Georgia Southern University students now have the opportunity to take their clothes off and get paid for it without getting stuck in the backseat of a patrol car.

The figure drawing class at GSU is currently looking for students to act as nude models to be drawn by fellow students taking the class. Figure drawing is an art class specifically focused on depicting the human body through drawing.

“The idea is that the nude form is a super complicated thing. We’re trying to get to a point where we can accurately render the true human form. The models aren’t nude for sex appeal, they’re nude because that is a human’s most natural state,” Jessica Burke, assistant professor and director of foundation studies at GSU, said.

The modeling consists of a few sessions during the semester, with each class being 2.5 hours; all models are paid hourly and based on the university pay system. There are no requirements or prior experience necessary to model for the class.

The class uses models from professional organizations in Savannah, members of the Statesboro community and GSU students.

“Our main objective is to really understand how the human form moves and breathes,” Amy Fix, assistant professor at the arts department and instructor of figure drawing, said.

“We focus on anatomy, specifically the skeletal and muscular structures to try to capture the figure’s movements and find why it moves the way it does,” Fix said.

The nude models provide the students with experience of recreating an image in front of them that isn’t a still shot.

“We were so focused on getting our work done there was no time to be embarrassed in front of a naked person,” Victoria Slagle, senior studio art major and former figure drawing student, said.

“Learning from the inside-out about the body and how to draw it is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done,” Slagle said.

“You can’t learn to draw a human with clothes on before learning how to draw a human without clothes,” Burke said.

The Art Department’s figure drawing professors are looking for models of any age, any shape, any color and any gender.

“We try to cover all body types, all shapes and sizes for our models. There’s no one type of model,” Fix said.

Fix said all of the modeling in the class is done for the benefit of the students’ education and further education of art and drawing.