[Links] True Blog Stories

[aktdrawing]

Guess who's back with another article! This time from Wien (Vienna), Austria.
Two young girls modeling together.
The original is here, if you know german: hxxps://www.derstandard.at/consent/tcf/story/3000000172773/freitag-zeichne-ich-die-nackten


On Friday, I’m Drawing the Naked

A few times each week, people in Vienna gather to draw nude models on stage. A rare hobby — or a good opportunity to get rid of awkwardness?

Valerie walks through a small room, passes the easels, and steps onto the stage. She removes the white cover wrapped around her body and lets it fall to the floor. Under the towel, she is nude. She strikes her pose.

Only a few steps behind her is Sophie, who also takes off her towel and embraces Valerie from behind. Both nude models hold their standing pose. The talking and laughter fade into silence.
“Fifteen minutes,” announces gallery owner Baduc Gibaja. From now on, only the scratching of pencils, charcoal, and brushes can be heard.

All the chairs in the studio in Vienna's 2nd district are occupied. Sonia, a guitarist from Peru and a friend of the studio owner, starts to play quietly, creating an almost meditative atmosphere. Everyone is deeply focused.

A man in front of me raises his pencil, squints one eye, and measures a part of the model’s body. A woman next to me divides her sheet into four with her pencil, sketches the arms and legs as ovals first, then connects them — and suddenly a human figure appears.

You might think that the two nude women standing on the stage radiate something sexual. But they don’t. In the artists’ eyes, they are simply ovals, shapes, lines, and curves. I notice how my own perception changes too: no longer seeing bare skin, but rather lines, shadows, and contours.

Hard Poses

It’s Friday night, 7 p.m., and in Baduc Gibaja’s little Atelier 1020, ten amateur artists have gathered for a life-drawing session — just as they do every week. Sessions are held every Wednesday and Friday. No appointment is needed, and the contribution fee is €10.

“Experience the world differently, find the artist in you,” reads the event’s slogan. The group is mixed: young and old, professionals and amateurs. Some haven’t drawn for months; others come every week.

I haven’t held a sketchpad since my high school graduation.
“Two more minutes,” Baduc announces loudly, and the hum of pencils on paper grows more vigorous and hurried — until he finally says, “Stop.”

Valerie and Sophie release their pose and shake out their limbs. The focused silence immediately breaks: drawings are shown around, pencils are swapped, materials prepared for the next round, and the difficulties of the pose are discussed. The models laugh when one of the painters calls out that they didn’t make it easy for him this time.

Something Abstract

Both young women are of Italian origin and study philosophy in Vienna.

“I found out from a friend that you can earn money as a nude model,” explains 24-year-old Valerie. “At first, it was just about that. But after the first few evenings, I realized how it affected my body awareness. I have no problem being nude and serving as a subject for art. It’s made me more patient and tolerant.”

For her, holding a pose for 15 to 20 minutes — alone with her thoughts in a room full of people — feels almost meditative. The two models use the break to rehearse their next pose in another room.

Norbert, a 68-year-old retiree, comes to the studio regularly, talking and laughing loudly. He knows everyone there.
“Did you get the poses I sent you? I’d love to draw them,” he asks the models. They both grin and nod.
“I used to write professionally and had others create the images. Now I want to try it from the other side,” he says.

(...)

Sophie and Valerie walk back onto the stage in the studio in the 2nd district. The next round begins. Valerie lies on her back; Sophie leans over her, looks into her eyes — their nude bodies touching. The two women talk quietly, their faces only centimeters apart. It’s clear they know each other well.

The artists observe carefully. Some stand up and move around the room to find a better angle to draw. I put down my notepad, take my sketchpad in hand, and stand up too, trying to find a better perspective.
Changing perspective is today’s theme — and, in a way, mine as well.

[Fango]

Originally Posted by aktdrawing

So let's get to the thing. Here's an article about two student girls doing nude modeling for art classes in Alaska (I'm not giving the link as it's already dead):

Undressing the highest-paying student job: nude modeling

Originally Posted by soulac

Thanks so much for the Alaska article. I have been looking for it and couldn't find it anymore. It must be at least 15 years old. As you said, it's not available.

You wouldn't happen to have the pics that go with the article would you? The one of Kenyon is really cute.

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by aktdrawing

The article was from 2016, so I'm surprised it's no longer available. The pic I remember, but don't have it unfortunately.

Glad you enjoyed. And I still have loads of texts to post!

I'm just seeing this now, but if you still have the original link for the Alaska article, aktdrawing, perhaps you can post it and we can plug it into the Internet Archive and see if the picture of Kenyon is still available there?

Thanks

Fango

[aktdrawing]

Originally Posted by Fango

I'm just seeing this now, but if you still have the original link for the Alaska article, aktdrawing, perhaps you can post it and we can plug it into the Internet Archive and see if the picture of Kenyon is still available there?

Thanks

Fango

Here you go: hxxp://www.thenorthernlight.org/undressing-the-highest-paying-student-job-nude-modeling/

[soulac]

Originally Posted by aktdrawing

Here you go: hxxp://www.thenorthernlight.org/undressing-the-highest-paying-student-job-nude-modeling/

These pics go with the article from post #309 on 7-16-2025.

Thanks to aktdrawing for the article. Thanks to Fango for suggesting online archive.

[aktdrawing]

I've got an article with some photos, but can't add them. It says 'not a valid image file'. They download as .webp, but I tried saving them as .jpg, still nothing tho. Any ideas?

[rudolfm]

Originally Posted by aktdrawing

I've got an article with some photos, but can't add them. It says 'not a valid image file'. They download as .webp, but I tried saving them as .jpg, still nothing tho. Any ideas?

Search for "image convert" in your phones App store or "Cnet download image convert" for Windows.

[aktdrawing]

Thanks to rudolfm for the advice!

Here it comes, an article from 2006 about two student models from a German university


I'm not a porn-queen here.

Students Anna (32) and Angelika (25) model at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art. Completely naked. The job is decently paid but quite exhausting. Even in seemingly simple poses "a minute can turn into hell", says Anna.

The awkwardness is still there, but not for long. Angelika knows that emotional roller coaster. "It fades the moment I'm up there," she says. Standing alone on the platform, the student steps into the light, strikes a pose — and settles in. In that instant, Angelika slips into the role of the muse, and being completely nude stops mattering to her.

Angelika Schmidt (25) studies russian and music in Bochum. Like many students, she side hustles. However, what is it, she tells only a few fellow students. She works as a nude model for drawing classes at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art.

Just like today. It's Friday morning, short before 10, the sun dabs at the walls of the nude drawing workshop at the first floor. Pencils and brushes roll on the floor, paper Rolls pile up next to the paint in tubes. Six Free Art freshmen stand by the easels or sit on the chairs with built-in stand. They've arranged themselves in a half-circle around the model at the center, sketching her pose: Angelika leans against the Edge of a couch.

Onstage, the embarrassment melts away

The student-model has both arms propped parallelly behind her, her torso bends up, she holds the right leg stretched out to the front so that the tip of her toe touches the floor. Her left thigh is parallel to her right, but she angles her left calf outwards to the side and lies the instep of her left foot spread on the couch.

Angelika has been holding this punishing pose for nine minutes — absolutely still. “It’s more fun when the poses aren’t so boring,” she says. Only the undressing beforehand, hurriedly in a corner of the room, felt awkward. “Outside the stage, being nude isn’t exactly normal.” Once she’s in position, though, the nudity fades; she becomes part of the staging.

The tutoring does Arnim Tölke (43). The lecturer at the art academy oversees the drawing courses. He makes sure that a pose never lasts longer than a maximum of 15 minutes, "there should be as little muscle tension as possible," says Tölke, who is sitting on a chair next to the podium, a smoldering cigar in the corner of his mouth, a mobile phone with a stopwatch in his hand.

