The Rules of Distraction

You’re on your first assignment. You’ve done your first few gesture poses and are juuuuuust starting to get comfortable with the fact that you’re completely nude. You go for a longer pose. You’re starting to get in that Zen-like state (which I’ll discuss more in the next post) where you’ve found something to meditate on, but you’re not completely lost in the moment, either. And then it happens:

THWAP! CLUNK! BANG! CRASH!

Someone tipped their easel over, came late to class and SLAMMED the door shut, or dropped their pad of paper.

So how do you avoid perfectly natural instincts like looking at where the noise is coming from (or jumping out of your skin!)?

I’ll be honest: there aren’t any hard and fast rules. You kind of just learn to block things out after a while and remain composed--it’s one of those things that you just get better at the more you do it. There’s different types of distractions in the classroom, and what I’d like to do in this post is to tell you about some of the more common ones and how to minimize them so you can remain in pose.

Visible distractions: the best way to avoid these types of distractions is to avoid looking at any one particular person in the room if at all possible. You normally don’t want to be looking at anyone in any event, as people understandably have a tendency to move during a session, and it’s only natural that your eyes (and head) might inadvertently follow them. And let’s face it: if someone was staring directly at you for 20 minutes, you might get a little freaked out! Most importantly, if someone should come to class late, chances are that your eyes will be focused somewhere where you won't be tempted to look at the latecomer walk across the room and get settled.

You also don’t want to focus on inanimate objects that still have the tendency to move, such as an artist’s easel or a tree branch outside that might get rustled by the wind. It’s for these reasons that I try and find a spot on the wall that generally forces me to look up somewhat, and thus away from any line-of-sight distractions, particularly if people decide to move their position while I'm in the middle of the pose. I’ve also found that after a while, my vision starts to get a little fuzzy and I start to get tunnel vision. This actually helps, because you have a smaller, softer field of vision, and are thus less likely to pick up on any distractions in the classroom.

Every now and then you’ll get into pose and you’ll notice someone just moved into your line of sight because they moved their seat. If you’ve only been in pose for a few seconds, there’s generally no harm in moving your head minimally until you can find a new spot on the wall or on the floor to focus on. I’ve had to do it a few times. On a similar note, a lot of drawing groups are very casual, and artists will sometimes sit on the floor to draw you. And you may find that as they shift their bodies, the errant arm or leg will come into your field of view. In this case, you might have already been in pose for a few minutes, so you probably don’t want to move your head. What I usually do is shift my eyes ever so slightly to where I find another point on the floor to focus on that still keeps my head locked into the same position.

Audible distractions: you’ll know you’re a pro when someone accidentally knocks their easel over it, people jump up and shriek in fright, and you maintain your pose the entire time. That’s when you’ve made it to the big leagues! You heard the sound, so you aren’t lost in your own little world, but you’re mellow and focused enough that it doesn’t faze you in the least.

Aural distractions are a little harder to tune out then visual distractions, especially if the source of the sound is well outside your field of vision (think of a car backfiring on a busy street and you’ll know what I mean). This one is more mental discipline, and it’s a little harder, I’ve found, to trick your ears and your brain than it is your eyes. In my next post, I’ll tell you what I typically think (and don’t think) about when I’m on the podium, and how that helps get me into a special state where my brain is in the moment, but not overly so. It requires a bit more detail that’s really deserving of its own post, but just know that there’s a way to get your brain into a state where you pick up on things, but aren’t focused on them.

Other distractions:

Room temperature: this may not initially be an obvious distraction to most people, but a room that’s too hot or too cold will definitely distract you while up on the podium. Keep in mind that you’re not wearing any clothes, and you have the right to have the room at a temperature that’s comfortable for you so you’re relaxed and in the right frame of mind to give your best poses. In cases where the room is cold, someone will generally have access to a small space heater, but there’s been at least one instance where I was freezing toward the end of the night. It was early on in my career, and I didn’t even think to ask if there was a heater available. Don’t feel shy in asking for a heater or for them to focus more lights on you (and believe me, with all the lights that are on you anyways, you’ll probably be running a little hot, even if the room itself is somewhat cool). And I’ve had several people hem and haw when I’ve asked for a heater, but I don’t let them off the hook. That one session I just told you about? I was literally shivering when I was done for the night, and spent the first few minutes afterwards just trying to warm myself up. You can bet I won’t do that again!

Conversely, sometimes the room you’ll be posing in doesn’t have any air conditioning, and you’ll be sweating bullets. In those cases, I’d advise you to do simpler, less-strenuous poses, hydrate frequently, and ask to take a quick break if you find yourself getting dizzy. And I’d recommend that your longer poses be seated or reclining.

Visitors: every now and then, someone from outside the class might need to enter the room for a few minutes. While I’ve already discussed what you should do to minimize the impact of a person walking into the room late, this adds a bit of a twist because this person isn’t running late or anything: they’re not in the class at all! So they’re not the regularly scheduled people that are supposed to be seeing you nude.

For instance, I remember my first time modeling, there was a band rehearsing in the other room, and I was informed that on occasion, they’d need to enter our room in order to get equipment from outside, if you can believe it! In this case, however, I was told about this up front, and I agreed to it (and sure enough, they didn’t try to cop a look or anything, and were quite professional).

But sometimes, particularly in a classroom setting, you may have someone who’s not in the class but needs to get into the room, such as a professor from the next room over who needs to grab extra chairs, or a parent dropping off supplies for a student.

In cases like these, there’s really not much you can do, and I’ve never had an issue with someone staring at me when they shouldn’t (and this is one of the few cases where I’d recommend shifting your eyes just to make sure of this). Most people know enough to respect you by not looking at you. But if you find someone who’s clearly staring or loitering longer than they should, I think you’d have a completely legitimate reason to say something.

Smells: there have been one or two people over the years that had particularly pungent body odor. This one’s a real toughie. You can “program” your brain to be on standby mode. You can direct your eyes to a place in the room where no one will enter your vision. But you do have to breathe.

You're probably gonna have to suck this one up. You can’t move the podium, and chances are that person is going to be sitting where they’re sitting for the next three hours. This is unfortunately going to have to be a badge of honor, like not flinching when someone drops their art supplies. It’s definitely a case of mental discipline!

Immature students: if you’re in a class of freshmen or have a pre-college class, you’re going to have to deal with the fact that you might be the first person they’ve seen completely naked in real life. And for a lot of people, giggling is a defense mechanism that helps someone try to process something out that they’re really not prepared for. It hasn’t happened to me aside from one particular class, and you’ll be hard pressed to find a professor that doesn’t take a hard line on that immediately. I’ve both spoken with models about this as well as read models’ stories on the Internet, and it’s pretty much a universal truism that anyone caught giggling, trying to “distract” the model (usually a female student who thinks it’s funny to park herself in front of you and show you her cleavage while you’re trying to hold a pose) or otherwise acting immaturely is asked to leave immediately, and oftentimes will be booted from the course. I’ve known models who’ve said they’ve broken pose and said they refuse to continue unless the giggling and chattering stops.

And with that, I’d like to close by saying that virtually every single person I’ve posed for has been nothing less than 100 percent respectful of me and my body. I’ve had multiple professors let me know my comfort (physical and mental) was paramount. I guarantee you that you’ll discover likewise. But at the same time, no one’s a mind reader, so you do need to speak up if you’re not totally comfortable. But any artist or professor who’s worth their salt knows that without someone willing to do what you’re doing, there’s only so much art that can be created. And they’re typically sympathetic to and protective of their models as a result.