I want to be a model where do I start?
How to be a model in 2024? indeed. Is this a question that can be easily answered in a brief article being read on the Internet? Perhaps not, but we can certainly shed some light on the situation. Many people are not concerned or wondering about how to be a model?, but rather they are concerned about how to be a model who is being paid for their work to the extent that they can cover their living expenses and say that they are making a living as a model. Here we will cover brief information about “I want to be a model where do I start”.
What is Modeling?
The challenge for those seeking a career in modeling is oftentimes a mental battle that stems from the desire to maintain your individuality while constantly being faced with people and situations that seem to be telling you that to be successful in modeling you have to fit a certain type, a certain look, or image.
On the surface, looking at people who have become successful in modeling may even further discourage some people, as it may seem true that only tall, skinny, flat-figured women with the same bland facial features are the ones who make it big. Men may be discouraged by similar traditional aspects of modeling if they are not the buff, hunky beau, or the fair-skinned waif type.
If one takes a step back, however, and looks at modeling as a whole over the last ten to fifteen years, you can see that many different looks and types have begun to be more commonplace and prevalent. Even though one still can see those stereotypical model types in the world of modeling, it is pointless to worry about trying to assimilate when you have your unique look, and there are so many fun and fulfilling modeling jobs where they are not even seeking those traditional high-fashion runway modeling types we usually associate with the fashion industry.
If you’re into modeling, it’s up to you to get yourself out there and realize that there are many ways to work in your chosen profession. There are magazines of all different genres, catalogs of all different products, commercials, and music videos, all of which are searching for many different looks aimed at different demographics. You can also expand your work search be getting yourself on an Internet service that will allow your portfolio to be reviewed by potential employers. Don’t let modeling be intimidating or a mystery.
Model Talent:
- What does it take to be a model with talent? Are you born with it? Can it be taught? If it can be taught, can it be learned if you weren’t already born with just a little bit? Is there even such a thing? Can we say that we can define specifically just what exactly model talent is? Don’t you just have to be pretty or handsome, and have some kind of striking, exotic, or marketable look? Look good in clothes? Is this talent or just good luck that nature gave you these gifts?
- Let’s say that no model has any talent, let’s say that it’s all about just good looks and who you know when it comes down to it, and not even good looks in many cases, just having the physical framework of a body that allows clothes to be nicely draped on it. This point of view doesn’t allow for the possibility that some people do have a special talent that makes them better models. They know how to carry themselves, they have a certain flair with the way they dress even in their clothes, and they have natural model talent.
- Even though it is not guaranteed that anyone will ever be hired as a model no matter how much talent they have, there are some things you can keep in mind to give you a little push in the right direction. Don’t be a conformist. Avoid trying to emulate another model’s look to the point that you are beginning to look like a carbon copy of someone else. Don’t bury your natural facial features in make-up, let them see what you look like. Don’t dye your hair blond like practically every other aspiring model and actress. As a model, your talent is very much your ability to present yourself as what you truly are, so the photographer, designer, or director can see what they have to work with.
Kids Modeling:
- Is there any doubt in your mind that you can learn how to be a model that is successful and walking a path towards financial stability? Put it out of your mind. Your job is to seek out as much information as possible about who is looking for a model like you and where you need to go to audition for the position. How to be a detective of this sort? Searching out opportunities to work and be seen? It’s easier than you may think.
- Kid modeling is a great chance for a youngster to learn a profession at a young age and earn money for the future, which hopefully their parents won’t squander on vacation homes and expensive cars. If modeling is something you are interested in getting your kid into, or you are a kid who wants to get into it, these days it is easier than ever to break into the business. It is still a very competitive profession, but access to information on auditions is now more readily available, and since the communications and entertainment industry have expanded so much in the last two decades, there are more opportunities to work than ever before.
- In the old days, if a kid were to try and get into modeling, they would have to get an agent or be limited to seeking public announcements for open calls being published in magazines or newspapers. The technology available to the average person today, and even more so to a kid born in the last fifteen years, allows one to search online for such information, and even place your modeling portfolio profile on the Internet, like a net in an ocean of modeling jobs, fishing for matching postings looking for you’re your type.
- If you want to get your kid into modeling, first have a good talk with them about the great possibilities and the harsh realities of the business. A kid may not be mentally prepared for either rejection or success. Either one could go to their head in a bad way. Many a kid who has gotten into modeling loses their way later on in life even if they are successful, because they find that the real world is not the same as the world of the modeling industry they have become accustomed to.
Model Agencies:
- There are hundreds of model agencies in the country, and one of them or many of them could be right for you. This does not necessarily mean that you need one, or that the ones that aren’t good for you may not be good for someone else. Model agencies are in business to provide people in the industry with a source of modeling talent that they can count on and call on when they have the need.
- Model agencies look for and gather together in one place a pool of models that can be sent out on jobs and auditions so that the photographer, designer, director, or whoever it is doesn’t have to do this leg work themselves. Today the need for model agencies is not as great because the people seeking model talent are getting hip to the fact that they can go online and browse model portfolios, bypassing the agencies and connecting directly with the model or models they are looking for.
- Model agencies need to get hip if they want to keep up with the growing trend towards Internet talent search companies that allow a model to market themselves and a person seeking models to contact them directly. In the not-too-distant future, there will be fewer model agencies and many more services that provide talent with the freedom to create portfolios online and get themselves out there for many potential employers in various markets to hire them.