Cracking joints

He prefers to use aspiring dancers as models, like ballet students from neighboring Essen. "Dancers know their limits best; they're already stressed out all over, they know what they can handle and what they can't."

After four years on the job, Angelika knows her limits too. She first stepped in for a friend, filling in for her. At the academy, she earns €10 for 45 minutes with three pose changes — plus another €10 for commuting from a nearby city.

"For a student gig, it's well paid", thinks Anna, German language student from Düsseldorf. The 32-year-old is still clothed, but shortly she takes over from Angelika, as in Düsseldorf there are always two models posing on the course. Her environment reacts at times indignantly. Anna's parents weren't less than outraged as she told them about her side gig which she had come across through a notice at the university. "I was born in Poland and have been raised strictly catholic", says Anna. Scenes flashed through her parents’ minds — innocent girls exposing themselves to shady photographers.

Although in the Academy it's not about voyeurism or eroticism. "I'm not a porn-queen here", schmoozes Angelika from the stage, "but a visual aid of the art" - which really starts to ponder things while it remains still. "Up there I think about a thousand small matters. What I'm gonna buy after [the class], that I have to call my mother. Sometimes I just listen to noises in the room".

"Two more minutes," calls the instructor, drawing on his cigar. The time limits are meant to push students to work fast. “Everyone should develop a free line, their own abstract principle — open to what a pose gives them,” Tölke explains. “You don’t fuss; you just go for it. Two-minute poses are the best,” says Peter (25), one of the students.

Angelika releases her pose and makes place for Anna, who's put away her clothes in the meantime. She stands sideways, on hand on the hip. A seemingly simple pose, "but these are often deceptive, and a minute can turn into hell", knows Anna. Once, a young student stood in the same pose, "he almost fell down from the stage of exertion", tells Arnim Tölke.

“It actually helped with my last assignment on Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language,” she says. “But with heartbreak, it’s torture.”

[aktdrawing]

Another student model, part of an article on unusual student jobs.



When I posed as a nude model for the first time three years ago, I had a strange feeling, mostly because men my age were present in the classes at the European Academy of Art in Trier. But then I said to myself that the students simply wanted to paint me as accurately as possible and therefore needed to scrutinize me for longer periods of time. The students don’t come just to see a naked woman. They could get that cheaper somewhere else. By now, I model once a month alongside my studies. Such an assignment usually lasts seven hours with a one-and-a-half-hour break in between. I earn ten euros an hour.

The students arrange their easels in a circle around a platform in the center. I undress in the middle of the room and then receive instructions from the tutor, for example whether I should lie down or sit. What the pose looks like exactly ultimately depends on me. You can be a bit creative there. It’s especially exhausting when I have to stand for a long time. Once, it was even three hours during which I had to stay motionless. However, that almost never happens. Usually, I don’t have to remain in the same pose for longer than half an hour. I then keep an eye on the clock and let the students know before the time is up. In comfortable poses, I memorize psychological theories or read something on the side. It has also happened that I briefly had to move because my leg had fallen asleep. That’s not a problem, though. The art students are very understanding. Sometimes I also have to be careful not to doze off. In principle, anyone can work as a nude model—even without a perfect body. Artists often find fuller bodies even more interesting. Of course, you need a certain amount of self-discipline and have to be able to sit still.

Most of the time, I look forward to my next assignment. It’s simply a good opportunity to let my thoughts wander, to dream a little, or to plan the next vacation. You usually don’t treat yourself to such a long break in everyday life.

My fellow students and friends know that I work as a nude model on the side. None of them thinks anything inappropriate. My boyfriend didn’t like it very much at first when I told him about my side job. I then explained to him that for the participants it’s only about practice and artistic skill, and that everything is handled very professionally. For me, it’s simply a pleasant source of extra income, and he eventually accepted that. However, his parents must not find out about my job under any circumstances. That would be too uncomfortable for me, as they’re pretty conservative.