Baring it all for art

When starting a new job, most people worry about what to wear — not about what they don't have to wear. 

But when the job description reads “take off your clothes and strike a pose,” it becomes something worth considering.

The night before Derek's (not his real name) first shift as a nude model was a sleepless one. Prior to taking the job, he thought it would be easy.

“I'm just going to take off my clothes,” he said. “No big deal.”

In his head, it sounded easy. But when the time came to get to work, he wouldn't help but be nervous.

“It wasn't a mental thing,” he said. “It was more of a bodily reaction.”

He's come a long way since the first time he shed his robe in front of college and other student artists. Three years later, it has become just like any other day at the office; he doesn't worry about it at all.

“I feel like it's natural now,” he said. “I've got nothing to hide. I don't put on a front. I don't try to impress people. I am who I am.”

Initially, the 20-something-year-old would shy away from making eye contact with the artists, and he certainly didn't want to get to know them.

“I didn't realize how uncomfortable I was with my own body until I pushed the boundaries,” he said.

The idea of working out of “the mental box I was in” was appealing to him. He used to change into a robe where students couldn't see him — now, he gets dressed and undressed while keeping up casual conversation. Since he's worked with many of the same artists for his entire modelling career, he feels comfortable around them. Even new artists don't bother him anymore.

“There's nothing odd about me being naked because it's what I'm supposed to be doing,” he said. “People that draw me are normally cool with it.”

Derek decided to give nude modelling a try after reading an ad that said artists were needed. The money was decent, and it sounded like interesting work. Like any job, he said he strives to do his best work all the time.

“I try to be as dynamic as possible,” he said. “I try do do my job well.”

Depending on the type of work students are doing, Derek could have to hold a pose anywhere from 30 seconds to 20 minutes.

“The longer it goes, the more detail they're going to put in,” he explained. “They want to be as accurate as possible.”

His personal philosophy is that his job is meant to be tasteful; as a result, he stays away from poses that are too strange or sexualized.

“I don't see why I would,” he said. “There are so many other things I could do.”

It's not entirely conventional, but Derek enjoys the work and the feeling he gets from it.

“I'm kind of proud of it, in a weird way,” he said. Those who question what he does, or appear disapproving, rarely have good reason for it, he said.

“It's funny they can't give a rational answer as to why they wouldn't do it (themselves),” he said.

When he is passionate about what he does, and does his job well, it makes the artists' job that much easier, too, which makes his job that much more interesting. Derek said he occasionally looks at the finished pieces. 

“I'm pretty impressed by a lot of it,” he said.

And when there are flaws, that's OK, too. Misrepresentations are simply mistakes made by aspiring artists, he said.

“They know it, and I do, too,” he said.

Fabian Hynes, an art professor at Cambrian College, said the opportunity to work with live nude models helps students learn valuable skills like how to capture portion, movement and action.

Having created art from nude models before and instructed others in the skill, Hynes said it often takes a time or two to get comfortable with it. The first time he was tasked with drawing a naked person, he said his jaw literally dropped.

“I looked around and no one else cared,” he said. “That was probably the last time I saw the nude model as a nude person.”

The ideal happens when artists are able to see unclothed bodies as a series of lines, shapes and contours.

“You achieve it when you see the naked body like a bowl of fruit,” he explained.

After all, artists and models alike attend drawing sessions with the intentions of doing the best work they can.

Posted by Arron Pickard