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
- Artists eye: painting impressionism, surrealism, fauvism and pointillism
Course start date: Mon 12 May 2025Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Kate HardyArtist’s Eye: Painting Art movements. Post Impressionism, Surrealism, Fauvism, and Pointillism.
Develop your painting skillswith reference to contemporary and historical artists in this four week course. We will make paintings inspired by artists who were key members of art movements, be guided by their choices of subject matter, and learn their methods of paint application, colour mixing and composition. Acrylic paint can be used for all projects. This short course can be taken alone or in conjunction with the other modules.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £169.00 - Try it out: garden design Course start date: Tue 13 May 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Alison WorsterGet a taste of how you can improve your outside spaces. You will complete a short exercise and experience our design studio. This course links directs to ‘Roof terrace and balcony design and planting’, code VF345.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £59.00 Concession £59.00 - Illustration techniques Course start date: Thu 22 May 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Rod JudkinsDeveloping illustration techniques builds on from the introduction to illustration course and enables you to expand your illustration skills. You will experiment with a variety of different projects and work towards finding your own unique voice and style within illustration. There will be an exploration into a wide range of different media, materials, processes and techniques.Full fee £319.00 Senior fee £255.00 Concession £207.00 - 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 - Garden design: small spaces Course start date: Thu 29 May 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Alison WorsterMake the most of your small garden and learn design and plant selection techniques tailored to your space. Discover how to understand your site and explore practical design solutions and tips on choosing the right materials and plants for your garden.Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00 - Explore editing: essential masking tips for better content Course start date: Mon 2 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Lily MarkiewiczMasking is a essential skill for all editors. But masking isn’t just about hiding an unwanted object in the image. More often, it is used to creatively draw the viewer’s attention to a particular area. An invaluable skill for any film maker.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £129.00 - Textile book project Course start date: Thu 30 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Lara HaileyOn this course you will make a textile book following a theme of your choice. You will be shown book binding techniques, how to incorporate appliqué, text, photos using different types of stitching.Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - Art in theory: What is creativity?Course start date: Thu 30 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
This critical studies course for developing artists and makers explores the concept of creativity and what it means to be an artist, drawing on a range of cultural theories and work by creative practitioners to help inspire and enhance creative and critical thinking.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £139.00 - Introduction to photography Course start date: Wed 12 Nov 2025 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Dominic HarrisDiscover the basics of photography to improve your photographs and impress your friends. Learn about shutter speed, aperture, photo composition, light and taking pictures in different environments. This course is perfect for complete beginners or for learning new skills. Please take this course before enrolling on our intermediate courses.Full fee £209.00 Senior fee £167.00 Concession £136.00 - Art and Ideas: Identity and the selfCourse start date: Thu 8 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Online
This course is for students and creative practitioners interested in identity as a creative and conceptual theme. Explore and discuss ideas, theories and work by significant artists and writers to enhance and inspire the development of creative work.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £139.00 - Art and Ideas: What is visual language? Course start date: Thu 19 Feb 2026
Location on this date: Online
This course is for students and creative practitioners interested in visual language as a creative and conceptual theme. Explore and discuss ideas, theories and work by significant artists and writers to enhance and inspire the development of creative work and build an understanding of your own visual language.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £139.00 - 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 - Drawing and mindfulness: into abstractionCourse start date: Thu 4 Jun 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Clare Barton-HarveyExplore how mindfulness can enrich the process of drawing, as we encounter a range of approaches to making abstract drawings, with reference to artist’s work. This course offers a great introduction to mindful drawing or ways to explore it more deeply. A practical drawing course exploring the visual language of abstraction, with reference to colour, composition, tone and layering.
Full fee £209.00 Senior fee £167.00 Concession £136.00 - 3D animation with Blender Course start date: Wed 7 May 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Benjamin AustinIf you are new to 3d animation, you’ve had a go at teaching yourself but are not making progress, or perhaps you are transferring to Blender from a different 3D program, this course is for you.
It will take you through a professional approach to creating characters and environments in 3D from scratch, as well as introducing workflows and techniques to help produce polished 3D animations of your own.
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