by Clara Lieu
Last week I did a reference photo session with a new model. Up until this point, I had only been working with Sheila, an artist model at RISD who has been a good friend for many years.
I really enjoy working with artist models, there’s an intimacy that occurs with your models that is unique. In general, when I work with models, I never tell them exactly how to pose. I’ll provide some basic ideas about what I want them to do, but I don’t give specifics about how to pose their figure. When I was in graduate school, I had this professor who was really obnoxious about demanding that the model pose precisely the way he wanted. He would tell the model exactly how to orient or position pretty much every part of her body, and the result was always a really stiff pose that looked fake and awkward.
With these drawings, I decided that I would give the models no direction at all. Instead, I ask the model to stand and I talk to them during the photo shoot. I want to capture the individual personalities of each model I work with, and it’s incredible how completely different the experience is with each person.
What was striking about this new model was her extraordinary range of facial expressions. As she talked, I was amazed that she would jump from a perky smile to a haggard, anguished look. She told me all kinds of stories about her life during the photo session, and it was fascinating to watch her face change as her stories covered a wide range of emotions
As I poured through the over 600 reference photos I shot, I was intrigued by the gigantic range of expressions. What was engaging as well, was watching how the skin in her face pulled and stretched according to her facial expression. The folds of skin were extremely dramatic, and I couldn’t wait to dig into some new drawings.
I shoot continuously during these photo sessions, so there is literally only half a second between most of the photos. I found 2 consecutive photos that couldn’t have been more different. The first photo was a very harrowing expression, which seemed tragic and pained. The next photo was a warm, joyful smile. The way she could swing from one extreme emotion to the opposite side of the spectrum so quickly was really engaging to watch.
I had this idea that I would work with these two photos, and layer them on top of the other to demonstrate the way she inhabited two such opposite emotions in such a short span of time. This drawing (below) is the first phase. I’ll create the second drawing, and then create a few thumbnail sketches so I can figure out how to get the two drawings to interact through the layering and tearing of the paper.
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Clara Lieu 
Really enjoying this series of work – fascinating to watch it unfold and reading about your process. Can’t wait to see how it develops – and love the drawings.
Thanks for your feedback and for following the work!