Week 8 - Female Body (Skin)

Week 8 - Female Body

This week's prac exercise involved sculpting over the female ecorche body so that it has skin. This took a lot longer than expected, as I discovered that there a re a lot of subtle features that need to be in place to look appropriate and femenine. Comparitive to the male model, the anatomy was much more difficult to sculpt without the model appearing masculine. Nevertheless, this extra time was useful as the model will be used to help aid my final project. The results can be seen below:

Research

As I have already completed the research I planned to do for the female anatomy study last week, this week I decided to focus on what makes females attractive or unattractive.
I believe this is especially important for video games and animated films, as a lot of characters must be made attractive for marketing purposes.

Below are my findings:

FEMALE

Ideal Face
The ideal face of a woman has high cheek bones, big eyes and a thin jaw.
Naturally, hormones change the appearance of the face throughout the years. The majority of men seem to select features that are characteristic of a woman who is 24 years old. It is hypothesized that this is related to the percieved age of optimal fertility.

However, Professor Victor Johnstone's research at the University of New Mexico found that men preferred two distinct traits which can be found in younger girls;
- A shorter distance between the eyes and chin - normally found in 12 year old girls.
- Fatter lips similar to that of a 14 year old girl.


(http://www.viewzone.com/faces.html)


Body Proportions
Most men seem to prefer large breasts, wide hips and small waist. The first two of these traits are linked to reproduction, and the third is linked to health.

Genetic bone structure is ultimately the cause of hip wideness, but estrogen also plays a big role as it encourages fat to be deposited around the hips, glutes, thighs and breasts.
If more fat is stored in these locations, there will naturally be less fat around the waist.
An overweight person will have more fat around the waist which makes men percieve them to be less healthy and therefore less attractive.


Dr Devendra Singh from the University of Texas have found that the optimal waist hip ratio:
0.67 to 0.80

A larger waist was viewed by males as meaning the woman was more faithful and kind and a woman with a smaller waist was judged as being more aggressive and ambitious.

Dr Michael Cunningham of Elmhurst College found that if a male is judging a female in an interview for a job, a woman with expressive eyebrows and dialated pupils has the edge and is likely to be considered more competent. However, expressive eyebrows and dialated pupils are not judged as attractive if the same man was looking for a mate.

Pyschology professor Nancy Etcoff also found that women appear more competant when wearing makeup.

 

(http://www.neatorama.com/2011/10/14/makeup-makes-women-look-more-competent/)

Professor Michael Cunningham also found that attractive women with mature features, such as small eyes and a large nose, received more respect from men.

Family Affects Preference
Psychologist David Perrett found that young men and women prefer faces that most resemble their mothers and fathers. 
Family members often share similar judgements when interpreting a person's personality based on their appearance.
This does not relate directly with beauty or attractiveness, but it demonstrates that some aspects of evaluating facial characteristics may be learned.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2007/12/19/friends-family-find-similar-faces-attractive/1684.html

Attractiveness Facts

• Attractive people earn more salary and get more promotions than average looking people.

• One main feature that is indicative of healthy genetics is the symmetry of the face.

• Recognition of beauty fosters better mate selection and healthier breeding.

• Beautiful people usually associate with other beautiful people.

• Beautiful people prefer date people who are a little more attractive than themselves.

• Beautiful people and less beautiful people judge beauty in the same way, although less beautiful people often consider other factors as equally important.

• People consider facial characteristics similar to their parents to be more attractive.

• Members of a family or relations judge facial characteristics as implying personality traits in the same way.
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• Studies find couples often resemble eachother in facial characteristics.

• Attractive people are viewed as honest and helpful while unattractive people are viewed as rude and unfair.

• Women find a man more attractive in experiments when other women are pictured smiling at him.

• Females find extremely masculine faces more attractive during their fertile periods.

• Studies find less attractive men are more faithful and loving than handsome men.

• Women looking for a mate like small eyes, a big nose and a large jaw.

• Males in experiments prefer facial ratios similar to a woman of 24.8 years old.

• The ideal figure of a woman is a waist to hip ratio of 0.67 to 0.80

(http://www.viewzone.com/faces.html)