Beginners Art & Design Courses
Every great artist started here. Embark on your creative journey with art and design courses for beginners at the City Lit Art School. Whether you’re a complete beginner or looking to refresh your skills, our expert-led courses provide a supportive environment to help you unlock your creative potential.
Our courses cover a range of artistic techniques including drawing, painting, printmaking, and graphic design. Learn the fundamentals of creating art, from sketching to using colour, and discover how to bring your ideas to life through different mediums. Whether you’re interested in traditional methods or digital design, we offer a variety of options to suit your artistic preferences.
With hands-on learning, live sessions, and individual feedback from experienced tutors, you’ll gain the skills and confidence to express your creativity. You’ll also be part of a vibrant artistic community where you can share your work, get feedback, and be inspired by others.
Explore our range of beginners art and design courses today, available both online and in London, and take the first step towards developing your artistic skills.
- Pinhole photography
Course start date: Tue 14 Jul 2026Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Scott PerryLearn how pinhole photography works, try out different ways of making a camera. Discover exciting experimental ways of producing photographic images with the camera you’ve built.
Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00 - Screen printing in a day Course start date: Tue 14 Jul 2026 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rolina Elsje BlokIn this fun, 1-day workshop you will be taught how to print and register a two colour screenprint using monoprint, colour blends and pre-made photographic screens. You will be taught some basic screen making process and insight into making digital artwork. This will set you up for longer and more advanced screenprinting classes.Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £139.00 Concession £139.00 - Contemporary willow basketry Course start date: Wed 15 Jul 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Mollie McMillenExperiment with unconventional willow baskets and structures, within a traditional context.This course guides you through new textures and forms using a variety of techniques from Europe and beyond.Full fee £339.00 Senior fee £271.00 Concession £220.00 - Life drawing: focus on hands and feet Course start date: Wed 15 Jul 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Mario Lautier VellaThis short course is aimed at those with some previous life drawing experience who would like to meet the unique challenge of drawing hands and feet. Explore how to make sense of their complex structure and form and to draw these parts of the anatomy convincingly. You'll never leave hands and feet out of your life drawings again!Full fee £159.00 Senior fee £127.00 Concession £103.00 - DSLR for video: shoot and edit in 3 days Course start date: Wed 15 Jul 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: David KlineThink quality video production needs a whole film crew? Think again! Discover how you can easily shoot and edit professional-level video on your own digital SLR camera; get expert guidance on the whole process and find out why DSLRs have become the camera of choice for many broadcast professionals.Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - Cyanotype printmaking in a day Course start date: Fri 17 Jul 2026 (and 7 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Adam HogarthCyanotype is a photographic printing process which produces a beautiful deep blue print from a variety of artwork, including drawings, photographs, physical objects or combinations of all of these. All levels welcome.Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £139.00 Concession £139.00 - Photography studio lighting Course start date: Sat 18 Jul 2026 (and 4 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Michael HardingLearn how to use photographic studio lighting in this hands-on short course. An introduction to using studio flash and continuous lights to enhance your portrait and still life photography.
Full fee £209.00 Senior fee £167.00 Concession £136.00 - Try it out: jewellery making weekend Course start date: Sat 18 Jul 2026 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rae DuncanAimed at beginners or those wanting a refresher. Join this action packed weekend to make a pendant and silver ring. Implementing fundamental jewellery making techniques, you will gain the basic skills you need to make simple jewellery in metal.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £179.00 - Introduction to AutoCAD 2D Course start date: Sun 19 Jul 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Nicholas WilliamsonAutoCAD is an essential part of the work process for engineers, designers, architects and visualisers. This course will teach you to create 2D technical drawings on a Mac in one of the leading CAD design programmes.Full fee £379.00 Senior fee £303.00 Concession £246.00 - Sculpture workshop: developing personal ideas Course start date: Wed 23 Sep 2026 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Annie AttridgeRealise your personal project in 3D. Come with an idea and you will be supported through your making to a final piece. Learn how to structure your idea from inspiration to reality. Ideal for students with previous experience or students who may need extra workshop time and guidance to complete a project.
Full fee £499.00 Senior fee £399.00 Concession £324.00 - Drawing and mindfulness: morning meditation Course start date: Mon 20 Jul 2026 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Helen BurgessJoin us and set up your day in a tranquil, reflective way with our 5 day Drawing and mindfulness: morning meditation course. As daily life is full of uncertainty and with our attention getting pulled in many directions why not take some personal time to reset and focus combining meditation with some simple drawing exercises. You will be guiding your mind to settle and to look with care at the world around us and our inner experience. Whether you want to do something nourishing before you go to work or are setting up for a day of creative activity, the practices of drawing and mindfulness will bring a positive start to each morning, helping you begin the days with fresh eyes and mind. Suitable for all levels.Full fee £89.00 Senior fee £89.00 Concession £89.00 - Introduction to jewellery making Course start date: Mon 7 Sep 2026 (and 5 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Louise Seijen Ten HoornLearn and develop a range of essential jewellery making techniques and processes for creating metal jewellery. This course is designed for beginners who would like to gain fundamental skills like sawing, filing, sanding, drilling, texturing, forging and soldering. Explore these techniques in set projects and use them to design and make your own pieces.Full fee £399.00 Senior fee £319.00 Concession £259.00 - Flush setting for jewellery makers Course start date: Sat 25 Jul 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Louise Seijen Ten HoornFor intermediate jewellers. Learn how to set round brilliant cut/faceted stones in sheet metal and rings using the traditional flush setting technique. You will practice in copper, before moving on to work in silver. There will also be a chance to make your own flush setting tool.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00 - Bookbinding weekend: notebooks and folders Course start date: Sat 25 Jul 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Learn to make single sheet folded books, a simple multi-section sewn book and a folded slipcase. This weekend course is an opportunity to make an exciting range of notebooks and folders and learn some useful bookbinding techniques. Suitable for beginners.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00 - Drypoint and intaglio printmaking in a day Course start date: Sat 25 Jul 2026 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Margo Van RooyenDrypoint is a way of creating grooves in a solid surface, it produces a rich unique type of drawn line, from which you will make prints using intaglio inking methods, This workshop offers the opportunity to use specialist techniques and tools and gain insight into how these sit within the creative practice of artists using drypoint. For all levels, although some experience of drawing is preferable.Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £139.00 Concession £139.00
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