Graphic Design & Illustration Courses

All designers know, images are powerful. But have you ever considered the look of your text? In other words, the typeface? It’s amazing how many designers overlook this powerful aspect of communication. Words are powerful (of course), but it’s not just what they say, it’s how they say it. On this workshop, learn how to harness the power of type.







Take a deep dive into a specific process, media or tool, with our Visual Communication Workshops.



Workshops throw the spotlight onto niche areas of the visual communication field, enabling you to hone higher-level skills and gain deeper insights.







Workshops tend to have a practical focus, with little or no conceptual or contextual elements, although this varies by course.

A fun and challenging introduction to these three programs, regularly used together for everything from infographics to packaging and magazine work. Learn how to integrate vector graphics, photographic images and page layout and design.

Developing 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.

This course is for experienced Children’s Book Illustration learners who wish to put together a portfolio of their illustration work for applications to City Lit Advanced courses, higher education, or agents and publishers. Some learners may also wish to create a ‘dummy’ picture book, for the same purposes.

Our 'Introduction' courses provide a perfect way-in to a creative field.







Illustration is a form of visual communication which often exists alongside text. Illustrations can help to explain or clarify (or sometimes contradict) the words on a page. Most of all, you could say, they bring the message 'alive', by making it more immediate and exciting. For this reason, illustrations are found across books, magazines, newspapers, websites and social media channels.







Learn how to create powerful illustrations on our exciting range of Illustration courses.

Our Introductory courses provide a perfect way-in to a creative field.







The Children’s Book industry is thriving, largely due to 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), to sequencing and pacing visual narratives.



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.

Be inspired by the people of London and the architecture and environments they inhabit. This course all about drawing people and places, providing you with ample opportunity observe London life, situations and scenarios that will inspire your work.







Learn how to document and sketch from life in different locations and then develop artwork into compelling illustrations that are full of life.

The art of telling a story through a sequence of images is thousands of years old. In modern times we call it storyboarding. Being able to take a narrative and translate it into imagery is essential for children’s book illustrators, graphic novelists, animators and film makers. Learning this skill will allow you to successfully convey your ideas to art directors and editors at the early stages of any creative project.

Our 'Introduction' courses provide a perfect way-in to a creative field.







Graphic Design is everywhere; in our books, magazines, and newspapers. Emblazoning packaging at the corner shop to the mall. On our screens- phones, TVs, computers and tablets. To say it’s important would be an understatement.







Don’t just consume. Learn how to use image and type to communicate your messages, emotions and ideas. Beyond this, learn about the movements and styles which have shaped the field of Graphic Design over the years, and how to find your place there.

Our 'Developing' courses help you take your next step in your chosen creative field.







Comics – once considered lowbrow, or seen as exclusively for children, now occupy a higher cultural domain. Partly thanks to a re-brand, (as ‘Graphic Novels’), no weighty subject is off-limits. A graphic novel has even been nominated for The Booker Prize!







Alongside official publishing channels, exists a lively ‘zine’ culture, where comic and graphic-novel artists can legitimately self-publish and sell their work through a network of independent shops and fairs.







Learn how to create Comics and Graphic-novels with City Lit, and – once you have developed your practice – how to navigate this thriving sector.

Take a deep dive into a specific process, media or tool, with our Visual Communication Workshops.



In this workshop, learn how to create compelling characters for illustration projects, and beyond.







Workshops throw the spotlight onto niche areas of the visual communication field, enabling you to hone higher-level skills and gain deeper insights.



Workshops tend to have a practical focus, with little or no conceptual or contextual elements, although this varies by course.

Affinity Photo is a British engineered and fully featured cross-platform editing alternative to Adobe Photoshop. For photographers at all levels. We’ll show you how to use it effectively to process and edit your images to the highest standard.

Learn 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.

Procreate is an innovative digital drawing software taking the illustration world by storm! In this workshop you will explore a number of different techniques to create striking illustrations on Procreate.







Please note* you will need your own iPad with Procreate installed, and a stylus such as an Apple Pencil.

From the early 20th century onwards, the advent of ‘mass’ media – newspapers, magazines, leaflets, packaging - led to some of the most innovative artistic movements in Western culture: Dada, Surrealism, Bauhaus, Punk.







Arguably, these movements (all of which centralised ‘collage’), have had more of a bearing on contemporary graphic design than anything else. Think of the countless adverts, websites, and social media posts which owe a debt to Jamie Reid’s ‘Sex Pistols’ album designs (which, in turn, owe their existence to the Dadaists).







The methodology of collage should therefore play a role in any good design practice.







Our Workshops enable you to take a deep dive into a specific process, media or tool.



They throw the spotlight onto niche areas of the visual communication field, enabling you to hone higher-level skills and gain deeper insights.







Workshops tend to have a practical focus, with little or no theory or context, although this varies by course.