This answer will be very long and I apologize, but I love to talk about these topics and I can become talkative sometimes (once I can talk about topics I really care about... 😛).
The ugly current appearance of Jack has been absolutely studied and wanted. Jack’s going through a very difficult period of his life, this affects his mental and physical health. In the sense that he’s now literally consumed by the long period of suffering. Everything he has worked for and on which he has concentrated his entire existence is crumbling, he’s coming from two months of forced isolation during which he was ill and all this had repercussions on his body (apart from the mantle, of course). He has lost a lot of weight and consequently his face is "emptied" too, with all the consequences of the case: eyes that appear larger and protruding, dark circles, hollow cheeks and a more prominent nose (then... I try, but I don't know if the fine renders well).
In any case, his appearance will change, but it will take time. I really enjoy changing the appearance of the characters based on the situation, I think it helps to make the reader understand their condition, their mood (that's your case too, I think).
For example, think about how many times you have met people who have told you: "you look good, Yoshi", they don't tell you that because you greeted them saying "I'm okay!" instead of "hello" but they told you that because the first impact they had of you was your physical appearance that passed them certain information.
I'll give you another example with two films I've seen in the last period and fit well with this topic: "A star is born" and "Joker". In both films the protagonist is presented to us as a person suffering from severe depression or, in any case, as a suffering person (for different reasons, of course).
In “Joker” we see this visibly suffering man from the first scene. His body, his face, his attitude immediately and fully communicate his bad life condition to us. And this makes us immediately empathize with the character.
In "A star is born" they told and repeated several times that the protagonist suffers from depression and has been abusing drugs and alcohol for some time. But apart from words and attitudes, what tells me that that character is in a state of discomfort? nothing. Because in all respects we always see him looking good, with an impeccable body. And I wonder: is it believable that a person who suffers from depression and abuses alcohol and drugs FOR SEVERAL YEARS looks so handsome and healthy? for me no.
For this reason I say that it’s always better to think precisely what messages you want to send to the viewer when you studying the character design of a character. And if we talk about moods we are not just talking about facial expressions but also about real physical conditions, which can vary depending on the moment we are living. It’s a risk, because we have always presented Jack as a fascinating character, with a certain sex appeal, powerful, energetic, but all these features would have been out of tune with what Jack is right now. It would not have been credible, from my point of view, and then I believe that by raising the focus from his good looks we could focus on new facets of his character that have so far been unpublished. Or, I hope so…
However I hope I haven't bored you. I wanted to talk about this topic long ago and I hope to take advantage of it in the future.
