Nat the droid wrote:
A few contributing factors-

The last time I saw my surviving parent the cops were involved, so, I had no reason to "stay home"

Dropping out of college [what a shock, I'm autistic; the thought of being in 300 level classes with 8 students in it meaning I had to participate for the first time in... Ever... I would not repeat that lol]

Deciding to be a dance teacher right before 2008 happened and losing all the govt funded jobs meant putting "dance" into Craigslist gigs and found someone who needed dancers for reference photos and it paid more than dance teaching lol

I think my longest service industry job I've had is 9 months (anything from hostess to dishwasher to barback to sous chef), so I could rotate between going hard on a 3-6 month tour as a model and 3-6 months as whatever other job I could tolerate

Right now I'm primarily my friend's live in care attendant, I technically have paramedical skills; but, I'm disabled, so I generally model 3-4 times a month right now for the bunch of people I have long working relationships with and occasionally new people

During COVID I was my grandparent's hospice aide until he died, then my family discarded me so I found a month to month room and was a dishwasher and hospice aide, then a sous chef, then a cashier, then my body fell apart and I was an art model full time in Boston for all of 2023 aka barely touched the poverty line since big schools set the rate of hourly pay, the hours we work, and we're considered independent contractors so RIP saving money. At least the Bay Area has some sort of union presence so I'm not making $22/hr before tax... I was only happy as a model when I had another "normal" job during the year

In the end I've had a good long time of traveling around the country, working with artists and photographers and other creatives who were really excited to make something, rotating between the many cats I know, on trains if I have the time.

ETA - rotating around between proven markets I have reliable work in was how I made it work. Bad 3-6 month tour? I save more during the next normal job I have. If enough people want to work with me in a new market, that justified going. I know I never got paid the same rates as many other traveling models, but I survived and now have a good list of locals that I work with [always excited to work at this one studio, realist artist wife and animator husband, a lot of great guest teachers so I basically get paid to meet the artists who are actually good at marketing themselves on Instagram]

My look has changed often (current portfolio reflects that 😂) - when I was bald and skinny and lived in NYC I pretty much did whatever to pay rent. Now I'm older and crankier and with hair down to my butt and curvier so I am happy to occupy the art model niche and don't have a fit modeling agency that wants me to maintain my measurements exactly anymore 😆 I feel like anyone who has been around for a long time is reliable, consistent, and is self aware enough to know how to market themselves to the right people and maintain those relationships long term. I'm definitely the odd duck that sort of got passed business cards on breaks at drawing groups because I was notorious for not talking to anyone, hiding under a blanket on breaks, then giving a good old Irish goodbye. Now I'm living with an artist friend, we have two cats, and are drawing animation expression sheets of ourselves for fun. Anything else is a bonus at this point.

Thank you for sharing this story, Nat.

In summary, you're neurodivergent, found this sort of work enjoyable unlike most gigs, and made relationships in pockets across the USA because that's whether the demand for you and your look was. I would have asked whether or not you think living longterm in a hub like NYC would be better but you answered it based on your experience there.

If any other models are reading...we (or at least I) would love to hear from you!

Certain Exposures wrote:

Thank you for sharing this story, Nat.

In summary, you're neurodivergent, found this sort of work enjoyable unlike most gigs, and made relationships in pockets across the USA because that's whether the demand for you and your look was. I would have asked whether or not you think living longterm in a hub like NYC would be better but you answered it based on your experience there.

If any other models are reading...we (or at least I) would love to hear from you!

NYC is a former home market and schools pay $20-$35/hr in the northeast... Drawing groups around $65-$90 for 3 hours. Bay Area is closer to $200. Difference? Union/guild presence 😩 I'm very much mostly retired and if I pose once a week I'm happy. (I mostly pose for artists at this point)

Certain Exposures wrote:
In summary, you're neurodivergent, found this sort of work enjoyable unlike most gigs, and made relationships in pockets across the USA because that's whether the demand for you and your look was. I would have asked whether or not you think living longterm in a hub like NYC would be better but you answered it based on your experience there.

In summary, you are reductive.

Dan Howell wrote:

In summary, you are reductive.

Dan, I had to look up the word reductive. The apple dictionary said this:

apple dictionary wrote:
tending to present a subject or problem in a simplified form, especially one viewed as crude: .

That part about crudeness made me feel uneasy...Nat, if you felt offended by my reply I’d like to offer you an apology right away. I wrote my summary to show you that I read everything.

Nat the droid wrote:
NYC is a former home market and schools pay $20-$35/hr in the northeast... Drawing groups around $65-$90 for 3 hours. Bay Area is closer to $200. Difference? Union/guild presence 😩 I'm very much mostly retired and if I pose once a week I'm happy. (I mostly pose for artists at this point)

That is huge difference! Switching makes sense if you have the patience to do long figure poses. We took turns posing if a model had to cancel last minute back when I took art classes. There was a lot of groaning when that happened.

Skydancer Photos wrote:
Obviously I am not a model. But I will go ahead and assume you are referring to professional traveling models.
Traveling around the country booking paid gigs in different cities with different clients is how they make a year-round living. Otherwise, the finite availability of paying photographers in any one city would limit their income potential.

Yes, I was referring to the pros. It looks like Nat's response lines up with this.

MatthewGuy wrote:
Also as a not a model, I would ask the counter question:

Who wouldn't want a paying job that allows them to travel?

Well...I suppose that can be a perk depending on the person.

Certain Exposures wrote:
Dan, I had to look up the word reductive.

You could have stopped there.

Liv Sage wrote:
I don't travel as much as I used to as I've gotten quite tired of feeling shuttled about on airplanes, buses, trains, etc.
That being said, I just got back home (Seattle) from a ten day trip on the East Coast (NYC my former home, DC, and Philadelphia), so I can't say I don't travel at all yet.

When I started doing this job, I had several reasons for traveling. I'd been in school for a long time, just withdrew from a graduate program after finding out the potential salary I'd earn off of the degree. I'd never traveled before. The travel was a big incentive at the time, and that was also a good way to maximize the amount of income I could make.
I'd venture so far as to say that you likely will not make a full time income doing this job unless you are willing to travel. The exception to this is living in a large urban area with a lot of art schools. I used to work around 36 hours per week at art schools in the NYC area, for example, and that was enough money in addition to 1-2 photo gigs per week that I did not need to travel much - though I still did in the summer months.

Currently, I'm based on the West Coast and the main reason I travel is to make money. It is not particularly feasible to stay put in one area and expect to make a viable income. I suppose it varies what someone might consider viable, but I'd say if you want to make $4K+ per month and not work every day at an art school, you will need to travel. Most of the traveling models I know who have been doing this for five or more years are traveling because the money is so much better. If there was a way I could get away with not traveling while also making the amount of money I'd like, I would do so.

Thanks for replying, Liz. I wish this site would create alerts when someone replies to your post.

It’s interesting to see art schools brought up again. Life modeling has to be a lot tougher and niche so it makes sense.

Certain Exposures wrote:
Thanks for replying, Liz. I wish this site would create alerts when someone replies to your post.

You can "subscribe" to a thread.

Mark Salo wrote:
You can "subscribe" to a thread.

Thanks, Mark! Just did.