Melissa Kime

I decided to apply to The Drawing Year because I wanted to learn how to look again. I already had a developed imaginative drawing style and felt that I needed to hone in my observational drawing skills, to allow my imaginative world to develop, feel more identifiable and to help make my autobiographical characters more realistic. 

The Drawing Year definitely helped me achieve these goals. It was refreshing to come to an art school and be taught real skills, which was something I had not experienced since my art foundation. I loved it! For me, some of the most useful parts of the course were the excellent tuition and our studio spaces in the Tea Building. The classes that helped me the most were Drawing the Body Clothed with Susan Wilson and Drawing the City by Night with Timothy Hyman. 

By Christmas in my first term, I felt that I was finally able to create narratives in my drawing while still allowing them to be observational at the same time. That was a big moment for me.

I won the Windsor and Newton Prize while I was at the School and the chance to exhibit my work at Windsor castle and Buckingham Palace. I gained lots of confidence from The Drawing Year, which helped me gain a place on the MA Painting course at the Royal College of Art. I was also selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2014.

I draw everyday. I can't stop! I met most of my best friends at the Royal Drawing School, and we still meet up together to draw all the time. Although I am studying painting now, my practice still revolves around drawing, and each painting I make starts with a drawing from my sketchbook.