Physical Description Challenged

[elsol]

Okay...

What the HELL do 'wide-set eyes' look like?

I read that description in TONS of books, but I keep imagining someone with eyes by their temples!

Anyone have a picture?

ps. What do close-set eyes look like?

pss. What's the 'standard' width between eyes?

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[Op_Cit]

There is no standard width, but there is a standard ratio (related to the Golden Mean/Fibonacci). An artist could probably tell you what it is.

However close set eyes and wide set eyes do stand out to the average person. That is, you know it when you see it.

There's a couple of actresses that come to mind with wide set eyes... too bad the early onset Alzheimer's prevents me from naming them.

 

[Op_Cit]

The internet is probably as much a cause of mental lapse as it is an aid: I think Rebecca Gayheart has wide set eyes (ever so slightly).

 

[English Lady]

My nanna always said never trust a man who's eyes are too close together...

Wide set eyes are like these on Kate Moss


where as I can't think of anyone famous with close set eyes off bat, but close set eyes tend to make a person look shifty...

 

[Weird Harold]

The internet is probably as much a cause of mental lapse as it is an aid: I think Rebecca Gayheart has wide set eyes (ever so slightly).

I agree, I'd say those would fit the description of "wide-set eyes."

pss. What's the 'standard' width between eyes?

"Close set" and "wide set" eyes refer to whether the eyes appear to be centered between the bridge of the nose and the corner of the eye or temple. If the eys are visually centered, then they're neither close-set or wide-set -- by default they must be "standard-set"

Note there is a difference between "visually centered" and "exactly centered" because your eye will tell you that a persons eyes are "centered" in different places depending on the width of the bridge of the nose.

 

[Equinoxe]

If I'm not mistaken, supposedly in the ideals of human beauty, in accordance with the whole of the Divine Proportion, the pupils of the eye and the corners of one's mouth should form a square; I believe the golden section of any line forming that square is likewise supposed to correspond to the distance between the eyes.

I may however be making that up entirely.

 

[Op_Cit]

Wide set eyes are like these on Kate Moss

Yes, Kate is clearly not of this earth. As for close set eyes, I always think of Rene Auberjonois .

 

[Weird Harold]

Yes, Kate is clearly not of this earth. As for close set eyes, I always think of Rene Auberjonois .

Rene is a good example of what I meant by "visual center" -- His eyes are actual centered between the bridge of his nose and his temple, but his face is so narrow and so much of the sides of his head are visible that his eyes don't look centered.

If I'm not mistaken, supposedly in the ideals of human beauty, in accordance with the whole of the Divine Proportion, the pupils of the eye and the corners of one's mouth should form a square; I believe the golden section of any line forming that square is likewise supposed to correspond to the distance between the eyes.

I may however be making that up entirely.

That sounds about right from what I've read about studies on "empirical beauty." I don't remember the actual numbers for the "divine proportion" and "Golden Section" but they're not really relevant to describing what the numbers mean without making a story sound like a scientific paper.

 

[Equinoxe]

That sounds about right from what I've read about studies on "empirical beauty." I don't remember the actual numbers for the "divine proportion" and "Golden Section" but they're not really relevant to describing what the numbers mean without making a story sound like a scientific paper.

No, no they're not relevant to a description, whatsoever. I don't think that the question has been accurately settled either, that is the question of empirical beauty. Certainly, no one actually looks like that anyway, no one has a perfectly symmetrical face.

Op_Cit mentioned the idea of the Golden Mean in human faces though, so I presented that.

 

[matriarch]

If I'm not mistaken, supposedly in the ideals of human beauty, in accordance with the whole of the Divine Proportion, the pupils of the eye and the corners of one's mouth should form a square; I believe the golden section of any line forming that square is likewise supposed to correspond to the distance between the eyes.

I may however be making that up entirely.

*chuckling*......wickedly clever. I like you.

 

[Equinoxe]

*chuckling*......wickedly clever. I like you.

Why thank you! I'm blushing.

