FAQs Online Drawing Development Year

Our online courses are taught live over Zoom and replicate a studio environment as far as possible. Tutors interact with groups of students and one-to-one with maximum class sizes of 20. We also use Padlet, a platform on which students can access resources and share their work. Daytime courses run from 10am–5pm GMT/UTC and evening courses run from 6pm–9pm GMT/UTC. These classes are available to book on to individually if you would like to try online learning before committing to a full year.

Yes, the fee for the year is £3980 and is paid in three instalments. A limited number of bursaries are available, to qualify applicants must be a recipient of either disability support, jobseekers allowance or an equivalent Universal Credit claimant and some extenuating circumstances will be considered on a case-by-case basis. These can be applied for once a place has been offered.

If you have further questions relating to the course or application process please don't hesitate to contact us at onlinedrawingdevelopment@royaldrawingschool.org.

We require you to complete an online application form through SlideRoom, which requires you to create an account. SlideRoom will guide you through each section of the application and will save your progress as you go. 

Applications comprise the following: 

• Application form and fee 
• A 500-word statement (max. 3000 characters) detailing your current practice and why you believe the Online Drawing Development Year is right for you. 
• A digital portfolio of 20 media files, including: 
  • 10 drawings - in dry media, ink or watercolour
  • 10 additional artworks - these can be in any media you choose

Your digital portfolio: 

• Images must be JPEG or PNG files, no larger than 5MB per image 
• Video files must be a maximum of 2-minutes and 250MB 
• Ensure all images are of good quality. Works should be created within the last three years
• The application portal will prompt media is labelled with the following:
  •  Title 
  • Medium 
  • Year 
  • Dimensions and/or duration 
  • A stated category; 'drawing' or 'additional work' 

Please note: dimensions should be listed in centimetres (cm). Medium descriptions should be concise and consist of main material and surface only. 

Yes, the course is designed for arts graduates, people in the creative industries, or anyone who has a developing studio practice and feels they would benefit from a year of intensive drawing tuition and mentoring. This is not a course for anyone new to drawing.

Yes, the benefit of the course being delivered online is that anyone from across the UK and around the world can now access courses at the School without needing a visa to study, and from anywhere with an internet connection. Please note that courses are taught live and are not available as video recordings post-class, so students will need to take into consideration the difference in time-zone from the UK (GMT/UTC) and their own location. Courses are also taught in English and so an intermediate level of English is recommended.

Yes. The application fee is $20USD which is approximately £15.

Applications are submitted through SlideRoom, an application and portfolio management system. 

To submit your application through SlideRoom, you must create an account. You will then be guided through each section of the application. Application progress will be saved automatically. 

If you require technical assistance with your online application, please visit SlideRoom's searchable support pages or contact support@slideroom.com 

For enquiries related to the Online Drawing Development Year course and application content, contact onlinedrawingdevelopment@royaldrawingschool.org 

After the application deadline, a panel of practising artists will review applications based on your statement and digital portfolio.

There is no interview or sketchbook submission required.  

Successful applicants will be notified within one-month of the application deadline. 

The Online Drawing Development Year aims to provide access to drawing tuition whilst eliminating barriers that exist with in-person-taught programmes, allowing for an accessible learning experience.

This empowers students to curate the course around their personal needs, including those who live outside London or abroad, and those with specific access needs, such as caring responsibilities, work and financial commitments, accessibility needs, or ongoing health concerns. 

In your application you will have the opportunity to provide information through the Socio-Economic Background Monitoring Form and the Diversity Monitoring Form. 

You can select “Prefer not to say” if you would rather not answer a question. 

Both forms: 

• Will be separated from your application form.
• Will not be seen by the selection panel.
• Will be kept anonymous and confidential. 

For more specific information on their importance and why we are collecting both monitoring forms, please review our Equality & Diversity Monitoring for Online Drawing Development Year admissions policy. 

After the application deadline, you can expect to hear from us within one month. 

This is a highly structured course with tuition at postgraduate level but it is not accredited. This allows us flexibility in how the course is programmed and with the course content.

Yes. All online classes (with the exception of the core programme classes) are open to the public, who pay to attend courses by term, with a large number of concessions available. The current class schedule is always available to view on the Short Courses page of our website. If you need help deciding which classes would benefit you, we would be happy to advise you.