Would you like to model for a drawing?  I am always happy to meet new models, even if I don't have immediate work.  That said, there always seems to be something going on, or planned.  Here are some guidelines for what I look for in prospective models, and what you can expect if you model for me.

How I Work

I work from photographs.  Some drawings, a figure piece for example, may take weeks to complete.  I do not work quickly, and as much as I would like to draw from life, it is not practical financially.  I'm just not rich enough to pay someone to sit for the time it takes to finish a drawing.  So I use photos.

Before starting, I'll have some idea of what I want the drawing or drawings to look like.  I'll know what reference I need and will proceed to photograph accordingly.  Where I shoot depends on what is available.  Sometimes I shoot at home, sometimes in a studio, but wherever it's done, I take many shots from different angles designed to give me a view of the model as if she were present when drawing.

Once I have a set of shots, I use a computer to fix/adjust the lighting and print to a transparency.  With a transparency, I can use different backgrounds to allow me to see the figurative details I want to capture on paper.  When I am satisfied that I understand how the finished work will look, I pick up my pencils and get to work.

All told, a model will spend about an hour in a photo shoot, and I will spend about 20 hours at the easel.

What I Look For

If you browse this site, you will get a good idea of what I do.  I use models for figure work, and portraits.  When assessing suitability I look for an understanding of artwork and the creative process, and ability visualizing how I will capture your image.  You should also have a real interest in creating art.

I prefer models with some experience.  If you can write a resume and have a portfolio, you have some experience applying for, if not getting, modeling gigs.  Photographic modeling experience is better than art modeling experience.  It's important you be comfortable in front of the camera.

Professionalism is important.  Even if modeling is not your career, you should take it seriously and be committed to every project you accept.

I like to meet a prospective model first, before scheduling work.  This is usually over coffee, or some other public activity.  It is important that I feel comfortable communicating with you, and equally important you feel comfortable with me.  It also gives me a chance to get to know something about you, something that might give me a bit of insight on how best to compose an image of you.

Models I particularly enjoy working with bring ideas and suggestions to the job.  I may have clear ideas on how to capture your image, but you know you best and should feel comfortable making suggestions or asking questions.

What to Expect

Our working time will be about an hour and will involve a photo shoot.  I do not use either hair or makeup artists.  I do, however, have an assistant, except in cases where I have worked with someone many times, and know how to set up lights and how she works etc.  You are welcome, and I encourage you, to bring an escort or assistant of your own.

A place will be set aside for you to use as a dressing room.  During the shoot, this is your private area to use as you wish and to secure any possessions you have with you.  I recommend, if not already in your model kit, that you bring a robe and at least 2 towels.

There is paperwork to sign.  Each shoot requires a model release, and I use a standard form that the lawyer says is not unusual in any way.  I can provide this in advance if you wish to review it in detail.  If this is your first shoot with me, I also keep age verification.  Please bring 2 forms of photo identification with you.  Be sure one, or both, are government issued, such as a driver's license, passport, military ID, etc.

The shoot itself is pretty straight forward.  I'll describe what I am looking for, take a few reference shots, the have you pose.  I encourage interaction and welcome suggestions.  I do not play music during a shoot (some models have told me this is unusual) because I prefer to engage you in conversation.  Talking to you actually helps me "see" you better.  I get a sense of your presence, which helps create a better finished product.

And then we're done.  Once I have the photos I need to draw a picture, I may not get to it right away.  I do have a full schedule, and sometimes shoot in advance of any upcoming projects.  Sometimes, I don't get to finish a project at all.  Something may come up, I may decide that the idea was ill conceived, or things go otherwise undone.  When I do finish a project, I make sure to offer a print to the model who sat for it.  It's a picture of you, after all, so you should have a copy of it.

What Next

Hopefully this gives you pretty clear view of what I do and how I do it.  If you'd like to model, feel free to contact me with your resume and portfolio.  Links to an online portfolio, such as those at Model Mayhem, or One Model Place, are best.  Otherwise, just send a few shots, preferably a headshot and a full body shot.  And if you have any questions, please ask!

Spring is coming and that means new summer clothing.  I generally buy nice clothes from various places around town, but for everyday wear, jeans and a t-shirt is fine.  The best place for t-shirts, Russell Athletic pocket t-shirts, is J.C. Penny.  They always have them, for some reason they are always on sale, and I can go each spring and buy a bagful.  The downside is that J.C. Penny is at the mall.

I don't like shopping malls, and can't remember the last time I went to one.  Most likely last year when I bought shirts.  This time I put it off for as long as I could until my last good shirt developed a hole.  Now I had no choice.  I got the bus and rode 10 minutes to Washington Square.  I got my t-shirts, then decided to look around.

