The Free Reference Monday (FRM) project was a 20-week journey led by Vilidian, a Spanish model living in Mexico. Every Monday she’d email a photo reference to draw, and feature the artists’ works on her IG account when we drew it. We had a week to complete each one.
My weekends were consumed by pastel dust and long, intense drawing sessions. I skipped family movie nights and conquered the big sheets of paper with magical color combinations I discovered. My drawings got noticed. But more than that, I felt in it – exchanging WIPs with Vilidian, discussing which photos might come next, intrigued by how others interpreted the same pose.
Near the end, she had two contenders for the final image: one crouched on a wooden deck, the other stretched diagonally across a staircase. I loved the stairs – the photo was elegant, open, bold. But walking to our local coffee shop one afternoon, I just knew: “She’s not going to pick the stairs.”
And she didn’t. That one went to Patreon a few months later, after I’d already stepped away.
But something else happened. I had shared a drawing-in-progress in a story – to celebrate her birthday – and posted the finished version on mine. She noticed, asked if the timing was intentional. Then, as a gift, she offered to send me a reference. She gave me a choice between two photos she remembered I liked – I picked the stairs.
So this one didn’t close the FRM project for her. But it did happen to be my last drawing of her – an ending to a long and fruitful collaboration.
