That's actually the main reason you don't see a lot of really attractive art models out there. Many teachers consider them an unnecessary distraction.

When I was back in school I was a TA in life drawing classes for a couple of years and you could practically watch the artistic abilities of the students (and not just the guys) drop whenever the model was cute. One time we had a replacement model come in at the last minute, she was incredibly good looking with a great body. When he saw her the teacher told me that we weren't going to get much done that day because she was 'way too hot to draw'. He was right, it was a fairly advanced class but that day most of the student's drawings looked like they had never held a pencil before.

Every so often I'd see some really cute college student come in and ask about being a model for the class only to be turned away by the teacher. Now that was painful.

It was "La Belle Noiseuse" and the model was played by Emmanuelle Beart, who's now a big star in France.

It's certainly distracting if the model is good looking, but what if the model they hire is the complete opposite and grotesque looking? Couldn't you make an argument that this is just as distracting? At least if the model is good looking you can actually draw some inspiration from that, but how do I draw inspiration from someone that looks like they belong on nbc's the Biggest Loser?

my experience
 

Ive been to a number of figure drawing classes and workshops where the women ranged from average to smoking hot...there was one or two times that the model was slightly overweight...i dont think it affected the artwork so much either way tho. at least in my experience...also my definition of hot might be off....but on the whole i think that men are very forgiving when it comes to looks and nudity....

in any case a few months back i went to a workshop where every week we had a different model and each week she was smoking hot....all college students looking for extra money over the summer....i was turned on by it but at the same time focused on the art...looking around it seemed the others also didnt have a problem with it....maybe it was just the crowds i have been around. maybe its different depending on the class...like in a college where the kids just need the credit or just want to see a naked woman....of course they will be distracted by it...but in my experience artists tend to appreciate beauty

now i want to be an artist

You'd be surprised. It's really a whole lot easier to just tune out and let the creative side of your brain take over if your hormones aren't kicking into overdrive. Besides, grotesque is a lot easier to draw because you can go as crazy as you want and still come up with a decent picture. Beauty is about subtlety and symmetry and those can be difficult traits to capture. Even putting hormones aside really trying to capture the essence of what makes a beautiful woman beautiful can be a frustrating experience.



Workshops are a totally different game. They're often run by professional artists who are trying to make enough money to pay for their studio space and they hire whoever they want to hire. I know a few artists who actively recruit their models from the local college campuses because the women are young cute and, just as importantly, they usually don't know that the going rate for nude art models around here is $17+ dollars an hour.

But, in my experience, the workshops that exclusively hire attractive young women aren't that common and they tend to cater to the weekend dabblers rather than the serious artists. Drawing cute 20 year olds is a lot of fun but if you really want to know how to draw people then you're going to want a lot more variety in models.

Life class
 

A couple of nice ones:

Let's be honest, the majority of ppl in these classes can't draw a lick to begin with. How do you determine whether someone's drawing is the direct result of being distracted to the point where they're not paying attention to what they're doing compared to how they would draw if the model were gross looking?

Is that the going rate to strip naked for an hour in front of a bunch of people? How on earth does anyone get people to pose nude for less than $17 an hour for a one hour class? You mean I can get a college chick to get naked for like $10 for a workshop?

I have taken life drawing, and I can tell you what was most distracting to me. It wasn't so much the hotness of the babe. It was whether or not she happened to be looking directly at me while posing. That would drive me nuts! You'd get that on occasion - a pose where the teacher asks her to face or look in your direction. I had one model once who sat looking directly at me with legs partially spread. And she was gorgeous too. I was picking my pencil up off the floor, it got so bad....

Klondike

Depends on the level of the class. After you've been doing it for a while you can pretty much tell what someone's ability level is after watching them draw for just a few minutes and when a whole class crashes and burns one night it's pretty obvious.

On the other hand it's not uncommon for a class to perform above their ability levels when the model is pretty gross looking. It doesn't take a genius to figure that less pumping hormones = more focus.

Hey, if you get good enough they pay you to draw them naked!
Remember, this is for art, as long as they don't think you're perving on them a lot of women will get naked for a lot less money than you think.


Pretty much rule number 1 of art modeling, don't look at the students and definitely don't make eye contact. It's really hard to stay focused when someone is staring right at you. Of course, in your case I'd say it was probably worth it.