Poll: live streaming figure drawing???

[Jason Manley]

We have been working on some ways in which we think we can run live streaming figure drawing here on the site using our online school technology. I had planned on starting it in March but the ladies have requested that this happen so I wanted to put it to a poll.

http://fineartamerica.com/images-medium/deep-in-thought-tom-hufford.jpg

It could work like this:

a. we set up a beautiful nude and draped figure model and light it so that it looks good on camera...and stream it out to the world. The classes would mix a series of timed poses in 2-90 minute duration to get started.

- 5 two minute poses
- 5 three minute poses
- 5 five minute poses
- 1 ten minute pose
- 1 thirty minute pose
- 1 ninety minute pose


The main issue is that the figure, though alive and breathing and posing would not have the visual phenomenon that happens when you shift your head slightly and the figure looks different because you can see around the form. However for people without the luxury of having a model every day this could be a great solution. The model would at least be moving and breathing and changing poses...muscles flexing..relaxing...better than drawing from photo ref in that case.

I was thinking we could do it as affordably as possible for the open uninstructed classes. Five bucks would be a good starting point...perhaps to run some tests and see if there is enough support to cover the financial needs of having the model and running the open sessions. Maybe we sell the m in weekly and monthly packages. Starting with two per week? Can also have it open enrollment but if it is full there would be no getting in. So will have to think on that. Classes requiring full time teachers would be at a much higher tuition cost, but could also include assignments and lectures. Not sure how we would have to price that yet. Will meet on it. For now I would think the live figure sessions would be five to ten dollars at most...probably five. Gotta run tests and make sure it is supported before doing it is all. The ladies were for it. So here I am.

We also will be doing some more structured figure classes with instruction and lectures but for now we are just looking at open figure drawing. Would this interest you at all?

Would you support this option?

If the community supports this, we could begin doing it fairly quickly, but I do not want to do something right now unless I know that it is going to get the support. I can't bring it all in and then watch no one show up...but since it seems like a really great thing to do, I thought to ask and see what your thoughts were.

If It is something I lead, I will spend at least a few minutes talking about figure related matters like body language or anatomical mark making or line quality for weight, tension, space, and light....but for the most part would be open figure. I know I would do it but I wanted to ask you first.

Let us know!

Also if you can let us know which times are best for you all we can take that into consideration too. We have to deal with schedules here too but will do what we can.


Best,



Jason

[Ryan K]

How often would these sessions be?

I would definitely try this out, if there were teaching involved. It would be really convenient. But I have to wonder how much different this would be than just drawing from nude photo references? (though the live teaching would be great)

[feder!co]

I agree with Ryan K, what would sell it to me is def the teaching as I have no access to it here, else it wouldn't be much different than nude photo ref.

Time would also be a big thing for me as often the on demand classes land up being like at 2am and I really just cant do much at that time after a full days work.

Will they also be on demand?

[Raoul Duke]

I just wanted to say vote honestly you guys, don't give Jason false results to appease his feelings. On another note NO DRAMA!

[Jacob Kobryn]

Maybe, but I doubt it could accurately replicate true life-drawing. It seems like it wouldn't be more than just drawing from photo reference.

[Jason Manley]

Drawing a living breathing thing, even on photo ref is different than photo ref. The shifting of emotion...the slight changes in body language..a photo is already captured for you. Something alive...not so much! :)

We can also all work from the same thing.

Choose as you wish. This is about whether or not this community would want it as a service and how it would want it.


jason

[Aphotic Phoenix]

I think that the real advantage here is that unlike one person working on a single image, you'd have multiple people working on the same thing... Considering this is a forum that allows attaching of images, people would have the ability to post and compare the work they've done and receive feedback from one another.

[Amber Alexander]

For $5 I would definately use the open/uninstructed classes, probably not more then 1-2 a week, I'd probably use it less often at $10. Yes its similar to drawing from photos but even though I could sit around and draw from pictures all day, I don't, that sounds really boring. But drawing here would kinda force me to draw and would be an incentive to really get an active sketchbook, which I don't have and is one of my goals for 2010. What I also like it being online is that I could do the sketching in pencil or with my tablet.

