Art & design

Art & Design Courses - Online & 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

Courses available both in-person and online

We offer a range of long and short courses allowing you to choose between in-person and online learning.

Learn in the centre of London with our in-person courses. Our purpose-built facilities in Covent Garden mean we are ideally located and easy to get to. 

See our guide to online learning for more information about accessing our live online courses.

All our courses are live, interactive, and taught by expert tutors. No matter how you prefer to learn, we've got the class for you.

 

Join us for the City Lit Visual Arts open day on Saturday 18 May. Throughout the day, at our campus in Covent Garden, you will have the opportunity to immerse yourself in the full range and variety of our art and design subjects on offer.  Find out more >

 

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  1. Screenprinting in a day
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Tue 22 Oct 2024 (and 9 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Adam Hogarth
    In 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 £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £129.00
  2. Scanning photography negatives, transparencies and prints
    Course start date:  Tue 4 Mar 2025 (and 2 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Kean Street Photography Studio

    Tutors:  Dominic Harris
    Do you have boxes of old prints, negatives or transparencies gathering dust that you'd love to have digitised? Learn how to get your archive onto your computer using different methods from flatbed and film scanners to a digital camera.
    Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £129.00
  3. Looking at artists: colour and composition
    Course start date:  Tue 7 May 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Benjamin Senior
    This course will give you guidance on how to choose, mix and arrange colours successfully. We will explore approaches to harmony and composition through a series of small scale watercolour exercises which can be collected for future reference.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £39.00
  4. The creative industries
    Course start date:  Tue 18 Jun 2024 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Andrew McCarten
    Creativity is one of the areas in which the UK retains a leading position, globally, and much is made of the importance of the ‘creative economy’, and its value to the country. But what exactly are the co-called ‘creative industries’ we hear so much about? What is the value of ‘creativity’ and ‘innovation’ to the national and global economy, and does this extend beyond the overtly ‘creative’ pursuits of art, design and entertainment? How is so-called ‘creative thinking’ central to business, industries and services? In many countries around the world, the benefits of approaches to learning that are central pillars of ‘creative education’ are increasingly recognised in terms of their value in developing fully-rounded learners, and citizens. This workshop examines these questions, and considers the value of creative education in the context of a series of disciplines predicated on thinking related to solving problems, and its relevance for all aspects of contemporary life.



    For this workshop, you will need to have access to A3 or A4 plain paper, and a range of coloured marker pens, as well as a notebook. Basic materials will be provided, but you are also welcome to bring and use your own.
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £69.00
  5. Flash photography with speedlight
    Course start date:  Tue 1 Jul 2025 (and 2 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Kean Street Photography Studio

    Tutors:  Ed Gregory
    Lighten things up: join this practical course to learn the basics of using portable flash (speedlights) to enhance your images. Experiment creatively indoors and outdoors with different flash techniques, with a professional photographer on hand to guide you throughout.
    Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £129.00
  6. Try it out: animation
    Course start date:  Tue 10 Sep 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Litza Jansz
    Try out creating a professional looking digital animation sequence using Adobe After Effects and find out about the right course for you to develop your animation practice.
    Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £129.00
  7. Try it out: garden design
    Evening
    Course start date:  Tue 24 Sep 2024 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Alison Worster
    Get a taste of how you can improve your outside spaces. In this online workshop you will learn how to assess an outside space and complete a short exercise in garden design planning. A great preparation for our range of beginners garden design courses.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £59.00 Concession £59.00
  8. Drypoint and intaglio printmaking in a day
    Course start date:  Tue 10 Dec 2024 (and 2 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    This one day workshop offers the opportunity to use Drypoint to produce a rich and unique type of drawn line, from which you will make prints using intaglio inking methods.



    Try out specialist tools and techniques, and gain insight into how these sit within the creative practice of artist-printmakers.
    Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £129.00
  9. The design brief
    Course start date:  Tue 4 Feb 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Andrew McCarten
    This workshop provides a forum for exploring and discussing the process (and sometimes challenges) of working with clients over a commercial design brief or commission. While some design briefs are relatively straightforward, and perhaps require a simple rendering of the client's vision, at other times the client can be unsure of what they actually want, and it can be a frustrating, uncertain and time-consuming process for the designer to identify and produce a solution to what is, sometimes, a poorly-defined question. Referring to real-life examples and case-studies, this workshop will take learners through the process of making a pitch, deconstructing a brief to be certain of what the client wants and needs (and whether these are same thing), presenting proposals, and working within time, resource and financial constraints. These are invaluable skills for the design professional that are equally applicable, for the student, to project briefs and coursework.



    For this workshop, you will need to have access to A3 or A4 plain paper, and a range of coloured marker pens, as well as a notebook. Basic materials will be provided, but you are welcome to bring and use your own as well.
    Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £79.00
  10. Looking at photography: colour and composition
    Course start date:  Tue 11 Mar 2025 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Kean Street Photography Studio

    Tutors:  Michael Harding
    Want to learn the secrets of composing beautiful photographs? Join this inspiring workshop to explore composition and colour controls, making the most of shapes, lines, colours, framing, the rule of thirds and simple camera controls for professional-looking results.
    Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £79.00
  11. Design thinking: creative problem solving
    Course start date:  Tue 8 Apr 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Andrew McCarten
    The term ‘design thinking’ describes an adaptive and reflective approach to problem-solving that is, in many ways, the same as the kinds of processes that underpin creative practice generally, and is fundamental to the development of many of the systems on which the world’s current production, logistics, communications and supply depend. