There are times when I need a little help with my drawing.  Maybe I want to capture a certain movement, or just the right expression.  In these moments I turn the camera on myself for a little modeling session.

For this pencil illustration, I wanted to show Pacey dealing with some nerves, some apprehension. I pretty much followed my facial expression, except for the my left eyebrow.  You see how on my face its pointed down toward my nose?  I’m sure I tried that on Pacey but she looked too angry, so I tilted the eyebrow away.  Eyebrows are so important when conveying emotion.  Never skimp on the eyebrows.

For this illustration I needed to draw Pacey falling, but the “camera” was above her.  It was really important to me to get the angles and perspective right.  See how she has one raised hand and one raised foot?  I’m not great at drawing that kind of thing from memory.  I needed to pose.  I asked my son to climb the stairs and take photos of me on the floor.

I keep a Pinterest page full of interesting poses, but sometimes I need something very specific.  That’s what my camera is for.