How To Make A Character Look Older

"If she tells you she's 26, and looks 26, she's damn near forty!"

Sometimes characters don't look their age. Whether it was a deliberate artistic choice on the behalf of the creator (ordinarily to make the character more attractive or to legally fulfill a fetish) or something much deeper and linked to their characterization and the plot, this character will be older than they look. Although still inside the normal range of the human lifespan (for that setting, anyway), this character will look noticeably younger than their age. Sometimes even improbably younger; information technology's non unheard of for a seeming teenager to be over the hill chronologically.

This is an extremely mutual trope in Speculative Fiction, where Functional Magic or Applied Phlebotinum can be used to explain the characters advent beingness at odds with their age.

In scientific discipline fiction or fantasy, it can lead to Really 700 Years Onetime, The Ageless, or a Fourth dimension Abyss. Encounter likewise Age Is Relative and Improbable Age. Non to exist confused with Older Than They Call back. Contrast with Younger than They Await. If they're only drawn in a manner that makes them seem older, information technology's Creative Age. When a character is played past a much younger player, information technology becomes Hollywood Old unless the deviation is justified. When the actor is older than the grapheme they portray, information technology'south Dawson Casting (although the role player themselves may just fit this trope, justifying the Dawson Casting).

This is a Super-Trope of Never Grew Upwardly.

Compare Mistaken Age, Age Insecurity, and Age-Inappropriate Dress. For characters that don't look younger than their age but are still good-looking, see Silver Fox. Dissimilarity Animation Anatomy Crumbling.

Remember, this trope doesn't cover characters who are impossibly old, but much older than they look. For characters who are impossibly onetime, run across Really 700 Years Old and Time Abyss.

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Examples

• Anime & Manga
• Comic Books
• Fan Works
• Film
• Literature
• Live-Action TV
• Professional Wrestling
• Radio
• Tabletop Games
• Theatre
• Video Games
• Visual Novels
• Webcomics
• Web Original
• Western Animation

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    Asian Animation

• Happy Heroes: A relatively Downplayed example; Kalo is stated by the creators to exist around 30. However, due to the art-style, he is about the aforementioned meridian equally (or slightly taller than) Careful S., who is implied to exist a heart-schooler. However, he is an Adelian and they may age differently from people.

    Music

• When Bruno Mars kickoff received mainstream attending, his youthful voice and Teen Pop-oriented music acquired many to judge him equally someone in his late teens or very young adulthood, yet in actuality he was in his mid-20's. As his career went on and his music matured, his voice and advent hasn't changed much even every bit he is now well into his 30's.
• CHVRCHES: Atomic number 82 singer Lauren Mayberry is well-known for still looking like a teenager despite being well into her 30s.
• Corey Hart aged very well if you await at him. He'due south a 58-year-sometime guy who looks similar he's 38.
• Devin Millar is really an adult man in his 20s but he naturally looks like he could be 15.
• Eazy-E: His short superlative and relatively youthful voice makes it actress surprising to learn that he was really the oldest member of the North.W.A.
• Eminem's breakthrough album, The Slim Shady LP, depicted him as a short, small-framed platinum blond with beautiful mannerisms, big eyes with long eyelashes, and a loftier-pitched voice. At the time, he too had a brat/juvenile delinquent persona, rapping near childish topics similar teachers, school bullies, comic books, cartoons, and abusive parents. In the video for "My Name Is", he could easily pass for xvi-eighteen. He was in fact 26 years erstwhile and - in the era of Teen Pop - was already fretting almost being over the hill. His management squad even subtracted a couple of years from his 'official' historic period, only going back to the real number after his mother - every bit role of her ongoing harassment of him - leaked his birth certificate to the printing. In addition, Eminem is the oldest member of D12; he looks like he'south the youngest.
• Futari No: Nana and Lili are depicted in music videos from ages 7 to 21. Still, due to Harumaki Gohan's chibi-like fine art manner, combined with a nuance of Hairstyle Inertia, the only physical difference between their 7-year-old and 21-yr-old selves is their meridian. It would be reasonable to encounter them at age 21 and assume that they're 15 at most. Nana particularly.
• Gwen Stefani : Outside of her music career, one of the virtually talked about things about her is how she never seems to really bear witness her age. At one betoken her fanbase even speculated that she may really be a vampire.

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Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OlderThanTheyLook

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