Posing

Hello, I will be posing for another art class. I have been doing only short poses in recent years, however this next session will be a long pose. Any sugestions?!?

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Post #2 aqua--phileBarefoot

RE: Posing

by aqua--phileTextile

Your advise is greatly appreciated...Thanks, Steve

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Post #3 devdonBarefoot

RE: Posing

by devdonTextile

A trick I learned many years ago, similar to that taught to the Military wen standing guard for extended periods, is to gently flex your toes, and fingers during posing, this willnot alter your general pose, but does allow blood circulation to relieve muscle tiredness.Don

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Post #4 strollerBarefoot

RE: Posing

by strollerTextile

I've yet to find a proper area in these forums for life models. The title of this one implies photographic modelling, which can be a rather more dynamic business. However, you have got some good advice above. Beware of the pitfalls: in particular, get the tutor or artist to clearly define the requirements and the duration of the pose. Yesterday, I was the sole model for a 4-hour class. We started with 4 short poses as a warm-up, with the declared intention of moving on to "some longer poses". The tutor wanted me to sit on a stool, one leg forwards, one back, one hand on hip for another negative space, and the the other arm between my legs, leaning on the stool. The stool offered was quite small, with a hard plastic top and tubular metal frame. As I'm quite big, I couldn't achieve the leaning arm position sitting in the designed manner on the stool, so had to turn it sideways. This pose was to be for 1 hour, or a little longer if the artists needed it. After an hour, I was fine. 40 minutes later, I needed a break. The tutor decided that this was such a good pose, I should stick with it for the rest of the session, and so it went on with breaks after ever shorter intervals, but a total of some 3 hours 20 minutes in this pose. The main problem was the loss of sensation in 1 leg. This is a lesson I have learned before: if your leg starts to hurt after half an hour, but feels ok after 45, that is because you can't feel it any longer. the trick then is to gradually restore sensation through movement rather than just standing up, which can lead to an undignified naked collapse. Yesterday was unusually hot and humid for the UK (the hottest day this year), so I was also showing early tell-tale signs of potential fainting.
This is all a tale of my personal problems, but the lesson is that you should clearly define boundaries. I find that a break after 35 minutes or so from any pose will avoid any such problems. With such a regime, you need to consider how to precisely resume the pose. Having someone mark feet or other contact positions on the floor with masking tape helps a lot, but you also need to use your own senses, sight and touch in particular, to memorise what you are seeking to recreate.

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