Art & Design courses in London & online
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
- Pinhole photography
Course start date: Tue 14 Jul 2026Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Scott PerryLearn how pinhole photography works, try out different ways of making a camera. Discover exciting experimental ways of producing photographic images with the camera you’ve built.
Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00 - Screen printing in a day Course start date: Tue 14 Jul 2026 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rolina Elsje BlokIn this fun, 1-day workshop you will be taught how to print and register a two colour screenprint using monoprint, colour blends and pre-made photographic screens. You will be taught some basic screen making process and insight into making digital artwork. This will set you up for longer and more advanced screenprinting classes.Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £139.00 Concession £139.00 - Contemporary willow basketry Course start date: Wed 15 Jul 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Mollie McMillenExperiment with unconventional willow baskets and structures, within a traditional context.This course guides you through new textures and forms using a variety of techniques from Europe and beyond.Full fee £339.00 Senior fee £271.00 Concession £220.00 - Life drawing: focus on hands and feet Course start date: Wed 15 Jul 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Mario Lautier VellaThis short course is aimed at those with some previous life drawing experience who would like to meet the unique challenge of drawing hands and feet. Explore how to make sense of their complex structure and form and to draw these parts of the anatomy convincingly. You'll never leave hands and feet out of your life drawings again!Full fee £159.00 Senior fee £127.00 Concession £103.00 - Flush setting for jewellery makers Course start date: Sat 25 Jul 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Louise Seijen Ten HoornFor intermediate jewellers. Learn how to set round brilliant cut/faceted stones in sheet metal and rings using the traditional flush setting technique. You will practice in copper, before moving on to work in silver. There will also be a chance to make your own flush setting tool.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00 - Calligraphy summer intensive Course start date: Mon 27 Jul 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sharon ShawGilded initials make perfect gifts for family and friends. You’ll learn painting techniques and how to apply a PVA mordant and use real leaf. You will be provided with a number of decorative alphabet templates and then taken step-by-step through the stages of drawing, painting and applying real gold to create your own illuminated decorated letterform.Full fee £369.00 Senior fee £295.00 Concession £240.00 - Life painting for beginners: summer school intensiveCourse start date: Mon 27 Jul 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Desmond HaughtonThis 4 day intensive course is a great introduction to painting directly from the life model, where you will make great progress in understanding how to paint from life. Using simple structured projects, you will explore different approaches to represent the human form in paint, with encouraging, helpful guidance from an experienced tutor and taking inspiration from the work of other painters. Suitable for beginners in painting who have some previous life drawing experience.
Full fee £349.00 Senior fee £279.00 Concession £227.00 - Contemporary collage: summer school intensive Course start date: Tue 28 Jul 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Jera MayA short experimental course across 2 days (Tuesday and Wednesday) to explore and combine a variety of collage techniques using found images, drawing, painting and paper to create unexpectedly beautiful or powerful images. Suitable for beginners
Full fee £209.00 Senior fee £167.00 Concession £136.00 - Try it out: bookbinding Course start date: Sat 8 Aug 2026 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Kate RochesterDip your fingers into bookbinding. Learn a little about the materials and craft of bookbinding while making an attractive book to take home. A chance to discuss further study in bookbinding at City Lit.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £129.00 - Basketry: weaving in willow Course start date: Mon 7 Sep 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Mollie McMillenExplore basic willow basketry structures and weaves. This course will guide beginners through a simple project to make a small, round, functional basket.Full fee £369.00 Senior fee £295.00 Concession £240.00 - Life drawing after work Course start date: Tue 8 Sep 2026 (and 5 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Henry Gibbons GuyA fun, relaxed and shorter life drawing class better suited for people coming straight from work. You will be able to work from a variety of life models, in a range of materials and with a variety of poses. You will be working from the unclothed model, both male and female.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £179.00 - Metal sculpture: beginners to intermediate Course start date: Mon 14 Sep 2026 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Andrew RevellLearn the techniques required in making sculptural or functional objects in steel: cutting, bending, welding and joining small scale metal. Please bring ideas, inspiration and scrap metal. This course is for beginners and those at intermediate level.
Full fee £499.00 Senior fee £399.00 Concession £324.00 - Clay sculpture: life and portrait Course start date: Mon 14 Sep 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Valerie MerloFollow in the footsteps of Michelangelo and Rodin to learn how to capture the human figure, both physically and emotionally, on this fascinating practical sculpting course. You will work from a life model to develop your own clay sculpture of the human form.
Full fee £619.00 Senior fee £495.00 Concession £402.00 - Art and design portfolio projects Course start date: Mon 14 Sep 2026 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rod JudkinsDevelop and realise your creative language in art and design through a series of workshops and small projects. You will build a portfolio of work in 2D and 3D that will help you discover your personal style and interests.
Full fee £479.00 Senior fee £383.00 Concession £311.00 - Watercolour painting: mixed media techniques Course start date: Tue 15 Sep 2026 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sisetta ZapponeWatercolour 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 £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00
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