I'd love some sessions of figures in costume, in things that people paint often but are hard to really find...maybe a guy in armor, two people fighting, a soldier in uniform, a woman in a medival dress. I'd be willing to pay alittle more for those since models with those might be harder to find or more expensive.

I'd prefer more short poses then long ones but this seems to have a decent amount. Because I'm a student already, I don't need more homework so I wouldn't pay for an instructed class with assignments/crits. I dunno how the tech works but maybe you could run both at the same time? I mean have one classroom that's no teacher just showing the model, cheaper price and the other classroom showing the same model at the same time but you get all the instruction and crits/assignments for a bit more?

My schedule is pretty open so anytime works but the more time given in advance would mean I could keep that open on my calendar, preferably at least 1-2 weeks prior notice. I hope this happens! weee

[Irishdrunk]

I'd be totally down for this.

You could even record these to sell them to people that miss a few.

And I don't mind just having the streaming video without lectures. A lecture here and there would be nice. But the $5 for a sessions sounds like a good plan. Add teachers and that gets into double digits that makes these classes, such a crucial part of learning, less accessible to us poor folks.

Voting for Yes!, but with some variety.

[FraserMcT]

I would, depending on price. I would definitely pay more if there was teaching involved.

[Brain]

I'm undecided, so far. I like the aspect that it would be a group activity at a set time, pretty much forcing me to get my arse in gear from multiple angles. From that, I expect it not to be available on demand.

But then, it's still a 2D image. A moving 2D image (as much as a figure is allowed to @:-) but still 2D, and I think that might be a main wall for me personally.

Then again, there are no life drawing classes available to me in my current town, and it is something I miss from my Brisbane days (Queensland Animators is dead, long live Queensland Animators). And at $5 a session, if I remember correctly, is cheaper than the classes I used to take, which had no teaching, just comparisons between class members if you wanted.

So yeah... Undecided. I would like to take a trial run and see how it treats me. Always keen to support. @:-) My available times would have to be between 4pm-10pm weekdays GMT+10.

[Pezz]

Maybe, but I doubt it could accurately replicate true life-drawing. It seems like it wouldn't be more than just drawing from photo reference.

Guys, there's nothing evil about photo reference. The big mistake people make when using them is copying them exactly. People often take the compositional/cropping/lighting choices from the photographer instead of using the photo reference as a study tool or reference for particular parts of a pose.

That being said, a streamed figure drawing session would be somewhat different. Most likely there would be the full figure within a large field of view so YOU can make the cropping decisions. Lighting would probably be somewhat random or perhaps a particular type of lighting (zenithal etc) would be a request or a topic of study. Everything would be set up so you could STUDY this figure, crop him/her however YOU wanted.. the figure would not remain perfectly still, unlike a static photograph.

I vote yes, instruction or not (however this is because, personally, I've taken several figure drawing classes)

[velderia]

OH MY GOD!

If this was even 10 bucks (though five bucks sounds nicer). My god. Seriously. I would not deny it! This is an awesome idea! :D Especially since I hate getting out of the house, and driving like 30-60 minutes to somewhere that probably does this.

[kittymeow84]

Sounds like a really good idea. You might want to moderate new users signing up cos who knows what pervs it might attract from around the web? Just a thought.

Alas, since I live in Australia its highly unlikely the sessions will be at a time that I could participate :(

[Jovian M]

I'd probably check it out, just to see if it was any different to me, personally. Especially for $5.

[Aphotic Phoenix]

You might want to moderate new users signing up cos who knows what pervs it might attract from around the web?

Honestly I'm not sure I'd be too concerned about this. If people want to look at naked people for "pervy" purposes, there are plenty of places online to do that for free. The difference being those...uh...body positions aren't exactly geared towards the same purposes at all.

[Theking78]

FOr 5$ I'll give it a try for sure.

[Richie]

maybe a 3 tier paying system so that those that can shell out just $5 get just the unsupervised drawing, those that can pay more can get access to a little lecture/assigment and then another tier to receve personalised crits?
That way every can join in but yeah more of a logistcal headache.

[kittymeow84]

Honestly I'm not sure I'd be too concerned about this. If people want to look at naked people for "pervy" purposes, there are plenty of places online to do that for free. The difference being those...uh...body positions aren't exactly geared towards the same purposes at all.

