Figure Study 001: Samantha Smith x Brittany Higgins x Amy Ariana

In any sort of art study, the practice of, there is the figure drawing. Perhaps you start with an assembled skeleton to see how the bones connect — the fat and muscle draping, a cursory education in anatomy, all in aid of proper realization of the human form. An art school classroom will provide a life model, well-lit under studio lights, doing poses in spurts — 2 minutes, 10 minutes, one hour. Those outside of a classroom who are in search of reference material to draw from can scour the various conduits of the internet, finding something close to what was imagined, an image of a man or woman that could be a proper stand-in for what needs to be put on the canvas.

In a way to connect the classroom with the real world, Evil Tender offers the Figure Study Series, an ongoing series of commissioned photo sets done by skilled photographers along with models to create photographs with the purpose of being reference material for artists. Full body, hands, feet, shoulders, knees, and toes.

For the inaugural photo set, Tulsa, Oklahoma based photographer Samantha Smith turned in two wonderful figure studies with models Brittany Higgins and Amy Ariana. Smith has provided the two series in both color and black and white and each are available as high-resolution .jpegs.