City Lit Art School — Art Classes in London
Explore new and exciting subjects within a range of art and design disciplines, develop your skill set, get the support required to change career or launch yourself as a freelance artist or designer. All this and more delivered through our practical and engaging art and design courses at City Lit.
Our range of part-time, weekend and evening art and design classes are taught by successful artists and practitioners to ensure you get the skills, knowledge and experience you want and deserve. From experimental painting and drawing to contemporary jewellery making, there is sure to be a course for you. Study from 1 day to 2 years, whether you are a complete beginner or a practising artist preparing for an MA. Our courses are designed with you in mind, so you get to spend more time doing what you love.
Set a new goal, start your next creative adventure with City Lit and let us support you to realise your ambitions.
We host exhibitions throughout the year at City Lit Gallery where our students showcase their amazing work.
Any questions? Contact our visual arts team on visual.arts@citylit.ac.uk
- Developing watercolour painting
Course start date: Tue 4 Nov 2025 (and 10 other dates)Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Anne-Marie FosterExplore the specific qualities of watercolour and the opportunities this adaptable medium offers to create dynamic painting compositions. Develop a fluency with brush work and layering of colour to develop compositional possibilities.Full fee £299.00 Senior fee £239.00 Concession £194.00 - Drawing 2 Course start date: Mon 12 May 2025 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ute KreymanBuild your confidence in tackling more personal, complex drawings. Further explore observational drawing and visual language. Develop your drawing skills by working with different approaches and exploring a range of artists' drawing process.Full fee £429.00 Senior fee £343.00 Concession £279.00 - Drawing: colour pastel techniques Course start date: Mon 12 May 2025 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ro SylvesterExplore the versatility and rich colours of this beautiful drawing and painting medium. Through practical exercises, discover its potential to create a variety of surface effects and its suitability for sketching and outdoor colour work.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Ways into abstract painting Course start date: Tue 20 May 2025 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rebecca AllenEncounter 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 £369.00 Senior fee £295.00 Concession £240.00 - Sketching at the museum: British Museum Course start date: Tue 20 May 2025
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Diane MartinExplore the pleasure and challenge of sketchbooks; learn and improve your drawing skills and 'ways of seeing' and understanding, working from an exciting range of objects and artifacts in The British Museum.
Please note - meet at Montague Place entrance - the front entrance is now only for ticket holders.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £79.00 - Watercolour painting: mixed media techniques Course start date: Tue 20 May 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ruth BrisonWatercolour has a rich tradition - this course will explore the more experimental ways of using this pleasurable medium and will present new possibilities for producing exciting new work with mixed media. Make inventive combinations of media to draw from your own found imagery, photographs and sketches.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Textiles: experimental hand stitch Course start date: Tue 20 May 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Amarjeet NandhraA contemporary approach to hand stitching and embroidery exploring a variety of traditional stitches and techniques.
Create experimental and expressive samples using traditional and non-traditional materials.Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00 - Photography for beginners Course start date: Tue 3 Feb 2026 (and 17 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sara Leigh LewisAlways wondered what half the buttons on your camera actually do? Discover how to use them properly and produce impressive photographs, even as a complete beginner. Gain useful technical knowledge and get expert creative guidance in easy-to-understand language. An ideal first step before enrolling on our intermediate courses.Full fee £389.00 Senior fee £311.00 Concession £253.00 - Painting from plants and flowers Course start date: Tue 27 May 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Explore a variety of creative approaches for painting flowers from observation. Discover the rich history of this genre while taking inspiration from artists who use flowers as their subject matter.Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00 - Designing textiles online Course start date: Tue 27 May 2025
Location on this date: Online
This intermediate course will improve your Adobe Photoshop pattern tiling skills while learning new basic vector drawing skills in Adobe illustrator. We will improve on creating narratives for print design using multiple motifs and storytelling. Not suitable for beginners. You will need your own access the Adobe Creative Suite on your Mac or PC before class.Full fee £329.00 Senior fee £263.00 Concession £214.00 - Rush basketry Course start date: Wed 28 May 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John PageUsing traditional techniques you will make a variety of baskets with this native plant. There will be the opportunity to try experimental work with rush and other materials. All levels are welcome.Full fee £379.00 Senior fee £303.00 Concession £246.00 - London photography: River Thames Course start date: Tue 3 Jun 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Michael HardingExplore and discover London through photography walks around locations rich in photographic potential.
The walks revolve around photographing views along the River Thames, from the Aldwych area eastwards to the City, from London Bridge to the Southbank and from Westminster to the newly developed Nine Elms area. Bring your own camera and comfortable walking shoes as you capture places, spaces, objects and people.Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £139.00 Concession £139.00 - Collage and mixed media: experimental approaches Course start date: Tue 3 Jun 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ruth BrisonCollage is an exciting, accessible and creative medium. Experiment with a rich variety of materials and found images to make vibrant work experimenting with surface, form, colour and pattern, inspired by artists who make effective use of this way of working.Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00 - Contemporary watercolour painting projects Course start date: Tue 3 Jun 2025 (and 6 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Anne-Marie FosterThrough a set of short projects inspired by contemporary practitioners and their contribution to the uniqueness of the medium, the course will help you expand your understanding of watercolour and enable you to make informed choices in making personal work. It will also focus on exploring some watercolour approaches that can add variation and visual interest to your painting according to subject matter.Full fee £319.00 Senior fee £255.00 Concession £207.00 - Jewellery making: cold connectionsCourse start date: Tue 3 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Elizabeth BoneWould you like to learn how to combine / integrate materials and objects that are not metal into your jewellery making without the use of heat? This course offers you the opportunity to explore joining several different materials together using a variety of cold connection techniques such as rivets and tabs. Come and experiment with a number of techniques and adapt them to use with your own designs.Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
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