Warm Ups

Most, but not all, of the drawing sessions I do start with a series of short gesture poses.  Depending on the instructor or the session monitor, those gestures can range from ten seconds to two or three minutes.  These gestures serve as a warm up for the artists as it gets them used to seeing and drawing, moving their arms rapidly, making marks on their pages.  But it also serves as a warm up for me, the model.  I get to move quickly, taking poses that I couldn't hold for longer than two or three minutes, stretching my muscles and getting my blood flowing.  When doing anything shorter than three minutes, I always count the seconds in my head (unless the class is instructed and the teacher prefers to keep time), changing quickly from one pose to the next.

I have always been complimented on my gestures throughout my long modeling career, in my ability to come up with interesting and challenging poses.  I had never seen myself doing gestures though, only the quick sketches that have been the result of those poses.  I wanted to actually see (and critique) my poses, so, at a recent open drawing session, I took video of myself doing a series of one minute gestures.  Watching the video was surreal.  I was impressed that I was able to hold some of the poses so well, although I don't think I got the camera in the best angle to record those poses.  Of course, I was posing for the artists and not the camera.  One thing I did notice was that each pose was a little bit longer than a minute.  My counting to sixty was just a little bit slower than a regular clock.  Here is the video though, if anyone is interested.  Naturally, there is nudity in the video...