Drawing Courses in London
At City Lit, we have a variety of drawing courses, delivered in our bright, modern studios for students to create and develop a body of drawing work. Supported by our team of experienced and expert tutors, we offer students both a practical guide and an informative insight, providing an opportunity for all levels to explore traditional and contemporary styles of drawing.
We have classes for everyone, whether you’re a complete beginner and you want an introduction to drawing; or you’re at an intermediate or higher level and you want classes that focus on developing advanced drawing skills such as mark making techniques, experimental approaches and use of colour, tone and shade within these disciplines.
Our courses are specially designed to offer you support in overcoming any frustrations, learning new skills and helping you achieve your personal creative goals.
We host exhibitions throughout the year at City Lit Gallery where our students showcase their amazing work.
To arrange a conversation with our drawing coordinator about your interests, options and courses available, please contact our Visual Arts team at visualarts@citylit.ac.uk
- Improve your speaking voice: tasterCourse start date: Thu 29 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Giles AbbottA taster class to introduce you to how you can improve the quality of your voice and standard of speech through relaxation, breath technique and articulation. This taster class will take place in one of our studios.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £19.00 - Writing funny fiction
Course start date: Thu 5 Feb 2026Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rene PerezWhat does it really mean to write funny fiction and what are the techniques writers use? Learn how to harness the power of humour in your fiction in this fun, supportive workshop.Full fee £89.00 Senior fee £89.00 Concession £45.00 - Embodied voice course for people who (consistently or sometimes) speak too fastCourse start date: Thu 5 Feb 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Vivien Grant-JonesThis course will most benefit students who experience cluttering. Some features of cluttering are:
• Speaking quickly, often with rapid bursts of speech
• Some words being unclear or mis-pronounced
• Difficulties in explaining and conveying sequences of information
• Difficulties in being understood by the listener
Cluttering can be present as the only communication challenge or alongside stammering, dyslexia and/or ADHD (formal diagnosis is not required).
This course will provide you with skills to become more aware and knowledgeable of your voice and speech. The course will also explore ways to develop effective listening and communication strategies.Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £20.00 - Autobiography into fiction Course start date: Thu 26 Feb 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Nick BarlayThis 6-week course will help you develop techniques for transforming personal experience into fiction. You'll have the opportunity to improve your writing skills as well as your ability to give and use constructive criticism in a workshop environment.Full fee £159.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £80.00 - Drawing and mindfulness: the imaginationCourse start date: Thu 5 Mar 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Clare Barton-HarveyDiscover the enriching relationship of mindfulness and the imagination, whilst exploring a range of methods for stimulating and connecting to what inspires you. This course offers an introduction to mindful drawing, as well as a context to explore it more deeply through the imagination.
Full fee £209.00 Senior fee £167.00 Concession £136.00 - Illustrating narrativesCourse start date: Thu 5 Mar 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ciara FloodOn this course you will explore practical methods of storyboarding and the ability to take a narrative and translate it into a sequence of images. This skill is essential for children’s book illustrators, graphic novelists, animators and film makers.
Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - English for deaf people: Reading for pleasure (entry 1) - part 3Course start date: Thu 16 Apr 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
The aim of this course is to develop your reading skills in a friendly and supportive environment. During this course you will read various book stories chosen by the tutor. You will also be discussing your reading materials in BSL, learning new vocabulary and exploring the structure of English. This course has no exams.
This course is free for learners who have not achieved a GCSE grade C (4) and higher in English. For more information Click here
Full fee £0.00 - Lipreading and managing hearing loss: improvers module 3Course start date: Mon 20 Apr 2026 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Nicola HicksDevelop your lipreading skills and strategies for face-to-face communication and keep up-to-date with relevant equipment and services. This course is suitable if you have completed improvers module 1 and 2.
This course will be taught in spoken English and not in sign language.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £110.00 Concession £85.00 - City Lit contemporary collage projects 3 Course start date: Thu 23 Apr 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
City 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 - Journal inspiration: creative approaches to writing about your life Course start date: Thu 23 Apr 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Julie GartonThis inspiring, six-week workshop, led by an experienced journaler, encourages students to explore a range of techniques and prompts in order to find an approach to life writing that suits them. - Bookbinding: 10 projects for beginners Course start date: Thu 23 Apr 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Kate RochesterAn exciting range of graded projects to introduce you to bookbinding. Come armed with enthusiasm and walk away with a stack of small books and a heap of information on materials, tools and techniques. - Layout and grid designCourse start date: Thu 23 Apr 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John SmythLearn the skills required to create your own publication in this layout and grid design course. This course will teach you the design principles for layout design, exploring magazine layout and other publication design and empowering you to innovate and create your own publication.
Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - ACT for people who stammer Course start date: Thu 30 Apr 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Carolyn Cheasman, Rachel EverardThis is a powerful approach to therapy. You'll learn to work more effectively with negative thoughts and feelings through acceptance and mindfulness work. You'll also learn how to identify, and move towards, valued goals and directions in your life.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £90.00 Concession £26.00 - Bookbinding: simple leather bindingCourse start date: Thu 30 Apr 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ina BaumeisterDiscover how leather, combined with simple sewing and cutting techniques can create a wonderfully flexible and stylish bindings. Create books with folded and crossed structure covers, and include some decorative elements to personalise your work.Full fee £309.00 Senior fee £247.00 Concession £201.00 - London photography: bridges in the city Course start date: Thu 30 Apr 2026
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Michael HardingExplore london and capture the beauty of the capitals bridges that span the Thames. This off-site photographic course will have you down to the river with your camera, exploring the diverse architectural designs and structures of bridges on the Thames that connect London. Learn about their history whilst learning the secrets to successful architectural and location photography.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £129.00
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