As the photographs did not achieve the desired effects, Degas quickly returned to using sketching as an aid, allowing him to create lifelike paintings once again. Even the name given to the sketch Two Dancers Resting suggests the more casual positions they occupy. The dancers are no longer uncomfortably posing for a photograph as they were in Four Dancers and Dancers in Blue, but take up a relaxed, seated position. These life-like positions were achieved as a result of Degas’ extensive and perceptive studies. Jill DeVonyar and Richard Kendall, authors of Degas and the Dance write “his erudite and precisely inscribed studies of ballet steps, arm and hand movements and the role of mime have few historical rivals� (Kendall 177). Degas sketched dancers so many times that he was able to accurately alter their positions between sketches and the final paintings. 
In Two Dancers Resting, one dancer reaches over her body to tie her shoe while the other rests her head on her hand. Degas modeled the painting Two Dancers after this sketch, but he has altered their positions slightly, a task he could not have achieved through photography. Now the dancer on the left reaches over with both hands to tie her shoe and the dancer on the right stretches one arm over her head. Degas has mastered the contortions of the dancers bodies. Their backs are curved to the perfect degree that makes the dancers appear comfortable and natural. 
Degas reaches the peak of his lifelike portrayal of dancers’ postures in one of his final masterpieces, Dancers at the Barre. Here he depicts two dancers stretching. The dancer in front, on the right has one leg extended and raised to the height of the bar. She stretches over and touches her ankle. As in Two Dancers, her back is curved in a lifelike manner. This time, however, the posture is more complicated because the dancers are standing rather than sitting. Moreover, they are balancing on only one leg. This pose has the potential to show a great deal of instability, but Degas succeeds in demonstrating the dancers magnificent sense of poise. While photography did not help him achieve this feat, he could not have created such lifelike paintings without the use of sketches.