2 Blowhards has a wonderful first-person account of what it’s like to work part-time as a nude model for an art class:
I would soon find that modeling wasn’t simply a nude and high-paid sprawl on the chaise lounge (for that you have to turn to its illegal sister profession). It’s hard work, akin to being a dancer. Twenty minutes stretch to infinity when you stand still. Add ten more — and only discipline prevents you from falling like wet laundry from a line. Effortless poses of grace aren’t so effortless. While everyone from icy Degas to libidinous Rodin bent necks and crushed spinal disks searching for the perfect position, history doesn’t record the groans of their models. Then there’s boredom — to which I credit the glazed look in Mona Lisa’s eye. Behind every thoughtful face at the Art Student’s League is a woman asking, “When will it be over?”
Read the whole thing here. Please.