Suggestion: Life Drawing as model work option

Not a new suggestion but a good one

The BBC4 tv programme last evening Life Drawing Live prompts me to raise this again. I thought a previous poster indicated the issue had been referred to PP development team for implementation, but nothing seems to have happened.

Can anyone from PP give an indication whether this suggestion is to be implemented please?

We are still looking into the possibility of implementing this. 

During lockdown in particular it will be very helpful if there is a life modelling option that photographers/ painters/ drawers can use to quickly filter and search for each other. This can be an essential lifeline for models struggling to find life modelling work who might be able to accommodate online sessions or socially distanced work in public places or venues.

AC Images said

This may have been suggested before as I know a number of members on here do life drawing or painting.

I attend a life drawing group and have noticed that some models refer in their profile text to posing for life drawing but it's not a work option within the list specified.

Would it be useful to add Life Drawing to the list of work styles a model offers?

I/m sure there are skills to be had a a life model too.

I certainly can not sit still for 2 minutes.

Remember a pose, and bring it back to where I was.

As an artist rather than a photographers I agree completely. Some of the ladies who work with me do both photography and life drawing and so it seems reasonable to have that as a work option.

Laura SJ FD said

We are still looking into the possibility of implementing this. 

Thank you Laura SJ FD that is good news.

There does seem to be recognition by PP members that this would be a welcome addition to profiles and search criteria. 

My own life drawing group is, understandably, not meeting at the moment but we are tentatively starting to plan our sessions for later in the year by contacting models. Being able to search on PP would be a considerable benefit to groups like mine as well as for PP models wishing to make themselves known as available for life drawing. As I mentioned previously, other life model sites are fairly poor in their functionality by comparison to PP.

Stuart Brown said

I disagree. If a model is comfortable posing nude for photographers, why wouldn't he/she be comfortable doing the same for artists with pencil or paintbrush? Life modelling also isn't so straight forward, there's modelling for artists and posing at stag/hen parties. There are far too many options to chose from in shoot styles as it is, so why complicate it further? 

Admin haven't gotten around to defining Dance and Cosplay in their article and there's so much overlap, just tell me what fashion model wouldn't pose in a wedding outfit for example? Or what is covered by Commercial: modelling cosplay outfits for a catalogue, posing nude for a skin care products manufacturer...Etc? I could go on but surely: Clothed, Swimwear, Lingerie, Topless, Nude and Adult are sufficient to define the types of work anyone is prepared to do? With Bondage, Dance and Fitness to highlight specific abilities.

Stuart Brown You say 'I could go on'

Clearly you could, but it's very clear from the other responses that you are in a minority and that you have no experience (or at least, understanding) of life drawing.  Along with many others on this site I have long experience of life drawing (privately and in classes/groups) and stag/hen parties are the last things I would think of.  Are you equating life modeling with being a stripper?

What the OP suggests is very sensible.

As both a life model and photographic model, and also the founder of the Life Models and Artists group, this is quite an interesting discussion. Modelling for life drawing and photographers are entirely different, but related disciplines and both require something different from the model and the artist/photographer. When working with a photographer, it is about the relationship between the model and the photographer, moving quickly from one idea to the next, one facial expression or action to the next, one set of clothing to the next. It is important to develop a good working relationship with each other, but you can also tell quickly whether an idea is working or not, and in the next photo try to get a better version of the shot. The work rate tends to be quicker, and ideas are either abandoned or worked on as the shoot progresses. You also tend to be working with one person, and one set of eyes at the time. If there are elements of nudity in the shoot, it will be part of the shoot, not the be-all and end-all of it. With a life drawing class, it is entirely different. It is sometimes in a cold church hall or community centre somewhere, and sometimes the heating is not working. You will be working with 12 or 15 different artists, all at different stages in their development, they will see different parts of you at different angles, and sometimes those angles are not the most flattering to you as a model. You will need to be naked from the beginning, in front of a group of people of all ages and both genders. Sometimes the drawings are not the most flattering either, sometimes the poses you put yourself in are uncomfortable to maintain for any length of time. Posing for artists and photographers can be very rewarding, and a lot of good artwork and photographs can be produced, but modelling for artists is a different experience to modelling for photographers.

Laura SJ FD said

We are still looking into the possibility of implementing this. 

Hi Laura, 

just wondering if there's any progress on this?

I've only realised recently that there is a separate work category for Artists which makes it even stranger that there isn't an equivalent work category for their models.

I'd love to add this!

I've done life modelling before YEARS ago, and it's not just the 'nude' aspect that's the consideration, but it's just a different style of posing all together. For example; this was a pin up/Burlesque themed day and your arms do go dead when holding up Isis wings/fans for 10 minutes at a time. Some people may not find this fits with their style of shooting and/or they're not interested, but at the moment for those searching for life models they have to specifically ask if that's something they'd do before talking specifics.

I'm posing (hopefully!) for a class in october and I imagine other classes will start up again soon if everything stays on track so there might be a lot of people looking and this would help :) 

Excellent suggestion. I joined Purpleport under the Artist work category and was surprised to find there are over 20 different search criteria for models from fashion through to adult but no mention of life posing which is different to all of them. 

I am also a life model & think it would be good to have that category on our ports. It’s a totally different skill to posing for photographers & I'm sure it’s something that not all nude models would necessarily want to do.

Terra Flare said

I'd love to add this!

I've done life modelling before YEARS ago, and it's not just the 'nude' aspect that's the consideration, but it's just a different style of posing all together. For example; this was a pin up/Burlesque themed day and your arms do go dead when holding up Isis wings/fans for 10 minutes at a time. Some people may not find this fits with their style of shooting and/or they're not interested, but at the moment for those searching for life models they have to specifically ask if that's something they'd do before talking specifics.

I'm posing (hopefully!) for a class in october and I imagine other classes will start up again soon if everything stays on track so there might be a lot of people looking and this would help :) 

The words I've put into bold make the point well. Posing for a life drawing, painting etc is a different skill to posing for a photograph. Some photographic models can do both but I know there are models who will pose nude for a life artist or class who won't pose nude for photography. Equally there are very good nude photographic models who are unable to hold a pose for the much longer poses (ranging from 10 to 60 minutes often) required for a life pose.

It has been suggested before. Why a good idea hasn't been taken up I have no idea.