Yeh I know that ;) You just neeeeever know with these things.....I mean, I used to go on a braces forum and there was always trouble with pervs wanting to get off on pictures of people's shackled teeth. If that kind of thing attracts weirdos then this just might too.

[Jason Manley]

Richie that is exactly what I was thinking. I will discuss with the others.

If there is enough support we must discuss times that are best to do it.

Any input on time of day? Please use PST if you have input on that. I have to deal w ith my own schedule and that of MB too.

[white beard]

I'm totally down with this, better if there were crits involved.

there was always trouble with pervs wanting to get off on pictures of people's shackled teeth.

lol wat?

[PieterV]

I just had an idea: stereoscopic images, imax style...
No really!

[Ninjerk]

Guys, there's nothing evil about photo reference. The big mistake people make when using them is copying them exactly. People often take the compositional/cropping/lighting choices from the photographer instead of using the photo reference as a study tool or reference for particular parts of a pose.

That being said, a streamed figure drawing session would be somewhat different. Most likely there would be the full figure within a large field of view so YOU can make the cropping decisions. Lighting would probably be somewhat random or perhaps a particular type of lighting (zenithal etc) would be a request or a topic of study. Everything would be set up so you could STUDY this figure, crop him/her however YOU wanted.. the figure would not remain perfectly still, unlike a static photograph.

I vote yes, instruction or not (however this is because, personally, I've taken several figure drawing classes)

I'm going to be a bit presumptuous here and say that Jake probably wasn't condemning photo reference. However, you will be drawing a flat, albeit moving, image.

As for the poll, I will not be using it. Good luck, though.

[Raydiant]

Interesting idea, I'll give it a shot!

[Natzuur-JK]

Its an interesting idea, the teired payment for affordability purposes is very appealing, all of us come from different walks of life, and so do our wallets. I do like the more educational approach to recent things like this idea, and the composition download, these fundementals are always so important, and are really the building blocks to good art and illustration.

But uhhhh, how about a color theory download/class now, its the missing piece!! =P

[Studio Colrouphobia]

I agree with Richie- f it indeed would be 5USD at lowest cost then I would consider it.

Also, if you record them and sell them then I could imagine paying more for it. Up to 10 USD per model and hour. So according to that suggestion of yours Jason, I could imagine paying 30 USD for the three hour downloadable vid with the model.

I understand that piracy is still an issue, just saying so you know I would be willing to pay.

[Bloodsbane]

Sounds awesome!
My personal continual involvement will be pretty severely hindered by timezone differences, but I'm up for some late night (or early morning) online life drawing any time it doesn't conflict with my schedule. I'll be sure to spread the word too!

[janni]

this would be great thing!

5 bucks per session, uninstructed, sold! start it next week! :) optional lectures would be great.

i don't have the luxury of a regular class to draw the human figure. it's better than drawing from photographs and a lot more fun with other people drawing the same thing at the same time.

the big problem is that whole time zone crap...

[kyurai]

i think the idea is really good, but my main concern is how are you guys going to solve the time issue.
My time is aproximately streaming time + 8h , so if it will be really really late i will be to tired from work to stay up.

Other than that, i think that having an organized schedule ( streaming sessions in dayX and/or dayY) will actually force me to sit down and do the work. And this would be really, really useful for me.

Even if they will not be in 3D, having different light and different poses will be a great improvement from searching photos i would like to draw. And I will know that i have to draw rather than looking for excuses.

And yes, i am willing to pay extra if i could get some crits. I understand that since there will be a lot of people attending it will not be possible to crit everyones work in-depth, but even a small crit would be very useful.

[janni]

the easy solution for the time problem obviously is to give people access to the stream for 24 to 48 hours. although it's a real bugger to miss out on the live feeling.

the only way for me to attend live regulary would be very early in the morning (late evening in the us) or in the afternoon (early morning in the us)

[tobbA]

I know Bobby Chiu sometimes have his live streams at 2pm pst. Which is eleven o clock in the night over here, but that's probably as late as I feel is convenient staying up. Depends on what I'm doing the next day. Don't know how it fits with other parts of the world tho. Obviously earlier would be even better :)

As for the figure drawing, I'd definately try it out. But I think the tutoring is what would make it truly worthwile.

