Here's a few blogs I found that I like:
Museworthy
Figure Drawing
If you like figurative art you should visit them...
Posts
Drawing the Model by Lois Darling
1 year ago
Thursday, August 28, 2008
In Demand
The client list is expanding....
I just got on the list for two more colleges, one of which put me on as a regular on their class schedule. Looking over my calendar, I realize I'm working nearly every night of the week! I've got things lined up for Saturday as well. Hopefully I get to do some more languid and relaxed poses now and then. Being athletic I tend to get asked to do difficult poses...
Some of my clients are good distance away which will require some commuting time. I don't mind, however, for the opportunity to model. I'll ride my motorcycle to save gas (until it gets too cold to ride.)
I was looking over my modeling client list and this is how it shapes up:
-1 State University
-3 Community Colleges
-1 Art Studio
-2 Art Schools
-4 Individual Artists
Between these clients, I'm pretty much finding myself modeling 18 - 24 hours per week. It will drop off over the summer of course when the universities and colleges aren't holding so many life drawing classes. If I can find enough clients I'll probably quit the day job and see if I can make a go of doing life modeling full-time. I don't know any model who models full-time for a living but I really enjoy it so I'll shoot for that goal.
Life modeling isn't a particularly lucrative profession but it has intangible rewards which I find are just as important as monetary compensation. I'll have to think about how to make it more profitable so I don't have to worry about getting my bills paid...
I just got on the list for two more colleges, one of which put me on as a regular on their class schedule. Looking over my calendar, I realize I'm working nearly every night of the week! I've got things lined up for Saturday as well. Hopefully I get to do some more languid and relaxed poses now and then. Being athletic I tend to get asked to do difficult poses...
Some of my clients are good distance away which will require some commuting time. I don't mind, however, for the opportunity to model. I'll ride my motorcycle to save gas (until it gets too cold to ride.)
I was looking over my modeling client list and this is how it shapes up:
-1 State University
-3 Community Colleges
-1 Art Studio
-2 Art Schools
-4 Individual Artists
Between these clients, I'm pretty much finding myself modeling 18 - 24 hours per week. It will drop off over the summer of course when the universities and colleges aren't holding so many life drawing classes. If I can find enough clients I'll probably quit the day job and see if I can make a go of doing life modeling full-time. I don't know any model who models full-time for a living but I really enjoy it so I'll shoot for that goal.
Life modeling isn't a particularly lucrative profession but it has intangible rewards which I find are just as important as monetary compensation. I'll have to think about how to make it more profitable so I don't have to worry about getting my bills paid...
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Moral Dilemma
So Blogger locked my blog as a possible "spam blog." I guess I shouldn't be surprised- it's a rather typical reaction in our overtly puritanical and politically correct society. Nudity tends to be immediately classified as perverse and undesirable. American society seems to feel compelled to police morality and tends to judge even the minimally sexual to be of maximum danger.
Figurative art is often classified as something subversive and of low moral character. I liken it to the prevailing feeling in the US about certain recreational drugs such as marijuana. Cannabis is considered a gateway drug that leads to the use of "harder" and more detrimental drugs like cocaine or methamphetamine. Some people believe figurative art is like "gateway porn" that will lead the viewer to seek out more explicit nude material.
Never mind that the nude has appeared in art all throughout human history and that some famous and celebrated works of art depict nudity.
Call me a radical but I will continue to present the human form as a particularly important and noteworthy aspect of art and artistic endeavor. I think the nude reminds us of who we really are and possibly what we really are. Lest we forget.
Figurative art is often classified as something subversive and of low moral character. I liken it to the prevailing feeling in the US about certain recreational drugs such as marijuana. Cannabis is considered a gateway drug that leads to the use of "harder" and more detrimental drugs like cocaine or methamphetamine. Some people believe figurative art is like "gateway porn" that will lead the viewer to seek out more explicit nude material.
Never mind that the nude has appeared in art all throughout human history and that some famous and celebrated works of art depict nudity.
Call me a radical but I will continue to present the human form as a particularly important and noteworthy aspect of art and artistic endeavor. I think the nude reminds us of who we really are and possibly what we really are. Lest we forget.
Monday, August 25, 2008
An Introduction to Life Modeling
If you've found my blog, you're probably an artist, someone who likes to draw, or are a life model yourself. To the uninitiated, a life model (sometimes called a figure model) is someone who poses nude for artists involved in the creation of figurative art. Life models are of all body types: fat, thin, muscular, voluptuous, athletic, young, aged, but above all- interesting.
I am such a model. I pose nude or "undraped" for artists. I have posed for beginning artists, experienced artists, art students, design students, and artists seeking inspiration. I am that inspiration- I am the catalyst for artistic creation. I feel fortunate that I have the opportunity to be that.
Many people do not understand why someone would pose nude for artists- they view it as something perverted or lascivious. I do not deny that there is sexual element to life modeling- the work is sexual in nature. I present myself unclothed to artists who scrutinize my every curve, nook, cranny, and hollow. I stand motionless as they view me and reproduce my nude form on paper, on canvas, or in clay. However, the sexual energy present during a life drawing or sculpting session is channeled into the creation of art. The goal is not to achieve sexual gratification but to create art.
I have participated in art projects that have created art that is erotic in nature- drawings and sculptures that emphasized my genitals or consisted of suggestive poses. I would posit that the production of erotica was not the focus of these efforts- the resulting work's erotic nature emerged incidentally. The primary focus of the effort was still to produce "art"- artifacts that represent the culture that produced them.
This process of creation and the tangible products that result from this process- that's the juice that keeps me up on the dais and in the nude for artists. To be the spark that starts the process of creation- it's an awesome feeling.
In this blog I will relate my experiences as a life model. I will give my impressions of the process of artistic creation and all the happenings that go with it. I hope you find my blog interesting, informative, and inspiring.
I am such a model. I pose nude or "undraped" for artists. I have posed for beginning artists, experienced artists, art students, design students, and artists seeking inspiration. I am that inspiration- I am the catalyst for artistic creation. I feel fortunate that I have the opportunity to be that.
Many people do not understand why someone would pose nude for artists- they view it as something perverted or lascivious. I do not deny that there is sexual element to life modeling- the work is sexual in nature. I present myself unclothed to artists who scrutinize my every curve, nook, cranny, and hollow. I stand motionless as they view me and reproduce my nude form on paper, on canvas, or in clay. However, the sexual energy present during a life drawing or sculpting session is channeled into the creation of art. The goal is not to achieve sexual gratification but to create art.
I have participated in art projects that have created art that is erotic in nature- drawings and sculptures that emphasized my genitals or consisted of suggestive poses. I would posit that the production of erotica was not the focus of these efforts- the resulting work's erotic nature emerged incidentally. The primary focus of the effort was still to produce "art"- artifacts that represent the culture that produced them.
This process of creation and the tangible products that result from this process- that's the juice that keeps me up on the dais and in the nude for artists. To be the spark that starts the process of creation- it's an awesome feeling.
In this blog I will relate my experiences as a life model. I will give my impressions of the process of artistic creation and all the happenings that go with it. I hope you find my blog interesting, informative, and inspiring.
life-modeling
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