I prefer to do the least amount of testing I can because inevitably I don’t actually know what I’ll need until I actually go through it. But really that’s just a justification for not wanting to do it. Testing for test sakes is tedious at best. I will say that necessity changes my aptitude for it.
In the first set of shots I used a Christmas wise-man I found at the dollar store that, scale-wise, would have been about six inches taller than I was. It helped give me some references for lighting when it came time to shoot the full-sized self-shot. But the poor guy just can’t ever sit down. While the lighting was easier to capture because I could just set up a similar lighting situation. it did mean that it was tougher to figure out the right size when sitting.
I erred on making it larger. It makes the character cramped, the furniture normally associated with comfort, the bed, unmade, too small and uninviting.
But I’d rather have a better reference, if possible.
So I printed a couple of full-length shots of myself to the scale I needed and made this creepy little plasticine model more or less to scale that I could bend. It has armature wire in the middle of it, but when I bend or straighten her legs, it cracks and she needs some fixing. Over time she will get prodded and pulled out of shape. Already her legs are a little off and I have to lie her down on the prints to fix her. I keep her hidden so my kids don’t stick voodoo pins in her when they’re mad at me. (I don’t really, I said that for effect. But I should).
I have my eye on a model I think I can acquire from china that I think might survive a little longer than my plastercine girl. But alas, Christmas is coming, and it’s a long delivery time from Chine these days and so I must wait. In the meantime, I’ll use a combo of this and the wise-man.