I paint and draw almost exclusively from life & I use myself as a model in a lot of my work-- I'm always available and I don't expect to get paid! I also feel the free-est to distort when I'm using myself since I know my ego won't be upset. In fact, even with all the time I spend staring at myself in the mirror, I'm much less likely to pull a " true" resemblance with myself than anyone else-- which makes sense I guess, since I only see myself in the mirror and most of my other subjects are close friends and family members who I see all the time.