Illustration Courses in London
Bring your creative ideas to life and explore various approaches to mark making, illustrated letterforms, visual narratives and cartooning, using both traditional and digital processes. Gain confidence in the fundamentals of illustration practice and learn how to respond to a creative brief, generating a range of ideas and exciting work that can be book based, digital or framed.
Work with award winning and industry experts in our fully equipped design studios. Start with our illustration for beginner’s course, or for students looking to develop a wide-ranging portfolio of illustration work, check out our illustration projects course.
Courses available both in-person and online
At City Lit, you can choose to study in-person or online. Our fantastic in-person courses are taught in our attractive campus, located in the heart of Covent Garden, central London. Here, our students can benefit from a variety of services and resources, including our café and state-of-the art equipment.
Our online courses are tailored to give you a social and interactive online learning experience, allowing you freedom to study from anywhere and with like-minded fellow classmates from all over the country without the need to travel. Use the Location filters on this page to choose your preferred learning method. See our guide to online learning for more information about accessing our live online courses.
For more information about courses available, please contact our Visual Arts team at visualarts@citylit.ac.uk
- Developing graphic novels
Course start date: Mon 20 Apr 2026Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Michael-Aubtin Madadi, Stephen MarchantThis course is an intermediate course, for more experienced learners to develop their practical and conceptual skills integral to the discipline of Comics and Graphic Novels.
Full fee £389.00 Senior fee £311.00 Concession £253.00 - Drawing cartoons Course start date: Fri 24 Apr 2026 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Stephen MarchantLearn the basics of cartoon drawing in this fun introductory course. Explore the fundamentals of drawing facial expressions, exaggerated features and body movements that will shape your characters.
Practice comic book creation, looking at frames, pacing and panelling that all add to the design of your very own comic strip or comic book.
Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - Developing illustration Course start date: Wed 29 Apr 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lucia Vinti, Maya WildThis course in developing illustration will help progress your illustration practice further by exploring the practical and conceptual skills integral to the discipline.
Full fee £389.00 Senior fee £311.00 Concession £253.00 - Developing Illustration techniquesCourse start date: Thu 30 Apr 2026
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 £449.00 Senior fee £359.00 Concession £292.00 - Illustrating people and places Course start date: Thu 7 May 2026 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lucia VintiBe inspired by the people of London and the architecture and environments they inhabit. This course explores drawing people and places, providing you with ample opportunity to observe London life, situations and scenarios that will inspire your work.
Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - Procreate for illustration Course start date: Mon 11 May 2026 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lucia VintiIn this Procreate for Illustration course you will explore a number of different techniques to create striking illustrations on Procreate.
You will need your own iPad with Procreate installed, and a stylus such as an Apple Pencil.
Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - Explore: GIF making for illustration Course start date: Sat 16 May 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sophie WolfsonThis one-day course is an introduction to creating animated gifs using hand-drawn illustrated images.
Full fee £89.00 Senior fee £89.00 Concession £89.00 - Illustrating narrativesCourse start date: Fri 5 Jun 2026
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 - Introduction to illustration Course start date: Mon 8 Jun 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Adam Graff, Maya WildThis course is an introduction to the practical and conceptual skills integral to the discipline of Illustration. Learn about the movements and styles which have shaped the field of Illustration over the years, and how to find your place there.
Full fee £389.00 Senior fee £311.00 Concession £253.00 - Pet illustration Course start date: Sat 20 Jun 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sophie WolfsonExplore techniques to create an impressive illustration of your pet.
Over two days you will explore a range of image-making techniques from drawing and painting to digital image manipulation and collage. At the end of the weekend you will take home a finished and unique illustration of your favourite pet.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00 - Digital illustration Course start date: Mon 22 Jun 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John SmythOn this course you will learn how to scan your sketches and drawings into a computer and using Adobe Photoshop explore the possibilities of manipulating them. You will also explore the possibilities of using Adobe Illustrator to create vector illustrations by drawing directly into a computer.
Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - Character designCourse start date: Wed 24 Jun 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ciara FloodThis course will explore the creation of characters within picture books and illustrated fiction.
Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - Illustrating animals Course start date: Wed 24 Jun 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ciara FloodOn this course you will explore illustrating animals and their gestural qualities using a variety of different mediums.
Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - Botanical illustration Course start date: Fri 3 Jul 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ciara Flood, Maya WildLearn how Botanical Illustrators accurately depict flowers, leaves, stems and seeds - for the purpose of genus and species identification by Botanists and Biologists.
Work from both primary and secondary source material to create an array of illustrative work, including anatomical and/or decorative.Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - Extended procreate projects for illustration Course start date: Wed 23 Sep 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lucia VintiIn this Extended Procreate for Illustration course you will further explore a variety of techniques to create digital illustrations using Procreate.
You will need your own iPad with Procreate installed, and a stylus such as an Apple Pencil.Full fee £259.00 Senior fee £207.00 Concession £168.00
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