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School of Visual Arts

Centre for Advanced Practice

City Lit’s Centre for Advanced Practice is where you can find advanced courses from across all subject areas in Visual Arts. In many cases, this means well established courses of a year or longer, with outstanding reputations for preparing students for study at Bachelors or Masters level. Equally, their quality and depth makes them a viable alternative, for many learners, to the conventional Higher Education route into careers as creative practitioners.

To continue to support learners from a range of backgrounds, with diverse requirements, we have several newly developed courses – with more appearing soon – that build on our long-standing fine art and contemporary craft provision, and bring traditional practices up to date, to ensure learners have the relevant skills for the contemporary creative industries. This is supported through increasing connections with external organisations and practitioners in many courses, for example through real-world project briefs, public exhibitions, and visits from industry professionals.

In the last couple of years, we have introduced new titles in contemporary media and communications-based creative practices, and new courses running across a range of patterns and modes (weekly, monthly, studio-based, online or blended), to ensure that our advanced provision remains accessible and manageable alongside learners’ existing commitments. Alongside these developments, we are progressively refreshing many of our well-established courses, with an increased emphasis on critical discourse, and contemporary cultural debate, in keeping with the advanced level of study and focus on increased confidence, independence and professionalism that are the common characteristics of all our advanced courses.

In addition to our expanding range of advanced long courses, a growing range of advanced one-day workshops is available, aimed at providing knowledge and insight required to support specific aspects of professional practice. These can be taken individually, according to need or interest, or as complementary components of your own pick-and-mix modular course. In common with our long courses, these will provide you with the skills, knowledge and confidence you need to take your advanced creative practice forward.

We host exhibitions throughout the year at City Lit Gallery where our students showcase their amazing work.

Courses available both in-person and online

Join us in the heart of London for in-person classes. Our modern campus in Covent Garden is easy to reach and buzzing with creativity. With modern purpose-built facilities and state-of-the-art equipment, it’s the perfect space to support your learning journey. Explore our facilities >

Prefer learning online? Our live online courses bring expert teaching to you, wherever you are.

Whether you choose to study in-person or online, all our courses are live, interactive, and taught by expert tutors. Wherever and however you want to learn, we’re here for you.

Courses available both in-person and online

We offer a range of long and short courses allowing you to choose between in-person and online learning.

Learn in the centre of London with our in-person courses. Our purpose-built facilities in Covent Garden mean we are ideally located and easy to get to. 

See our guide to online learning for more information about accessing our live online courses.

All our courses are live, interactive, and taught by expert tutors. No matter how you prefer to learn, we've got the class for you.

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  1. Advanced children's book illustration: professional practice
    Course start date:  Tue 7 Oct 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Tim Ellis, Zehra Hicks, Dee Shulman
    Interested in a career in Children’s Book Illustration, or advancing your practice to the next level? With the guidance and support of your tutors, you will have the opportunity to engage with experienced industry professionals, and develop your practice and personal visual vocabulary to a professional standard.







    Visitors on previous years have included:



    - Davinia Andrew-Lynch, Curtis Browne Agency



    - Helen Chapman, Art director Penguin Random House, Bloomsbury, Little Tiger Press, DK & Penguin



    - Rebecca Garrill Art Director Andersen Press



    - Margaret Hope, art director MacMillan Books



    - Anne McNeill, Editorial director Random House and Penguin books



    - Rachel Petty, former editorial director Macmillan Children's Books, currently author/illustrator agent at the Blair Partnership



    - Arabella Stein, Managing Director, Bright Agency



    - Millie Van Grutten RCW Literary Agency.
    Full fee £2,849.00 Senior fee £2,279.00 Concession £1,994.00
    Rating:
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  2. Extended drawing for artists and makers
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 8 Oct 2025 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Annie Attridge, Clare Barton-Harvey, Ruth Brison, Tony Hull, Claire Hynds, Monika Kita, Ute Kreyman, Mario Lautier Vella, Faith Vincent
    A multi-disciplinary course that will help broaden your skills and experience. Record, imagine, visualise, transform,



    narrate and develop through a series of practical projects. This exciting course is designed to help you place drawing at the centre of your chosen artistic discipline.



