From masters like Pablo Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci to contemporary greats like Andy Warhol and Brett Whitley, the human form has inspired artists for centuries.
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In art schools and weekend drawing workshops across the world creative types sit poised at their easel for hours trying to replicate the curves, lines and contours they see before them.
But what about the subjects of these art works?
Laying around naked in front of a bunch of artists isn't for everyone and until a year ago it wasn't something Susan Brown had ever considered doing.
But after a work colleague encouraged her to give posing for a Warrnambool life drawing class a go, Miss Brown said she'd never looked back.
"The first time I wasn't really nervous, I was a bit anxious, but they are a group of professional artists and made me feel very comfortable," she said.
"I was pretty body-conscious, like most people, but in the back of my mind I thought I could do it."
Now one of a regular group of male and female models who pose for the Warrnambool Artists' Society life drawing class, the 27-year-old said the experience had changed the way she saw her body.
"It's been one of the most empowering things I've done," she said.
"It's helped me see my body for what it is, appreciate my body and look after it.
''I would have no hesitation in recommending people give it a go.
"Because I'm so much more comfortable in my own body now, it's actually quite satisfying to know someone wants to draw me."
Starting out with what she called non-intrusive poses, mostly with her back to the artists, Miss Brown said as she became more comfortable with the artists she began to do frontal poses too.
As far as she knew, her image was yet to be publicly displayed in a gallery but Miss Brown accepted that it may happen at some point.
"To be honest, I think unless you knew me quite well most people wouldn't be able to pick it was me," she said.
"I haven't really thought much about a picture being put up in a gallery, or someone buying a picture of me but it wouldn't faze me."
Artist Chris Inglis takes part in the weekly classes held at the Warrnambool Artists' Society.
He said life drawing was in many ways the ultimate in drawing exercises because it required good observation skills, attention to detail and took many years to perfect.
"In terms of drawing, life drawing is probably the most difficult thing an artist can undertake because the human form is so recognisable," he said.
"It helps to develop your drawing skills and demonstrates your ability to transfer what you see to paper. Part of the reason it's so difficult is every little movement the model makes changes the form and there are so many little nuances in the human body.
"If you make a mistake almost everyone will notice it because most people have a good understanding of the human form."
An artist for more than 40 years, Inglis has many life drawing classes under his belt but said he'd never forget the first time he drew a nude as an art student at the age of 17.
"It's engraved in my brain," he laughed.
"I can't remember the model's name but I was shaking in my shoes.
"For a novice, drawing a nude for the first time can be a bit confronting."
And decades after that first class, Inglis said life drawing still posed challenges and he personally found drawing men more difficult than women.
"Men are more muscular, that have flat lines and more detail," he said.
"It's quite easy to make a man look female when you're drawing if you're not careful.
"Personally, I prefer to draw somebody who has a few years under their belt. I find age can put a lot more character into a figure."
While life drawing is not for every artist and finding models willing to get naked and stay still for hours is not easy, the pursuit of drawing and posing perfection is worth the weekly challenge for this close-knit Warrnambool group.
tliptai@standard.fairfax.com.au