures myself. I'm not good at this so don't expect too much. I think I'll start with the grandmother in the left vertical column above (click to enlarge) (that's her grandaughter in the right hand column but this won't deal with her). Let's see...Hmmmm...well, the first thing I notice is that her eyes turn into slits by middle age. What causes that? Do the cheeks push up and close the eyes or does the top lid droop down and cover the eye? And am I imagining it or does the mouth seem to widen with age?
Holy Cow! Look at the shape of her face! It was "V"-shaped when she was a teenager and boxy later on! In the second picture from the bottom the smooth, evenly distributed fat of the teen face gives way to lumpy, swollen fat. She looks looks like she was stung by bees. In the final picture the puffiness has subsided. Her face is nicely proportioned and she looks happy.
This woman (above) had an interesting progression. The third, fourth and fifth pictures look energetic, optimistic and intelligent. The sixth picture looks like she's become aware of disturbing things like penises, cliques and the horror of homework. The seventh is completely adult. She believes she can cope with disturbing things. In the eighth the disturbing things won but she doesn't seem to mind. She's discovered...what? Maybe what it's like to be a mother. In the last picture she's become a solid citizen.
Once again, in pictures seven and eight we see the V- shaped face morph into a box. In the ninth picture the box has retreated a bit but the bees have done their job again. Her neck is the same in pictures eight and nine but her face is puffier in nine, indicating that the increased facial fat isn't the result of putting on more weight in general. I wonder if she'll lose that fat as the grandmother did in the first set of pictures.
Boy, there's no doubt that somewhere between 10 and 15 you look the best you'll ever look! It's a great combination of vitality, curiosity and optimism. I wonder if that coincides with the best or most formative time of life?
Here's (above) a more youthful me. That's Kali mugging underneath. Anyway my face was V-shaped in those days and my eyes were somewhat wide open. Gee, I had a big nose and ears even then!Here's me today (above). The face is puffy and bee-stung just like the women above. What the heck causes that anyway? I don't want to be bee-stung! Shouldn't I get to vote about that? The skin above the upper lip seems thinner than it used to be. Does that happen to everybody? You can see the faint blue hairs of a Zorro mustache that wants to born but for the good of mankind I supress it.
One positive thing: my eyes are slits now. I'm delighted! I used to envy Lee Van Cliff and John Wayne for their squints and now I have a squint of my very own! Maybe that's because I never wear sunglasses. Artists should never wear sunglasses! They should also never do yoga but I'll have to save that for a post some other time!
23 comments:
Wow! This is really interesting. Keep posting on this!
Do you think the nose gets bigger with age?
gee, i've done yoga. I stopped because i saw no benefits. And i just changed my avatar pic to one in which i wear sunglasses (like 20 years ago, but still). You'll sure have to do a post on that, Eddie. I've been thinking on getting sunglasses to draw people while not letting them know I'm observing. In fact, i've been to many artist's blogs and begged them for a post on 'doodle stalking', but no one granted it to me. Personally i think it's a very fit theme for your blog, but i probably have asked it here too.
Gabriel: Doodle stalking!? That's a great name for it! Sure, I'll do a post on it!
Anon: Yes. the nose and ears get bigger and bigger til there's nothing left between them but a stalk to hang the nose & ears on.
Between 10 and 15 when I was at my ugly peak! Thus I do not like your theory.
Men just more naturally resemble our ape ancesctry. We're angular with sloping foreheads, shorter noses and taller upper lips.
That's why we love girls so much. Curving lines with supple, round graceful flourishes to their features.
Lolol
Between 10 and 15 are the horrors of life! That's when kids go from naturally evil to deliberately evil!
Plus, school gets harder and when frustration *ahem* begins.
If you like squinty eyes, you must be real jealous of Kali and me.
I'd like to see Uncle Eddie illustrate a Yoga book.
I suppose a lot of people do yoga to relax... I think I would do it more to just stretch and stay flexible.
I've always wanted to see families do the family portrait thing on a yearly basis, shot in as identical a situation as possible (Pose, clothing, setting (minimal if possible), position, at least until the nestlings leave. Then keep them all on the wall side by side.
This is almost done subconsiously for holiday cards, but I want it to be a series you could almost run through a morphing program to watch them age.
the face puffing ness looks as if soemone were vauuming all the soft parts of the face forwards. mayeb it's just the loss of eleacisitiy in the skin. In all the young pictures the skin look suran-wrapped to the skull.
i have two theories on why the eyes get squinty.
