Special Effects Makeup

Makeup is an art that dates back to 6000 years ago. One of the most recognizable historical makeup is that of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. With organic materials, such as melted beeswax and castor oil, this art form has really come a long way.But as technology advances, makeup has become an endangered species in the movie world.

Makeup by Rick Baker in American Werewolf in London.

In the glory days, back in the 70s and 80s, artists like Rick Baker (makeup artist for Star Wars, Planet of the Apes, and countless other classics) created full characters, who's actors portraying them would wear latex masks and prosthetics glued to their faces for hours; not to mention the amount of time it took to get everything applied.
Special effects makeup is used in film to add to the realism of the visual storytelling.

Watto, Anakin and Shmi Skywalker's slave owner
on Tatooine in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom
Menace.

In this article, it explains that CGI has "lifted many of the restrictions that were held formerly in place by the limits of make-up, the capabilities of the human body, and physics." That being said, makeup is slowly going away for film, especially science fiction and fantasy. Films like Star Wars, for example. In the 70s, all they had was makeup and puppets. The fact that the jaws and the tusken raiders were actually people in costumes is something that we all naturally overlooked while watching the movies. But when The Phantom Menace was released, that all changed. Characters like Watto, Anakin and Shmi's owner on Tatooine, were made completely through computers, because it was simply impossible to realistically create them with makeup or

puppets. Even JarJar Binks is a computer cartoon. Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor went running around in a forest talking to an imaginary, clumsy alien that was put into the film during post-production. 

JarJar Binks in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

Greg Nicotero on the set of The Walking Dead.

There are still many shows that use makeup as a primary form of art in their visual storytelling. The Walking Dead  is one of them. The show's head makeup artist, Greg Nicotero, is in charge of creating countless different zombie designs for the show, so that every zombie's wounds and degree of decay tells the story of how they died. 
But even with The Walking Dead, there's still huge amounts of CGI. In episodes like the season 2 finale, massive herds of zombies are nearly impossible to create individually by hand. With CGI, they add several zombies that roam around in the show to fill up the shot, so that the end result is that Rick and the entire crew is absolutely surrounded by walkers. 

Herd of zombies on The Walking Dead.

So we've come to an age that it seems like makeup and CGI go hand in hand. Depending on the physical capabilities of the actors and the effect trying to be conveyed on camera, they are used in film to create a final product that leaves viewers intrigued with the way it looks.

This video goes into the very basics of zombie special effects makeup and how you can make yourself look like one of Nicotero's walkers.