I'm a male artist living in Canada, and I'm 20 years old. I have a friend who is 16 who has offered to be a figure model for me (I didn't ask her to be) as I've been trying to develop my skills drawing the human figure. Is it legal for her to model nude?

If it happened, it would be in the privacy of her own home, and I would never publicize the drawings or show them to anyone. Nobody would see her nude except her and I.

Does parental consent play into it? It's possible that her mother would give us permission, as her mother knows me fairly well.

To me it seems like a grey area, where it's not necessarily illegal for a 16-year-old to expose herself to a 20-year-old (as she is past the age of consent and thus it's even legal for a sexual relationship to occur between persons of our respective ages), but it is illegal for pictures/videos to be taken of a nude 16-year-old. Are drawings any different than photos? The context would be non-sexual, as figure drawing is purely for artistic and educational purposes.

We are also both about to have our birthdays within the next few months, so I will be 21 and she will be 17 soon.

Thanks for any insight.

She isn't past the age of consent in Canada she is just at that age at 16. I would have to question her wanting to pose nude at 16. Why does she want to do this and does she realize the implications of doing so? She will be alone with you, or she will have a parent in the room while you draw her, and will this be just one sitting, or will there be several? I don't think there is anything in the canadian criminal code that forbids this, and it is a gray area. At the same time you must have safeguards in place to protect yourself, and an unbiased person present to do this. Almost same as a nurse being present when a doctor is giving a woman a physical examination.

I would also agree it's a gray area. In general nude pictures, especially designed as artwork, are not illegal. The illegality comes into play when there is a sex act involved.

I would play it safe and get her and her parent's written permission or even invite the parent to sit in on the session. As long as any pictures are not made public then I can't see any criminal prosecution. Even if they are made public as part of an art exhibition, I still see no criminal prosecution.

I would also suggest the girl and her parents get a non-disclosure statement from you. Just to play it safe that copies of your artwork are not used in an innappropriate manner.

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Originally Posted by tickle

I would also suggest the girl and her parents get a non-disclosure statement from you. Just to play it safe that copies of your artwork are not used in an innappropriate manner.

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That's also a good idea.By offering that, you may allay any fears they have.