A mall is a really weird place to me.  The acres of hot asphalt covered with automobiles in every describable condition and color, plus the large, imposing, industrial buildings should make the place pretty foreboding.  All malls remind my of factories, or the brick buildings in a train yard...without the tracks of course.  Both places I would choose to avoid given the chance.  I'd choose to avoid a mall, too, but many others wouldn't.  Crowds are the rule of the day, and outside the mall a crane was erecting yet another mulit-level parking lot.

Because I do it so infrequently, walking into a mall is an experience in itself.  Sort of like seeing TV for the first time after six months with nothing but books.  And I think, like TV, it's the overwhelming noise and advertising that comes as a bit of a shock when entering a mall.  Heck, I could only describe is as walking into the TV set.  All the products blaringly advertised on the tube are right there in the mall, on posters and store fronts, larger than life, blaring just as loudly in that blistering white mall light.

Too bright, the mall is, with lights bright enough to fill the Astrodome.  The stores are bright, the products for sale are bright, the food in the food court is bright.  Everything is bright, except the people.  Strange, but mall people have a sort of sameness to them, an unsmiling sameness, beset with determination and a bit of confusion.  And there seems to be a uniform of the day, subdued colors and flip flops for the girls, baggy pants and flat brimmed baseball caps for the boys, polo shirts and safe haircuts for the adults.

Not that I'm a fashion plate by any means, jeans and t-shirts are pretty run of the mill, but at least I wear a colorful hat and interesting shoes.  There are plenty of places at the mall to buy shoes.  No place to buy a hat unless you want a cap with an athletic logo.  Hats are out of style, and I can't understand why.  In the blazing light of a mall, a hat is a handy thing to have.  But like the stores selling only shoes (not an unusual thing) other stores specialize in only one accouterment or product that can be pretty esoteric.  A store just for day planners, for example.  Day planners, by the way, are notebooks.  Pads of paper.  Another store specializes in hairbands.  That's it.  Just hairbands.

All these stores have odors.  Navigating the mall, among other things, is a nasal minefield.  Between the salons and their hair dye concoctions, and the perfume stores oozing samples and spills, and the various cookeries and their poisons, the nose is in for more than a treat.  It's an impossible challenge to avoid any offensive odor in spite of what must be enormous environmentally distressing air handlers humming somewhere atop the installation.

At the far end of one hallway I found respite in the form of a couch.  Yes, they have couches and easy chairs in the mall, many occupied by bored men surrounded by pastel colored bags, or teenagers on cell phones.  I imagine a sports bar in a central kiosk would make alot of money.  There are already cell phone vendors in central kiosks.

Sitting on the sofa let me focus on individual movement, sort of like looking through a zoom lens.  Some people wander, others beeline, and a few just do nothing at all.  Children are everywhere.  The store I was near must have been very unpopular, or expensive, because people didn't stay long.  The pattern rarely changed.  Approach from the right, enter store, leave almost immediately and continue left.  I don't recall what they were selling, or, I should say, not selling, but I guess that's the point.  Nothing worth remembering.

I could have fallen asleep on that couch, but I had a bus to catch.  Grabbing my pile of shirts, I found my way outside and walked around to the bus stop.  Walking outside a mall can be even more treacherous than walking inside it.  Sidewalks do not exist, and autos seem to have no direction.  People operating cars at the mall all seem to be looking everywhere except straight ahead; looking for that elusive parking spot I assume.

I eventually made it home, none the worse for wear, but honestly I can't understand the attraction.  What is it about a mall that draws so many people?  If anyone knows, or has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

This is good.  Found it on Joel Spolsky's blog.  Good, playful comparison between a big company and a small one.

http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dg2z5whw_41cb322p

I've been using LinkedIn for 2 plus years now to keep track of colleagues, and to find help with technical jobs when I need it.  In the Web 2.0 world, LinkedIn is a fairly ubiquitous tool, but like most social network (in this case would it be professional network?) tools, it sure feels like playing with a toy.

Not that the technology isn't good, I do not mean to imply that, but using it makes me feel like I'm in high school.  If I want to contact someone, I have to pass a note to someone I know who knows them, then wait for the paper-trail like reply.  I have to ask people to be in my network, sort of like a playground request to "be my friend."  I have to caress my profile and primp my image all in a digital popularity contest.  A sort of virtual posturing without the real world help of music or good hair.  All in all, a very juvenile experience, but one that is absolutely invaluable.  Sort of a MySpace for grown-ups-with-day-jobs.

As a grown-up-with-day-job, I have come to rely almost exclusively on LinkedIn to find help on any number of projects.  As a worker, LinkedIn is pitched to me as a great tool to find work, but just the opposite is happening.  I use my job hunting skills (lame as they are) to find workers to help me with contract work.  I just have to act like a 12 year old to do it.  Not a bad trade off if I say so myself!