Mary Grace Cunningham

Before university, my artistic skills were limited. I wanted to produce realistic or fully expressive pieces of artwork, but didn’t have the skillset I needed to do so. More then anything, University has provided me with the time and means

to expand my knowledge and illustrative abilities, and the lecturers have given me encouragement to ‘do my own thing’ when it came to briefs.

Although it was only in the first year, the Life Drawing module was one of my favourites and is something that helped me a lot to develop the skills I wanted to improve. Faces and figures are what I have always enjoyed drawing and painting the most.

Something I had always struggled with was
digital art, whether it was Photoshop or Illustrator or something else. The Digital practice module in year 2 is what I appreciate the most out of this whole course. My most cherished accomplishment is my development in the digital art process.

Before University, I would say my ‘style’ ranged between black charcoal and black ink sketches, but now my style is expressive watercolour paintings and hyper-realistic digital portraits. I appreciate knowing what it feels like to have something I knew nothing about and to develop it into a skill I am proud of.