[Liz Edwards]

I'd definitely give it a try. I'd love instruction, but I don't know whether I could afford a more expensive class. Cheaper, uninstructed ones would still be great, if everyone can share their work and have a banter. :)

I wouldn't want to stay up much past midnight GMT during the week. I don't know what time that is over there though.

[Ananda C]

I'd join this for sure if it could be watched on demand a day or two later... or if it was on Saturday mornings or something...
I live in Europe and attend classes in the morning, in the afternoon and sometimes in the evening. =/

[Ian Barker]

I would definitely be willing to try it out. I have all night classes next semester, so something during the midday hours would be best for me.

Oh, and here's an idea... Jason in the CA4.0 thread you mentioned that you would have a screen saver that cycles through art. Well what if there were different screen saver options you could choose, one being figures? If the screen saver changed figures every minute or so, that could be fun for doing quick pose studies.

[Jazz]

I voted for the first and the last, Jason, but really the first is my highest vote! If we DON'T get crits and such, that's fine by me. I've gotten them at class's end in the figure drawing classes I've been in. They were pretty good because everyone got to go around and make crits. I guess if anyone wanted to stick around and show certain pics, maybe a max number of the drawings, that would be cool too!

But even straight figure drawing for the time range you mentioned, that would be just great! :D :D

As for time, I think (if you're looking at Austin time) I'm 2 hours ahead of you. So evenings CAN work for me; weekends work best, especially starting closer to the evening, like 5pm your time. So that just means going into the night would be fine on my end, though Friday evenings or Saturdays are better.

[Monkeydominator]

I'm rubbing my greasy fingers all over this one. An excuse to draw naked people is always a-ok and thumbs up for me.

[Black Spot]

Time is a big factor for me. I can do early morning (I'm usually up at 4.30am GMT) or early evening (6pm) and let hubby cook once a week like he does when I go across London.

[kelly x]

Count two artist's in from this house, Eastern Standard, almost any evening 9-10pm would work after 11:30 my skills are spent... this is 6-7pm west coast. but we're flexable too.
It would be cool if there were some crit on the session or we could even crit eachother???
Either way we would do it twice a week. Thanks so much for trying to make it happen!!! :)

[Turbosnail]

For around $5 I'll give the live streaming Figure Drawing a try, dependent on the viewing time.
I'm just outside London so (like Black Spot) I can do early UK mornings (8PM - 1AM PST) or UK evenings (8AM - 4PM PST).
I would be willing to purchase these On-Demand if 'Live broadcast' times were unsuitable.

Thanks Jason.

[Ninjac]

I am totally down for this figure drawing. I would love crits as well but any opportunity to draw a live model even via video feed is something to take advantage of. The only thing I see as being a bump in the road is loading up the images after each timed session or after the whole class is done. The classmates could even give crits on a thread that is specific to each session. Then it could be cheaper per class and we could all benefit. One thing that also came to mind was costumed models. Many of us CA'ers love character design and that might be another venue to explore if this kind of online class drawing works well. I'm in central time but I'm open as to what time the classes are. Anyway thats my 2 cents. I'll stay tuned for more info.

[Black Spot]

Divide us into time zones to find out if it is worthwhile. My son might be interested as well, but with school and being a teenager that needs his sleep, timing is of great importance. If you don't get enough in one time zone, raise the price to make it feasible.

[Ivory_Oasis]

Why not just record and play back the umm...non-moving poses... (i still don't get this >< models stay as still as humanly possible, just pause a movie and set a timer o.O)

[MatejaPetkovic]

Why not just record and play back the umm...non-moving poses... (i still don't get this >< models stay as still as humanly possible, just pause a movie and set a timer o.O)

He he, true.

This is interesting thought, but same as using ref imho.
But if those people who draw can get constructive critique while drawing, that would be something similar to live/personal teaching, and that would be good thing.

M

[Lyle Moore]

Concerning time.

If you have a model that will let you record. Maybe you have 24hr to log on and play your drawing session.
No pausing. It just plays. That way all time zones are covered.