 

[matriarch]

Why thank you! I'm blushing.

What a delicious image.......thank you.

 

[Equinoxe]

What a delicious image.......thank you.

You're welcome.

 

[bg23]

Okay...

What the HELL do 'wide-set eyes' look like?

I read that description in TONS of books, but I keep imagining someone with eyes by their temples!

Anyone have a picture?

ps. What do close-set eyes look like?

pss. What's the 'standard' width between eyes?

Sincerely,
ElSol

sketchy memory, but i think wide sets eyes are eyes that are set further apart than the length of one single eye.

or something like that. i might have read that in a book about myths, i don't know.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

The Golden Mean or Proportion (also known as Phi) can be found any number of ways.

Probably the easiest is it's 1 to [(square root of 5) + 1)]/2, which comes out to about 1 to 1.618... (it's an irrational number).

The property of Phi is that Phi-1=1/Phi. Another way of saying that is that Phi^2 - Phi = 1.

Or

Phi-1 is to 1 as 1 is to Phi; or Phi-1:1 = 1hi

It's a fascinating little number, and shows up in the most unexpected places in mathematics.

 

[sincerely_helene]

sketchy memory, but i think wide sets eyes are eyes that are set further apart than the length of one single eye.

or something like that. i might have read that in a book about myths, i don't know.

Agreed. In art class, my teacher would have us draw a third eye in the middle of the other two eyes to make sure they were propotionally correct. We would then later erase the eye. I always found that method flawed, because there are too many exceptions to the rule. Otherwise we would not read descriptions such as "wide set" or "close set."

I still recall sketching an oriental man, and getting docked marks because the third eye wouldn't fit properly even though the magazine picture quite clearly demonstrated his eyes were extraordinarly wide set.

 

[Edward Teach]

George W. Bush has somewhat narrow set eyes.

John Kerry has somewhat wide set eyes.



Sincerely Helene has gorgeous eyes.

.

 

[Dar~]

Okay...

What the HELL do 'wide-set eyes' look like?

I read that description in TONS of books, but I keep imagining someone with eyes by their temples!

Anyone have a picture?

ps. What do close-set eyes look like?

pss. What's the 'standard' width between eyes?

Sincerely,
ElSol

When I was taking my art classes and drawing, the Professor told us that the norm for the spacing between eyes is that the inside of the euye will line up directly with the outer corner of the lip. it was a basic drawing tool for generic portraits.

 

[Liar]

When I was taking my art classes and drawing, the Professor told us that the norm for the spacing between eyes is that the inside of the euye will line up directly with the outer corner of the lip. it was a basic drawing tool for generic portraits.

Sounds odd. Doesn't people's mouths vary quite a lot in size?

 

[Dar~]

Sounds odd. Doesn't people's mouths vary quite a lot in size?

yes, and their eyes will vary accordingly. usually.

 

[Liar]

yes, and their eyes will vary accordingly. usually.

*off to check out pics of Julia Robers and Mick Jagger*

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Close set eyes are really a matter of perception. The same with wide set. Many women use make up to make their eyes appear wider set than they are. that's why you carry your shadow out past the edge of the orbit, or carry your brows out with a pencil even when there is no actual brow there.

I would hazard to guess that no ten people would say closes set, wide set or normal for the same ten pictures, unless you rexamples were extreme. Close set eyes, tend to be a literary indiation that the character is dis likeable, dis agreeable or dis honest. I think it's more a convention now than an actual description.

 

[R. Richard]

My nanna always said never trust a man who's eyes are too close together...

It is even worse than that EL. If you are a juror and observe the defendant has close set, shifty eyes = GUILTY! You don't even have to know what the charges are. [Little known fact of jurisprudence.]

 

[sincerely_helene]

George W. Bush has somewhat narrow set eyes.

John Kerry has somewhat wide set eyes.



Sincerely Helene has gorgeous eyes.

.

Hey! You must have snuck that last part in later.
(And thank you, for that.)