A) A visit deteriorates people get used to squinting more just to see.
B) When you are young you haven't seen a lot and everything is new so you open your eys to let in as many new sensations as possible just out of sheer curiosity. As you age and get jaded, you feel like you've seen everything and you feel less need to see
things you think you've already seen.
I think the first woman's mouth gets wider A) because she is smiling more in the older she gets. Perhaps she only found true joy in her later years. B) because as the skin wears out crease form at the corners of your mouth. I've seen this on several old people that i'v studied. The moth looks a couple mm wider than it is until it's opened and you can see where the actual edge of the mouth is.
Gabe: I got some stalker-type doodles i was just glancing over yesterday. I'll post them on my blog by the end of tomorrow (June 10th)
nizzbear.blogspot.com
I agree with Kali, i'm way hotter now than i have been in the past 10 years. Although i suppose sexual appeal doesn't always correlate with beauty. Just check out eh hollywood A-list.
John Derbyshire once cheesed a lot of people off with a short note titled Jennifer's Bristols, in which he said in effect that women are only look-worthy between the ages of 16 and 20. I thought on the contrary that 20 is most advanced age at which they are virtually all worth looking at. Well, maybe more like 30.
>John Derbyshire once cheesed a lot of people off with a short note titled Jennifer's Bristols, in which he said in effect that women are only look-worthy between the ages of 16 and 20. I thought on the contrary that 20 is most advanced age at which they are virtually all worth looking at. Well, maybe more like 30.
It depends on the race.
Natebear: I couldn't find the the doodle stalking drawings but those DVNR examples on your site are the most extreme I've ever seen! Do you mind if I use them?
Lester: I read Derbyshire. Kittens are always more fun to look at than cats and young people are always more fun to look at than adults. Adults are more fun to talk to though.
Teenagers are sulky and tribal and self-centered (I was). They're not fully wired yet. By the time they become wired they've already lost some of their sparkle and youthful energy. There doesn't seem to be any time in your life when you have all the assets at once.
A teenager who could appear as if they were fully wired and was energetic and optimistic at the same time would radiate charisma and could rule the world.
Great stuff on faces. I need to pick up that Eckman book.
"There doesn't seem to be any time in your life when you have all the assets at once." Alas, so true!
Eddie, Gabirel:I just posted the doodle stalker* drawings. And Yes, Eddie, of course you can use the examples. I got a few more images if you're interested, including some stylized Avery MGM scenes that are utterly unwatchable thanks to the DVNR.
*Ought that be hyphenated?
"A teenager who could appear as if they were fully wired and was energetic and optimistic at the same time would radiate charisma and could rule the world."
I can't believe your kids weren't the latter.
No matter how they appeared to you at the time. One of the best parts of Betty MacDonald's(yes, her again) books is where she described being at a cocktail party where the parents of one of her daughter's friends came rushing up to compliment her on how charming, beautifully behaved and intelligent her two teenage daughter were. As Betty's girls were at that very time two sullen, disdainful, emotional strangers to her in her presence she was flabbergasted.
The thing is--the other woman went on--her own daughter was a monster at home, her mom despairing of having a decent relationship with her...of course, at Betty's house that same girl always spoke cheerfully to Betty, was bright and polite and charming. Betty and the other mom then dragged their respective husbands over, compared notes--and went home, as Betty wrote "looking years and years younger".
Things never change with teenagers!
But anyway, that doesn't mean they weren't truly optmistic and happy and not always self centered when you weren't around. Parents just naturally irritate kids from 12 to 18 or so.
And if you'll forgive my saying so-I'm sure they both had a much better-that is to say, happier-upbringing than you yourself did. That really does make all the difference inside during the teenage years, no matter how you seem to your parents.
Back to faces: mouth's can't get bigger, but lips do get thinner which can emphasize a mouth's wideness, horizontally. Noses get bigger, eyes begin to recede under folds as has been mentioned.
I think artists' faces when they draw are particuarly fascinating. That's something someone should do a series on. I once did a quick sketch of Eddie when he was intently working on his boards. You'd think he was solving the mysteries of string theory. He'd also taken his glasses off to work close and he looks completely different--ultra-serious--when he's not grinning. : )
Jenny: Interesting comment! You convinced me to give Betty MacDonald another chance!
About the serious drawing face, maybe I encountered something really difficult! It's still fun on some level.
Nate: Thanks for the pemission and the stalker drawings were really interesting!
No, it was a fun thing you were drawing, I'm sure. You were just that into it. Which is to be expected!
Post a Comment