[Irishdrunk]

Timewise, perhaps cycling through an early, midday, and late schedule would be best for everyone.

7am one day, 2pm the next, and 10pm, etc. (PST)

And a quick suggestion:
Perhaps have several angles on a model. So people could cycle through the angles and pick the one they like. Exactly like an actual figure class.

[CCorsair]

As just said on Facebook we tried this at the CSU in the early 90's(93 to 95) I as at in the Figure Sculpture class as we did some over the net broadcast to a remote campus .
We used 3 cameras 2 Hi8 and on S-Video VHS and goo studio lights a Video editing system connected to a computer system and the net . We had a non net connect camera to take picture if the model needs a break to mark the pose.
The model stand was rotatable and the cameras could move as well to let people work in the rounds as well on the remote campus feed. it seem to work well but the image then were not as good as we can now but still need to cover how you would see the model if you were in the room. HD is good but not everyone computer sees HD as well. A test set up and stream to a small group of student and instructors to see how to light the models and what Cameras would be best . If any has use the I made and model on the IFX DVDs you can see that those static images work well for idea but a living and moving models are a lot different

this very interesting idea Jason and i hope it can be able to work for those who want it and need it . Oh you may need some there not an instructor but some to time and change the pose when needed and to keep track of feed and connection as you wouldn't wan that model to pose for an hour and have people have their connection drop or time out. the pre sign up should have set number to make the time worth wile as well .


Ok that my $0.39 worth of ideas..

CC

[Portus]

The quality of streaming video isn't great in my opinion, would prefer a DVD of video poses in excellent quality and or a photo DVD.

[CCorsair]

The quality of streaming video isn't great in my opinion, would prefer a DVD of video poses in excellent quality and or a photo DVD.

The quality of streaming video depends on the Cameras + lighting and network bandwidth. It matter of hardware translating the signal as well. an HD feed isn't hard but if you have drop in bandwidth you also lose in The quality of streaming video .
HD would be best but some what costly as it would be a lot data sent in video stream. but as said its not impossible just something that would be good to test before going prime time with right off .

CC

[velderia]

About the time zones, maybe you could do a cycle, like one week in a time zone that fits the other side of the world, and then another that suits towards this side of the earth. That would be awesome. :)

And I bet both would suit my insomnia. xD

[Liam Harvey]

Do be able to do this thing and participate in this life drawing session, i would definitely pay if i had too.The only problem for me would be then if it was a regular occurance, because like many of the streaming classes, buying many is very difficult and hard on the money....so i suppose then my participation on the class is defined by the variables of time and money.

if it was to become a regular thing, i think the progress of future sessions would need to be built on the success of this first too.

if i can make it to the life drawing class, if and when it is announced, i would most definitely do so.

[Arish]

I'd love to give this a try. Anytime in the evening (EST) works for me, most days... and I like the idea of having 3 tiers of payment / participation. Personally I'd just shell out the 5 bucks to draw the model, and maybe once in a blue moon pay more for an in-depth crit. The 2-dimensionality can't be helped, but it's still better than drawing from a photo and would be nice to be able to do at home...

[Chompo]

I would like to change my answer to "No".
It's a really cool idea and I would have used it, but I only have January and than i'm off..
So I realized my answer is a bit misleading, sorry.

[illustrateth]

Would definitely pay $5 bucks for a session. I pay $15 for a live session in Manhattan, but it's more inconvenient to go. Only problem is we are in the middle of moving, so probably couldn't do it till after January. Also, 10pm pst (after baby is in bed) will end up workiing best for me (otherwise will need a babysitter)

[illustrateth]

Still photos don't interest me as I already own the visual pose books

[Nike]

I'd definatley try and use it - would be cool, if there'd be different models, maybe also variation in nude/interesting clothing - and most important - interesting light. I think this would be a good addition to real live drawing sessions, where sometimes the light isn't very interesting and/or you always have the same two models.

Timing is an important factor, too... I'm in Europe and for me evenings/nights would be best - maybe once a week?

[J Wilson]

It could be interesting, if the video was high enough resolution. It would especially be worthwhile if there were stills available after the class for students to continue working from, and maybe access to a private thread/forum for participants to trade crits and share tips and insight.