Model Audition:
- Running a model audition is the greatest job in the world. What other job involves beautiful women filling the room, each one hoping to be picked, and you must decide which ones get the job? Who knew you could get paid for this? Surprisingly, model auditions don’t turn up in surveys of American males as the most desired occupation.
- Of course, it’s not always men who are in charge of the audition, and not always women who are hoping to be chosen to model. Many times the models at the audition are men or children, but most people think of a statuesque, glamorous woman in a Versace swim dress strolling down a secluded beach with her hair blowing in the wind when they hear the word “model”, and that’s OK, as long as we understand that this is not truly the reality of the situation.
- A model audition has many forms. Infants, toddlers, grown men, elderly folks, hand models, and eye models, all audition for different projects and productions. From print media to TV shows, today’s model has no one particular look or definition. Imagine a long line of overweight, unshaven forty-year-olds all waiting to audition for that one gig that could catapult them into being a working model…
Model Jobs:
- Model jobs are plentiful and they are fun to do, so why not get involved? You don’t have to be Naomi Campbell or Fabio to do it either. These days, the world is getting to be a very different place, and those in the fashion industry and those in marketing who are the ones who provide jobs for a model are aware that if they want people to be able to relate to their product and envision themselves using it, they have to be able to relate to the model they see in the advertisement or commercial.
- This doesn’t necessarily mean that model jobs are just going to fall in your lap the moment you head out there and start looking for them, but it does mean that no matter what your look is, you do have a chance, and there are more opportunities than ever to get into the business because the process of selecting a model for specific jobs has become more sophisticated along with improvements in the sophistication of communications technology.
- What does all this mean to you? If you’ve been, or are planning to start looking for model jobs, certain factors are on your side. You can now use the Internet to get your image out there and allow people to contact you through the company providing the service when they want to use you. You can now access information about model jobs on the web, which means you have a chance to submit yourself to many potential jobs that you may never have even heard about just a few years ago.
Model Open Calls:
- Model open calls can be a harrowing experience. Imagine a huge room filled with hopeful models, each one hoping to be the one model that blows everyone away, or at least one of the ten or so that may be hired. If it’s one of the many open calls for a female model, there may be powder rising into the air, the flash of light off of multiple lipsticks, the blur of many mascara brushes painting on that extra centimeter of eyelash at the same time, how are you supposed to maintain your sanity?
- If it is one of those model open calls for a male model, you might hear vague grunts and air being snorted out of nostrils as they size each other up, or perhaps the chatter of gossip as a small group titter about that one model who doesn’t seem to know how to match his shirt with his shoes to make a good impression at open calls, a strong whiff of hair gel and aftershave, but what about getting hired? Who will stand out at model open calls?
- They may be for youngsters, teens, or adult age people to model sportswear, or women to model high fashion designer dresses, but whatever the case, open calls are a great chance for a model to be discovered from amongst a group of sometimes hundreds of their peers when Designers, Marketing execs or Photographers are looking for new talent. Even model open calls for music videos or commercials can set off your career, so don’t try to fit in, stand out and let your unique qualities speak for themselves.
Model Casting:
- Model casting is sometimes done over dinner, over lunch, sometimes over drinks, sometimes over things we won’t discuss here, sometimes through an agency, sometimes by filling a room with hundreds of models hoping to be the one. The one thing that you can count on is that if you are a model and you hope to be a part of this casting process, you have to get yourself and your image out there so that people can have a chance to choose you.
- Many times we may set out to accomplish a goal and just not think of obvious things. Some people think that if they’re models they have to go out all the time and go clubbing on Sunset Boulevard if they want to get noticed by some casting director or famous photographer, but remember, there are people who have been discovered by sending a sample photo to an FHM amateur model contest. They didn’t even have to go to a casting call.
- This is a reminder to be aware that there are many and various ways to get noticed and get model work. Read those industry magazines, do research on known photographers and designers, know where they are and what they do, and seek out information about contests and places where they are casting regularly. Pick a famous model and read up on how they looked for casting opportunities. Your next opportunity could come from somewhere you might not expect.
Model Search:
- This is a model search and you’re on the site of someone who can make or break your career. This is how you have to look at it. If you see announcements for a model search, of course, be wary, don’t pay for your chance to be seen, but don’t just write it off as kid’s stuff either. Sometimes a model search can be a great opportunity and a person can be chosen out of hundreds of hopefuls for a national commercial.
- If there was ever a time when it was possible to benefit from seeking out or participating in a model search, it is now. This is because the market is so saturated that many people whose job it is to search for new model talent have tired of using modeling agencies and the like. After all, they tend to produce the same kind of model time after time. A model search is a way to flush out that new model who may never have been discovered because they couldn’t afford to get an agent or didn’t fit into a category that the agency prefers.
- If you want to be able to benefit from two kinds of model search, get yourself onto the Internet with a service that puts your portfolio up for people who are on a model search to see and also will advise you when there is a model search going on in your area that wants your look or type.
There are obvious tips on how to be a model, like keep yourself healthy, make sure to work on staying positive and don’t let your self-esteem be damaged by being rejected at auditions, cultivate a unique, creative, and tasteful look for yourself that will be appealing to people who are in a position to hire you, but there is less obvious how to be a model advice. By putting your profile online for professionals in the fashion industry to review, you will increase your potential pool of work, and therefore your chances of making a living, and lessening your need to worry about how to be a working model.