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.
- Drawing and painting from the imagination
Course start date: Thu 6 Nov 2025 (and 3 other dates)Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sisetta ZapponeCultivate a range of methods for stimulating and connecting to what inspires you, and develop ways to express your imagination freely using a variety of media and approaches. In person (City Lit studios) OR on-line; please check your selection before enrolling.
Full fee £299.00 Senior fee £239.00 Concession £194.00 - Collage and mixed media: book arts Course start date: Thu 15 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ruth FranklinAn exciting short experimental course working with found books and individual book constructions to explore and combine a variety of creative techniques. Including collage, drawing, painting, mono-printing and paper as interventions into the pages of a book to create unexpectedly beautiful or powerful new work.Full fee £339.00 Senior fee £271.00 Concession £220.00 - Introduction to pattern cutting II Course start date: Thu 15 Jan 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SelormeyLearn introductory skills and techniques of pattern cutting to understand how to draft your garment from a design. Expand your knowledge as you learn how drape, adapt blocks, manipulate patterns and understanding garment fitting and shape.
This course is suitable for learners with some pattern cutting knowledge.
For learners who have already completed this course, you can try a more advanced dress featuring detailing such as pleats, ruffles or gathering.Full fee £439.00 Senior fee £351.00 Concession £285.00 - Life drawing for beginners Course start date: Thu 15 Jan 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Henry Gibbons GuyThis short course is a great introduction to drawing directly from the nude model, both male and female. Using simple exercises, you will explore different ways to represent the human form in drawing, with encouraging, helpful guidance from an experienced tutor. Suitable for absolute beginners.
Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £142.00 - Drawing and painting portraits: traditional techniques Course start date: Thu 15 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
This structured course introduces traditional approaches to drawing then painting portraits from observation of the life model. Suitable for all levels but some previous drawing experience an advantage.Full fee £319.00 Senior fee £255.00 Concession £207.00 - City Lit contemporary collage projects 2 Course start date: Thu 15 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Jera MayCity Lit contemporary collage projects 1 initiates a year-long set of collage and mixed media projects designed to experiment with and examine the interplay between the two and three dimensions. You will work with a wide range of materials, on and off the wall, extending our pictorial practice into the realm of collage, painting, drawing, assemblage, bricolage, decoupage, photomontage, small scale constructions, printing and text within the context of mixed media.
Note* the course is designed in a way to enable students to either complete all three courses over the year or to come in at any stage in no particular order.Full fee £839.00 Senior fee £671.00 Concession £545.00 - Illustrating animals Course start date: Thu 15 Jan 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ciara FloodOn this course you will explore illustrating animals and their gestural qualities using a variety of different mediums.
Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - Beginners' bookbinding: bind a letterpress printed book Course start date: Fri 16 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Royston HawardExplore the exciting world of craft bookbinding in this comprehensive introduction to the letterpress book. Learn about the tools and techniques required to bind a book with unique hand decorated papers.Full fee £409.00 Senior fee £327.00 Concession £266.00 - Ways into abstract painting Course start date: Fri 16 Jan 2026 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Mario Lautier VellaEncounter different approaches to making abstract paintings while developing your skills in using a range of painting materials. With reference to the work of a variety of abstract artists explore the visual language common to both representation and abstraction, eg. colour, composition, tone and paint application.Full fee £389.00 Senior fee £311.00 Concession £253.00 - Cut, stab and etch: printmaking with linocuts Course start date: Fri 16 Jan 2026 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lisa CradduckCut, stab and etch your way to dynamic blocks and exciting prints. Practical instruction in both traditional and inventive linocut printmaking techniques, including the reduction method developed by Picasso, multiple block printing and Polish dot linocut.Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - Woodblock and lino printmaking workshopCourse start date: Fri 16 Jan 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Gareth BerwynLearn how to create multicolour or monochrome relief prints. You'll be encouraged to work from your own source imagery (sketches, magazine cuttings, photos etc) as an inspirational lead-in to producing relief prints to take home.Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - Textiles for beginners short course Course start date: Fri 7 Nov 2025 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Jenn ButterworthGet started with the basics of textiles by painting, printing and stitching fabric. Combine simple practical techniques with design work in colour, texture, pattern and composition.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Introduction to prop making for film, TV, theatre and display Course start date: Fri 16 Jan 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ro SylvesterDo you ever dream of conjuring up the props for Harry Potter, Doctor Who or West End musicals? Are you an animator who wants to make props for your animation film, or are you interested in a career in window display? You will explore techniques used by the professionals to produce effective props and sets. Get hands-on experience of sculpting, fabricating, casting, mould making and using paint effects. Learn about the demands of the industry from a specialist tutor, and have a go at translating your own ideas into 3D.Full fee £499.00 Senior fee £399.00 Concession £324.00 - Cyanotype printmaking in a day Course start date: Sun 7 Dec 2025 (and 5 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 - Introduction to sculpture Course start date: Sun 18 Jan 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Belinda Edwards, Andrew Revell, Ro Sylvester, Shelley WilsonThe ultimate introduction to sculpture at City Lit. In each class of this five-day hands-on course you will be introduced to a different sculptural technique and material, by a tutor who is a specialist in that area. This will provide you with a showcase of our sculpture facilities and teaching talent at City Lit. This course is perfect for beginners who want to try out a range of sculptural processes, perhaps to find your area of interest for further study.Full fee £409.00 Senior fee £327.00 Concession £266.00
Can't see a course you want?
Add this category to your waiting list to set up alerts and we will update you when new courses are released online.
Add me to waiting list