Another thought would be if there were 2 channels available per session. One camera on the model, and another on a guest artist working from the same video feed as everyone else. I think that could be very educational for new comers, and just fun to watch for those with more experience.

[Shantih]

If something could be worked out for the different time zones and the pricing was reasonable I'd give this a try :)

[donalfall]

I'm up for this. The PST time difference from GMT is what, 8 hours or thereabouts. Tsk..... I'm not sure about times. 10AM PST - 2PM PST wouldn't be unmanageable. I guess the earlier you can do it PST the better for me, but hey, I wouldn't like to suggest 8AM for you. :) If you could stream these after the fact for a fiver too, that'ld be a nice bonus.

[donalfall]

One camera... ...on a guest artist working from the same video feed as everyone else. I think that could be very educational for new comers, and just fun to watch for those with more experience.

Not wanting to come in twice here, but that's a great idea.

[Zirngibism]

You know, I think this opens up a really cool opportunity of having multiple cameras showing different views of the model at the same time. That way, when he/she moves, we'll be able to better wrap our minds around the figure!

We could also get a better sense of the form and how the exact same (MOVING?) pose looks at different angles, something impossible to do when working purely from life. I think the idea of streaming figure drawing would be much more enticing to me if it offered a "quad view" of 4 different angles. One side, one front, one top, and one 3/4, perhaps? It might be a great way to understand more about the form. Granted, this might be overwhelming to people, as one view is complicated enough. But if somehow we had the option of showing one or all views at a time, it would be a pretty awesome feature!

This also might open the possibility of making it easier for people without laptops to do digital figure painting on their desktops or lab computers at school.

I would definitely consider doing something like this for 5 bucks, though I wouldn't totally rule out an instructed session, though that option doesn't appeal as much to me since I can still get this kind of thing at school (though I have no figure drawing classes next semester).

[kittymeow84]

lol wat?

dead serious!


On the time issue - it would be good if we could have more than one time to access the videos...like others have mentioned as having it open for 24 hours or so. And then to give all time zones a fair shot at the proper live class, it would be good to have one week in American time, the other for UK & Europe and the other for the southern hemisphere etc.

So week 1 is 2pm US time with 24 hours repeat of the original stream for other time zones.
Then week 2 is 2pm UK time and all other timezones can stream in the following 24 hours
and so on.

[kjdawson80]

dead serious!


On the time issue - it would be good if we could have more than one time to access the videos...like others have mentioned as having it open for 24 hours or so. And then to give all time zones a fair shot at the proper live class, it would be good to have one week in American time, the other for UK & Europe and the other for the southern hemisphere etc.

So week 1 is 2pm US time with 24 hours repeat of the original stream for other time zones.
Then week 2 is 2pm UK time and all other timezones can stream in the following 24 hours
and so on.

THIS (well, the part about the different streams, not the part about people having super happy fun private time with pictures of braces). I think that the different time zone idea would also be more palatable for those who have a limited income - knowing that the live stream for your timezone would be spread out would probably make it easier to set aside some cash. And if you had an extra five-spot, you could check out the other time zone's stream for kicks/extra learning.

[thespirals]

it would be really cool, if a part of the class we could watch a pro do a couple of quick demos of the model before we got started, would that work?

also...i live in sf and would be interested in modelling, i have experience.

[Meli Hitchcock]

I'm so down for this! Our local area has only one figure drawing class per month and it's at an ungodly hour of the morning. I would totally do this once a week for sure, if not more if I wanted to get some hardcore figure drawing done!

[Purrdey]

I'd definitely be interested either with teaching or without - I'm in the UK and at work full time though so time zones might be an issue.

[Eclypse]

This will be so bad ass! Really hope that there will be some teaching, or at least some good ol straight to the point, blunt, and sharp critiques afterward. I think most people will learn much more by receiving feed back rather than just unsupervised drawing.

[Rilez75]

Definitely interested. I would be willing to check it out and see how it works. Sounds great tho. So I don't imagine there should be a prob for me. However, I work 9-5pm cst (i have no idea what that is in pst, we are in our own world here) so scheduling may be a prob. I can make adjustments tho.

