Distinctions of Ancestry

As our society becomes more and more cultur­ally and ethnically diverse, the impact of "race" is becoming more and more diluted as peoples begin to blend with one another and clearly defined descriptions blur. Race is a traditionally used term that describes major zoological sub­divisions of humankind, regarded as having a common beginning and sharing a relatively con­stant group of physical traits, such as pigmenta­tion and facial and body proportions.44 For the makeup of today’s population, ancestry seems to

figure 2.63 “Before and after" age makeup on actor Ben Browder by David Elsey for Farscape. Images reproduced by permission of David Elsey.

Other factors can create an appearance of having aged without much passage of actual time. Hair loss and a slight weight gain can affect the appearance of aging beyond normal chronology. Keep in mind that when you’re creating transverse frontal lines, they can’t exist beyond the natural hairline, because they corre­spond to the perpendicular vertical pull of the frontalis muscle, which stops very near the hairline in most people.

44S. I. Landau, S. C. Brantley, et al., Funk and Wagnall’s Standard Encyclopedic Dictionary (J. G. Ferguson Publishing Co., 1968).

be a more accurate term. However, as makeup artists and makeup designers, we must examine the more traditional overview of the three major racial/ances – tral groups to arrive at a distinct physical appearance: Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid, or the preferred European derived, African derived, and Asian derived.

Of course, there is a multiplicity of physical appearances that exist with each of these groups.[37] Dr. Henry Field, in his 1946 book, The Races of Mankind, first described those three major racial groups—Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid—which by today’s standards seem quite antiquated,[38] but regard­less of how appropriate they are or not, there is no denying that physical differ­ences in ancestry do still very much exist. I present them here as a context only for creating a particular ethnic character makeup design.

Structurally, there are immediately obvious skeletal differences (though gen­eralized) between the European-derived, African-derived, and Asian-derived ancestral groups, visible in this illustration of facial relationships to the skull shape.

Caucasian people are referred to generally as white, though hardly all light-skinned people are Caucasian nor are all Caucasians light skinned. Many Caucasian skulls present a seemingly flat face in profile, with retreating or back-slanting zygomatic bones. The anterior skull shows lon­ger and narrower nasal openings than African – or Asian-derived counterparts.[39] In his book, Dr. Field placed European-derived people into three additional groups:

■ Mediterranean. Iberian peninsula, western Mediterranean islands, southern France and Italy, western Wales and western Ireland:

■ Short and stocky

■ Olive complexion

■ Dark hair and eyes

■ Long head; narrow, oval face

■ Small mouth

■

Alpine. Central plateau of France, Switzerland, and what is now the Czech Republic; south into the Balkans and east into Russia and the former Soviet Union:

■ Round head; broad face

■ Dark complexion

■ Dark (brown) wavy hair

■ Thick eyebrows over brown eyes

■ Heavy body hair

■ Sometimes a thick neck; medium to heavy build

■ Nordic. Scandinavia, northern Germany, part of Holland and Belgium, Great Britain:[40]

■ Tall

■ Light complexion

■ Fair hair and blue eyes

■ Long head and face

■ Prominent nose and chin

Field also wrote about Caucasian people of Africa:

The Hamites who inhabit north and northeast Africa… possess dark Ьгошп or black hair, which is either curly or wavy in form, and the skin varies in color from reddish brown to dark brown. Their average stature varies from very tall to medium and their build is slender. The typical Hamite possesses a long head, an oval, elongated face with no forward protrusion, thin lips, pointed chin, and a prominent, well-shaped nose.

Semites … in a measure the physical traits of Hamites resemble those of Semites. Members of the Semitic group now live chiefly in the extreme north of Africa migrated from Arabia at early dates. The Arabs, who are typical Semites in both physique and language, are usually medium in stature, are dark-haired, and generally have oval faces, with long, narrow, straight noses. There are two typical head forms among the Arabs – one is long, and the other broad.[41]

The African-derived peoples who make up the majority of the group originating in Africa are most frequently referred to as black, even though their pigmenta­tion varies broadly from light brown to a very dark brown, sometimes bordering on black. Often the skull exhibits alveolar prognathism, which is a protrusion of the lower face by both the maxilla and the mandible. The anterior nasal open­ings tend to be wider and shorter than in Caucasians and Asians (Mongoloids), with a broader and flatter bridge. The mouth tends to be broader as well, with fuller, inverted lips. Many African-derived people also have wider-set eyes than the other groups.[42]

