Art & Design Courses - Online & in London  

This advanced course will refine your existing jewellery making and design skills, through sessions in the workshop and guided independent study tasks. With an ethos of ‘idea to product,’ developing your personal research, design and making approach, there will be structured modules and projects encouraging you to build on your technical skills, presentation, and professional practice. We will explore material, finish and construction, alongside professional practice methodologies such as drawing, prototyping, outsourcing, pricing, and selling. The course culminates with working towards the production of a final body of work to be exhibited in public.

Curious about contemporary approaches to filmmaking?



Whether you have previously attended film or art related courses or simply have an interest in exploring a variety of experimental methods, this course will transform your practice.



With an emphasis on interdisciplinary fields including animation, performance, installation and sound, the course will examine multiple applications within expanded experimental film practice.



Through discussions, workshops, and personal projects, and by utilising a wide range of techniques, participants will gain the knowledge and practical skills necessary to create innovative and challenging artworks.



This course will be delivered online and in person. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Work independently on your own jewellery projects in our well equipped jewellery workshop. This is an opportunity for self-directed and untutored bench time, sharing the studio with the year long VV414 City Lit fine jewellery course.

This 20-week course will take you on a journey from beginner to intermediate, direct.







The Children’s Book industry is thriving, largely due to globally rising literacy levels, and a growing awareness of the importance of early childhood education. As a result, Children’s Book creators are in demand.







Our tutors will teach you the many and various skills you’ll need to illustrate books for children - from drawing and painting (analogue and digital), sequencing and pacing the narrative, to editing the images digitally and overlaying text.







You'll learn about the children’s publishing sector; gaining a sense of the different genres and markets for children's books, and where your illustration style might fit.

This advanced course for developing and practicing artists consists of work-based seminars facilitated by peers and artist-tutors, giving you the opportunity to develop and present your work for critical discourse. The course includes individual tutorials and mentoring, critical investigation via group crits, visits to galleries and artist-run organisations, collaborative work and discussion and debate. This course is one of the eligible programmes for application to Bloomberg New Contemporaries.



The course will be delivered onsite.











This course requires an application prior to enrolment. Please click 'start assessment' to begin your application.

Year 1 of the City Lit Fine Art course will enable you to refine and build upon your previous experience in Fine Art by exploring approaches to drawing, painting, sculpture, print, digital media and contextual studies, across a series of structured projects in studio and online sessions. As part of a small cohort of like-minded students you will be taught by experienced tutors who are also practicing artists in a range different media.



The course will enable you to develop an overview of media processes relevant to current art practice, introduce ideas and debate relevant to contemporary art, and help you identify your own personal creative responses. Group discussions and tutorials will support the development of your thinking and help you adopt an independent and open-minded approach to your own work. This course can be taken for personal creative development, to prepare you for application to undergraduate or postgraduate Fine Art courses, or to serve as an alternative to the conventional degree route.



Some basic materials will be provided, and you will need to supplement these with specific items; a list is provided in the CLFA course handbook. 10am – 12pm online Zoom sessions on alternate Mondays (15 in total)



10am – 5pm in City Lit studios. On alternate Tuesdays (16 in total)



6pm – 9pm in City Lit digital media suite. On 4 or 5 alternate Tuesday evenings per term (12 in total).



This course will be delivered online and in person. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

This course will help you improve your skills in graphic design and visual communications in their broadest sense, for delivery or publication in print and online, working with text, image, layout, medium and message across a range of physical and digital media and formats.



It is ideal for anyone who has already completed our City Lit graphics course, and for anyone wishing to build a more extensive and professional portfolio of graphics work, whilst developing a deeper understanding of the connection between text, image, message and media.



Confirmed industry specialist guests: Lydia Thornley, Designer, Creative Director and Reportage Illustrator and award winning film producer/director Mark Craig, maker of the film “The Last Man On The Moon”.

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.







Confirmed visitors/speakers include:



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



- Margaret Hope, art director, Welbeck Publishing Group



- Arabella Stein, Managing Director, Bright Agency.

The human form offers inexhaustible potential for communication and expression 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 in drawing, painting and mixed media.

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.