[Craz]

Two big advantages I can see to this:

1. It would be a community activity. Last I checked, attendees of the streaming classes can all talk to each other with text and microphones. How many artists go to unmoderated life drawing sessions and have a dialogue with the other artists about problems they're having and things they're realizing? Certainly not I. I'm sure that having a class over the Interblag will strongly encourage community interactivity. The community aspect would inevitably spill over into the forums, not only providing a great place for critiques and asspats to be shared and discussions to be had, but also promoting the classes. It could well have its own sub-forum or at least its own thread. I think another great method of promotion would be to have a 'best of' thread in the Finally Finished section. Of course, you then risk polarizing the attendees, but I don't think that would happen here. When people on this forum see badass art being made, they tend to just want to jump in and work towards that level of skill. Honestly, I think having a community based experience would be much more unique and valuable than instructed classes. Cheaper, too. And when you consider the artists who might show up to be part of those communities...
This forum will never run out of helpful people with great advice, Jason.

2. You can get better models, better lighting and better props than any old local shoestring life drawing class. It would be great to attend a session (even a 2D one) run with competence and experience. I'm not trying to rubbish local life drawing classes, but they tend to be working on a small budget and are often run by people who don't have a great amount of experience. (Recently, the session I always attend was canceled because there was no model. The administration only found out the model had bailed about 20 minutes after people had arrived. The few who stayed (me included) ended up drawing each other. Either this fiasco was caused by general incompetence or a lack of funds to hire reliable models.)

The biggest problem is going to be time and time zones. Saturday slots would obviously be of help there.
As for its 2D nature, it does make a difference. When you're drawing from life, you're translating something 3D onto a 2D surface. 2D to 2D is a different copying experience.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/life-class-todays-nude/episode-guide/series-1/episode-1

I drew from this series of programmes a while back. You can watch it on demand, so it would be a good place for people to test out the process. If you can get over the weird funk-backed undressing scene and creepy voice-over at the beginning, it's actually a decent watch.
EDIT: Huh, I haven't actually seen this episode.

Hope this helps.

[NickGuy]

How often would these sessions be?

I would definitely try this out, if there were teaching involved. It would be really convenient. But I have to wonder how much different this would be than just drawing from nude photo references? (though the live teaching would be great)

FOr 5$ I'll give it a try for sure.
honestly i dont know how to vote. on one hand, for 5 dollars id definitely be down, but probably no more than once a week. and id want some sort of teaching, someone talking about the form an dhow to draw it, etc etc.

[silvestri99]

Two quick suggestions Jason. (btw I love this idea!).

Evenings work best for me but i realize that it doesn't for everyone else so you could offer the classes for 24 hours "on demand" afterwards. You could also stagger the times you do the classes. If you do classes twice a week do one in the mornings and one in the evenings so that you can catch the most people.

You could also offer up the first class for free as a trial run and see how it works and what can be improved. Limit it to admins and people who have responded about the class so you get the most interested people as possible.

You guys keep me on my toes with the amount of cool stuff you're working on!

[NickGuy]

ha i forgot to mention on the other hand...friggin distractions....

im wondering how worth it in the end this would be, if youre only charging 5 bucks a time and not many people sign up for it, or alot of people do and then it dies off

[Adam Nowak]

What about setting up the middle camera for the pose and having one or two cameras on each side at slightly different angles to help solve the head tilting that we can't do? Then either have all 5 cameras on screen at once or have the user scroll through each one.

[Carbon Productions]

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/life-class-todays-nude/episode-guide/series-1/episode-1

I drew from this series of programmes a while back. You can watch it on demand, so it would be a good place for people to test out the process. If you can get over the weird funk-backed undressing scene and creepy voice-over at the beginning, it's actually a decent watch.
EDIT: Huh, I haven't actually seen this episode.

Hope this helps.

Been drawing from those episodes all day and it worked pretty well so I would definalty pay for the stream. :) I'm sure beginners, people who cant afford/have no figure classes will benifit greatly from it.

As people have previously suggested, it would be nice if you guys can get a mixture of nude and clothed models.

Thanks for all your hard work Jason. :)