Life Model Dominic Blake On The Other Side Of The Canvas

How many of you have stepped foot in a life drawing class? Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a life model? After years of interviewing artists for the Jackson’s Art Blog, I thought it was high time I interview one of London’s best life models. Dominic Blake has posed in most of the UK’s art colleges as well as in many of London’s major art galleries and museums. These include the Royal Academy, The National Gallery, The Courtauld Institute of Arts, The Wallace Collection and the Art Academy. Here’s our interview with Dominic Blake – an insight into life as an artist’s model.

Dominic Blake posing at the National Gallery in 2017 (photo by Karly Allen)

Lisa: How did you first get into life modelling?

Dominic Blake: I was always interested in figurative art. I fell in love with portraiture and sculpture when I was very young. Trips to London’s galleries and museums and my Great Uncle’s work as a portrait painter made a re impression on me.

I later built a career as an Administrator and Press Office Assistant at the V&A, British Museum and Royal Museums Greenwich. These roles placed me in close proximity to some of my favourite works of art, including Rodin’s, Giambologna’s and the Parthenon sculptures.

Although I didn’t have any plans to become a Life Model, I longed to find work that was meaningful. I wanted to find work where I could express myself creatively and also offer inspiration for other people to produce works of art.

About three years ago a friend asked me to pose nude for a painting she hoped to make. I initially rejected the idea, telling her that she was crazy. When I finally decided to work with her my life profoundly changed; I discovered a way of being that possessed great emotional meaning, through which results were tangible and immediate (in the form of drawings, paintings or sculptures).

I learnt quickly that I was quite flexible and could create complex and dynamic gestural poses that were interesting to draw and fun to improvise. And I realised I could sustain them for extended periods of time.

At a point pretty early on in my journey as a Life Model, I realised I loved my work with all my heart. I decided to dedicate my life to it. I now work with almost all art colleges and many galleries, museums and Life Drawing groups in London and beyond.

In the Life Room at The Royal Academy (photo by Mary Ealden)

Lisa: Do you study a lot of paintings to get inspiration for your poses? If so are there any painters out there who are the greatest source of inspiration?

Dominic Blake: My inspiration for poses is filtered through myriad sources including, but not restricted to, painting. I take inspiration from all forms of figurative and abstract art. There’s inspiration to be found in the urban and natural world too: the buildings I walk past on my way to studios, music, literature, the branches in the trees. Pretty much anything can inspire a pose!

If I am booked to undertake classical poses within an atelier, I will usually think about the work of Michelangelo, Da Vinci or of Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. However, where my poses are influenced by painting it tends to be the colours and geometric forms that excite me. Kandinsky’s work makes me think of complex and dynamic, often strange and beautiful poses that are interesting to draw.

Beyond painting, I am influenced directly by the energy of the studio itself. Studios are charged with an infinitely positive creative energy, limited only by the imaginations of those people who inhabit them.

Finally, I am constantly inspired by some of the other truly incredible Life Models working in London and beyond.

Two minute pose inspired by Kandinsky’s Composition VIII, at Hampstead School of Art 2017 (Photo by Derek Ogbourne)

Lisa: What makes a good pose?

In essence, a good pose is one that is interesting to draw. It needs to make sense within the context of the class, session or artist’s studio you are working within. However, that probably means as many things to as many different people out there drawing from life! So there are certain rules that I think about when creating a pose:

Ideally, a pose will take into consideration negative spaces, light and shade, and twists that accentuate the body’s musculature structure. More often than not artists in classes will be arranged in a either a 180 or 360 degree circle around the life model. So it’s very important to consider how a pose would look in the round, from every viewing position.

I most enjoy improvising short, dynamic gestural poses. Moving organically from one pose to the next, with each pose influencing the one that follows it, and never knowing quite where you will end up can be really exciting.

A room of Dominics!

Lisa: Are you ever surprised by the work that is made in response to your modelling? If so what’s been the biggest surprise?

