How and when did you decide to become a life model?

 

Nigel: It was about 3-3 ½ years ago. I’m 54 this month (October 2014) but I advertise myself as 43 because I think I look younger and a lot of people say I look younger. When I hit 50, I was noticing a middle aged spread, I wasn’t as fit as I used to be, so I started going to the gym and trained really hard. I do six days a week at the moment. Within a six to nine months I got my body to a point where I was happy with it. A lot of girls I know said for my age I’m not looking too bad. They said I should try modelling or something like that. I said I’d think about it. I looked through Gumtree and Craigslist and I put an advert out as a male model. I had an email from a lady in Deal who was having a hen party. She said she’d never done anything like this before but what she fancied was having a hen party with her friends sat in a group and having a nude male stand there that they’d all draw and they’d have a bit of a giggle and asked if I would I be prepared to do it.  I sat there sweating at the computer and I thought I’d give it a go.

 

What were the initial expectations you had before you did your first life modelling session and did it live up to any of those expectations?

 

Nigel: It was a nightmare, I was as nervous as hell! I think there was sixteen girls in a room and I was going to be completely naked in front of them! Before I did the first session, I asked a couple of girls I know  “can I strip off in front of you and can you give me an honest opinion of what you think?” They said “why?” I said ‘I’ve got this life modelling thing coming up, I’m a bit nervous and I want your honest opinion. Because if you’re going to say oh God you look horrible, I’ll knock it on the head!” So I did it and they said “go for it!” So that’s what sort of prepared me for it. On the night in question, it was in a pub and there was a room at the top. What she had arranged with the class was that they were going to go to the pub, have a meal, have a few drinks, go upstairs and do a bit of drawing and then go back downstairs and have a disco. They didn’t know there was going to be a male model there. So I was stood outside the room with a bowl of fruit and nothing else. She said to the class “I’ll get the bowl of fruit brought in now” and said “Nigel can you bring it in?” The first few steps were really nerve-wracking. I entered the room and the girls were aged I think between about 19, 20 to about 35 to 36, they sort of went YEEEAAAHHH! That instantly put me at ease and I thought OK that was a bit of a winner. So did it live up to my expectations? It was easier than I thought.

 

What are the challenges you’ve faced as a life model?

 

Nigel: I suppose balancing the professionalism with the party elements and judging the groups as to what they want. I work for a lady who runs hen party life drawing classes and books me for her but I also run my own. When I do the lady’s parties she always books an art tutor who tells the class how to draw and those are a little bit more formal and structured and I technically am just a male model. When I run my own sessions the girls want a bit of fun.

 

How do you maintain a still pose for long periods of time?

 

Nigel: That is very difficult. Some of the art classes run by professionals just want me to sit there and pose and literally not move at all and they’re very hard. I try and tend to keep away from the professional life modelling art class sessions because they are so strict and for forty-five minutes you have to sit there and really not blink and it’s hard. I think forty-five minutes is the longest I’ve posed and then I get a fifteen minute break and then I have to get back into another pose for another forty-five minutes. The hen party life modelling sessions are a lot easier because I can talk and I can say how’s it going and scratch my head!

 

You also offer a nude and semi-nude butler service which involves cleaning, ironing, gardening and painting tasks. Do you consider yourself to be a character actor when you perform these tasks?

 

Nigel: Yeah very much so. That’s more about providing a cheeky service! I’ll open the door to the guests and I’ll be completely nude with a bow tie and then I’ll be passing out drinks for the evening. It’s very structured but it’s very easy to fall into that character because it’s a party element and you just mix in with it. When I do ironing or cleaning services or coffee mornings or afternoon teas it’s a little less structured. When ladies book me for ironing it’s not about the ironing, they just really want to watch me! With coffee mornings or afternoon teas they will hide me in the back room and bring their friends round and they’ll shout “Nigel can you bring the tea and cakes through?!” I’ll come through and sometimes I’ll have a pinny on and sometimes nothing at all. It is an act and it is like you’re in a play but it’s not like improvisation, there are set guidelines but you’ve got to be flexible.

 

Which moments in your career have you particularly enjoyed?

 

Nigel: The first one because I now I know what I’m doing. Swinging parties or dinner parties I absolutely love because they are so easy to do because they’ve already arranged everything and there’s the fun element.

 

What advice would you give budding artists wanting to pursue a career in life modelling?

 

Nigel: It’s a hard game out there. You can’t do it as a career, you have to do it as a second job. If you’re a person who the industry picks up on early on as a model because you’ve got ‘that look’ then you’re going to fly. There’s that group of people and then there’s everybody else.

 

Which marketing techniques have proved to be useful to you for promoting your services?

 

Nigel: I hand around business cards at the end of the group and sometimes I get work from that.

 

To discover more about Nigel visit his profile (please note that his services are only available to persons aged 18 and over and his profile contains some nudity.)