West African. Coastal West Africa: ■ Long headed ■ Medium stature ■ Well developed, with a heavy torso and massive limbs ■ Arms are long and legs short in comparison to the length of the trunk ■ Sometimes a projecting chin ■ Nose is broad, lips are thick; dark eyes and wooly hair Nilotic. Upper Nile: ■ Taller, greater stature ■ Slender build ■ Longer head in relation to width Pygmies. Ituri Forest, northern Congo: ■ Short, dark brown hair ■ Pigmentation ranges from light brown with yellow tinge to very dark chocolate brown ■ Average stature is short: 4 feet, 6 inches; both body and legs are short ■ Round head with some facial protrusion ■ Full lips; flat, broad nose Bushmen. Kalahari Desert:51 ■ Short, frizzy hair in tufts ■ Little or no facial or body hair ■ Pigmentation ranges from yellow to olive ■ Markedly wrinkled skin at early age ■ Small head, low in the crown; somewhere between long and round head ■ Slightly protruding forehead ■ Nose very flat and broad ■ Dark, narrow, and slightly oblique eyes ■ Average male is under 5 feet tall

We ordinarily think of the Mongoloid group of people—those we think of as Asian-derived—as being Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or one of several other var­ied Asian groups. In actuality, this group of individuals also includes Native Americans and American Eskimos. As such, the group also exhibits a wide vari­ety of physical features and skin colors. When we examine the facial bone struc­ture of group members, the skull exhibits an often flattened face with a short cranial cavity—that is, a short distance from front to back. The anterior cheeks are wide, with projecting zygomatic bones. The nasal opening is somewhere between that of European-derived and African-derived features. The size of the mouth is also often somewhere in between.52

Field identified four African-derived groups of people:

■

■

■

■

51Henry Field, The Races of Mankind (C. S. Hammond and Co., 1946). 52Karen T. Taylor, Forensic Art and Illustration (CRC Press, 2001).

Dr. Field described the following Asian groups:

■ Chinese. China, Mongolia:

■ Represent a single racial unit, medium in stature

■ Head is intermediate, between long and round

■ Pigmentation yellowish brown

■ Eyes are oblique, with a Mongolian (epicanthic) fold

■ Hair black and straight

■ Japanese. Emigrated from southeast Asia; two distinct types:

1. Fine features:

■ Taller and more slender

■ Elongated face

■ Prominent, narrow, arched nose

■ Eyes are either straight or oblique; epicanthic fold may be present

2. Coarse features:

■ Short and stocky

■ Broad face; short, concave nose

■ Rounded nostrils

■ Oblique eyes; usually with epicanthic fold

■ Darker complexion

■ American Indians:

■ Brown skin with reddish or yellowish tinge

■ Dark eyes

■ Straight, coarse black hair

■ Minimal facial and body hair

■ Broad face with high, prominent cheekbones

■ Head is usually round; occasionally long in certain groups

■ Varied stature

■ Nose varies from flat to aquiline (curved or hooked)

■ American Eskimos:

■ Clearly of Asiatic origin; the most Mongoloid of all American groups

■ Short, stocky build

■ Long head with very broad face

■ Massive jaw and moderately narrow nose

■ Sides of head are often flat, and a ridge may be present along the dome of the skull

■ Eyes frequently have epicanthic fold

I’ve mentioned the term epicanthic fold several times in the previous descrip­tions of ancestral traits, but you might not know what it means. You should, because it is an immediate ancestral identifier as well as a trait of several dis­orders, including fetal alcohol syndrome and Down syndrome. An epicanthic fold, also known as an epicanthal fold or an epicanthus, is a skin fold of the upper

eyelid, from the nose to the inner side of the eyebrow, covering the Medial canthus (inner corner) of the eye.

An epicanthic fold is present in all humans in the womb; some children lose them at birth, but many children of any ethnicity may exhibit an epicanthic fold before the bridge of the nose begins to elevate.[43]