Dominic: I’m often pleasantly surprised by the work made in response to my modelling. There are as many different approaches to drawing from Life as there people out there! Since no two drawings, paintings or sculptures will ever look the same, I find the way people interpret me endlessly fascinating. Wandering around an art class viewing students’ work is one of the greatest pleasures I know as a Life Model.

Knowing that I am inspiring artists to create works of art is an amazing feeling. I feel that my work is symbiotic in nature; I engage in a creative and collaborative exchange with the artists who draw, sculpt and paint me every day.

Posing in front of Caravaggio’s ‘Salome with the Head of John the Baptist’ at The National Gallery, 2017 (photo by Karly Allen)

Lisa: Where has been the most enjoyable place to pose as a life model?

At the famous Life Room at The Royal Academy of Arts

Lisa: Why do you think drawing and painting from life models continues to be so important to artists?

Dominic: I can’t think of another subject as endlessly complex, fascinating and interesting to draw than the human form. I think artists will always seek to draw from life in order to hone their observational drawing skills.

Drawing from life is a uniquely human experience. Beyond the form itself, which is of course of central importance, it’s also interesting to appreciate that Life Models are emotional beings. At their best a Life Class can explore the human condition as much as the human form. There is no other more intimate and beautiful artistic context than the Life Class.

‘Caroline Wong’s blind contour drawing of me through which she channeled the energy of Frank Auerbach. This work emerged within a class at The Art Academy in 2018’

Lisa: You must have listened to so many life drawing lessons! What’s the best advice you’ve heard given in an art class?

Dominic: The best advice I have heard in an art class is ‘… Let go of your preconceived notions of what a hand, foot, arm, look like. Draw shape, not subject’. It’s often too easy to draw what we ‘think’ we are looking at, rather than the thing itself. You think you know what a hand looks like. But you don’t really, unless you really, really look!

Seven minute pose at Village Underground, Shoreditch, 2017 within Dan Whiteson’s Freeform Life Drawing session (Photo by Didier Cuzzolin)

Lisa: For anyone considering trying out life modelling, what advice would you give?

Dominic: Life Modelling is the most rewarding career imaginable.. You will work with interesting people and be able to challenge yourself creatively every day. However, I think there are some important points to consider before you start Life Modelling.

You should actively want to learn your craft, which could become a lifelong process. In that way think its really useful to attend a life drawing classes as an artist, to experience things from the other side of the easel. By doing that, you can quickly find out what kinds of poses artists enjoy sketching, and also you might spot ways that you can improve as a model.

Life Modelling is also physically very demanding, so I would also recommend models take up yoga, or learn some good stretching exercises. These are useful before, during and after sessions, to minimise chances of injury.

Finally, don’t give up, and enjoy your journey!

‘One of my favourite interpretations of one of my poses, by figurative artist Dan Whiteson’

Lisa: What plans do you have coming up?

Dominic: I will continue Life Modelling in many of London’s art colleges, galleries and museums throughout the year. Fortunately 2018 has been great so far –  in April I worked in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Paris. In June I was really lucky to have the opportunity to work with Maggi Hambling at Morley College.

Dominic Blake by Gina Tawn. Gina is a student of Sam Dalby’s

Lisa: If people want to find out more about your work or how to book you, how should they contact you?

Dominic: If you want to learn more about my work, or contact me, you can check out my website www.dominicblakelifemodel.co.uk and Instagram. These present portfolios of my work to date as a Life and Portrait Model.

You can also find me in the recently published ‘From Life’ book, accompanying the Royal Academy’s exhibition of the same name, as well as in the ‘A Little History of The Royal Academy‘ book.

‘This painting is by Royal Society of Portrait Painters artist Sam Dalby (RP) for demonstration purposes for his students. He painted it really quickly, which kind of blew everyone away… I spent the weekend working with him in his beautiful home and studio in Settle, North Yorkshire, a couple of weeks ago’