The Willow Muse: What it's like to draw me
It is too easy to fall into a trap of drawing (painting, or photographing) art models who closely resemble an idealized human form that is Eurocentric, ableist, gender essentialist and cisnormative. Conversely, some seek out unconventional art models purely for the sake of novelty or to satisfy their curiosity for exoticism, which can be the other extreme but subconsciously still uphold the aforementioned ideals because such models, paradoxically, are valued only for being the "other" and filling certain expected roles.
I can be enigmatic and are full of paradoxes. It's not very easy to put me into a simple category.
Even I have struggled with this for many years and only in recent years became able to embrace all that I am, that me-ness that still remains a mystery and paradox to me.
My neurodivergence means my facial and body expressions are "odd" and can be difficult for some to understand - and awkward at times. Certain poses are difficult for me, and so are fast-paced changes of poses (like short poses every minute or two; longer poses are okay). My physique seems a bit disproportionate, not exactly like an "ideal proportion" found in a classical fine art textbook of a century ago. This and sensory issues limit what sort of clothes look good on me.
I still have quite a serious dysphoria about all this, although I have found a radical self-acceptance coupled with a rejection of the internalized sexist, ableist, and racist cultural expectations of myself very liberating. I can see this evolution when I look through the portfolio. I used to look uneasy and awkward in earlier years, although I looked pretty. More recently, I look like... me, at last.
Artists get to know and learn about this human inside and out as I step in and shed all the layers off me to become a pure embodiment of myself. As an artist myself, I am of an opinion that a figure model should look natural and timeless, so I usually present myself without anything artificial on my body, like clothing, jewelry, makeup and and such, for an optimal, inspirational learning experience. (I have no tattoos or body piercings.)
It is this complexity behind the one-of-the-kind human form that I bring to and share with artists who are genuinely interested in creating art from a life form that is art.