Understand the purpose. Under bright lights, skin tones tend to get washed out, so instead of seeing a human face, all we’re treated to is a pale blob with two eyes and a mouth. The job of theatrical makeup is not to make a person look fancy or made up, but rather to make them look completely normal under lights that make them look anything but.
Prepare the face. The first step to any good artwork is clearing your canvas. Don’t apply makeup on top of makeup that is already there. The face should have been washed recently, but not immediately before you begin. Men should shave an hour or two before, as stubble will ruin sponges. Most professionals keep straight razors or an electric razor handy for such occasions.
Make a foundation. Before you get into too many specifics, start with the base. Apply a base universally to the face, neck, and to the hands, if necessary. Hands have less distinctive features than the face, so you only need to apply makeup to the hands if the face is a different shade. Makeup can allow anyone to go several shades paler or darker than their natural skin tone, when smoothly applied. Someone with olive skin will not look normal wearing pale makeup and neither will a pale-skinned person wearing olive colored base.
Bring out the features. The most important thing that theatrical makeup does is make the performer’s features visible when they would not be otherwise. Lip tone is simple, so start with that. For men, a simple pink gloss or neutral tone is usually fine, with women there are more options. Generally, with women you should always outline the lips first with a lip pencil a shade or two darker than their lipstick. This will cause the lips to stand out. Using a brush, apply blush to the undersides of the cheekbones. The color of this will depend upon the skin tone and the makeup job. Usually men only need a slightly different tone than their base color to make it look as though they have cheekbones. Women can get a bit more dramatic so that it looks like they are actually wearing blush as their character. The same is true of eyes. A neutral eye is simple to achieve with eyeliner (usually brown is safer than black) and mascara for women. Eye shadow is only necessary on women if they are to look ‘made up’, and with men it should not be necessary. Finally, use a brown eyebrow pencil to make sure that the eyebrow is visible above the base makeup.
Get fancy. Once the basic layer is applied, you should check the performer under the stage lighting to make sure you are on the right track. Take note of colors that need to be lightened or darkened, and take the necessary action. If the character is to appear made up, then you should apply makeup in the typical areas, just overdo it. For age makeup, have the performer make a series of exaggerated faces to show you where their face would naturally line with age, and use a pencil to enhance these lines, blending as you go. For simple age makeup, crows feet, lines under the eyes, smile and frown lines at the mouth, and lines at the top and sides of the nose should suffice. In addition, special effects can be produced by stippling with a plastic sponge, for stubble, freckles, disease, or age marks.