    This course requires a pre-enrolment application. Please click 'Start Assessment' on the right-hand side of this page to start your application.
    Full fee £1,649.00 Senior fee £1,319.00 Concession £1,154.00
    Rating:
    93% of 100
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  3. Advanced printmaking: practice and discourse
    Course start date:  Wed 8 Oct 2025

    Location on this date:  Blended (learn both online and in-person)

    Tutors:  Claire Hynds
    This year-long advanced course is aimed at artist-printmakers who wish to develop a sustainable personal practice through the medium of print. With the support of expert tutors, you will be guided through experimental, practice-based research and developmental tasks that challenge your preconceptions of print media including etching, screen-printing, lithography and relief. You will eventually focus on a longer project that encourage both a personal enquiry and the development of an individual methodology. The course involves theoretical, contextual and practical components.
    Full fee £2,099.00 Senior fee £1,679.00 Concession £1,469.00
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  4. Advanced printmaking: personal project development
    Evening
    Course start date:  Thu 9 Oct 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Rolina Elsje Blok
    Unlock your creative potential in the Advanced Printmaking Personal Project Development course! This engaging programme invites you to extend your printmaking practice while developing a substantial personal project. Over the length of the course you will explore advanced printmaking techniques, refine your artistic voice, and produce a body of finished work.
    Full fee £2,099.00 Senior fee £1,679.00 Concession £1,469.00
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  5. Advanced figure and portrait
    Course start date:  Fri 10 Oct 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Paul Dixon, Desmond Haughton, Amy-Rose Holland, Brian Sayers, Benjamin Senior, Andrea Voisey
    Representation of the human form offers inexhaustible potential for expression and for the communication of ideas. This is an exciting advanced course for those with experience of working with the figure and/or portrait who would like the challenge of exploring new perspectives on the figurative tradition through drawing, painting and and a range of contemporary and mixed media.
    Full fee £2,899.00 Senior fee £2,319.00 Concession £2,029.00
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  6. City Lit fine art: year 3
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 11 Oct 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Steven Scott
    Year 3 (VM553) is the culmination of the CLFA course and combines practical studio sessions with a professional and externally focussed remit designed to enable you to further refine your creative work and enhance your professional capabilities in the development of an independent artistic practice. The course encourages students to find and pursue external opportunities relevant to their practice such as organising an exhibition or collaborating with external organisations.



    Building upon and consolidating the learnings gained in year 1 and 2 of CLFA, or on your experience of practicing and studying to an equivalent level, you will pursue an individual, self-motivated route through year 3. This will be based upon an existing portfolio, defined intentions, and ongoing creative projects. The Year 3 course is designed to support individual development of new artwork that extends an existing creative practice. It will also allow you to enhance this with an understanding of professional activities that might include the process of making funding applications, finding exhibition opportunities, or developing external relationships. You will be able to engage with practicing artist/tutors in group critiques, one-to-one tutorials, seminars, and self-motivated studio production sessions in which you can explore and refine your skills and creative ideas. There will be engagement with ideas and contexts, and professional practice-based sessions that support the development of your creative work so that it can be sustained beyond the duration of the course.







    Note: this course runs on Saturday daytimes fortnightly, and occasional Sundays.
    Full fee £1,749.00 Senior fee £1,399.00 Concession £1,224.00
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  7. Full fee £449.00 Senior fee £359.00 Concession £314.00
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  8. Art in theory: What is creativity?
    Evening
    Course start date:  Thu 30 Oct 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    This critical studies course for developing artists and makers explores the concept of creativity and what it means to be an artist, drawing on a range of cultural theories and work by creative practitioners to help inspire and enhance creative and critical thinking.
    Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £139.00
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  9. Art and Ideas: Identity and the self
    Evening
    Course start date:  Thu 8 Jan 2026

    Location on this date:  Online

    This course is for students and creative practitioners interested in identity as a creative and conceptual theme. Explore and discuss ideas, theories and work by significant artists and writers to enhance and inspire the development of creative work.
    Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £139.00
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  10. Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £139.00
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  11. Full fee £449.00 Senior fee £359.00 Concession £314.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
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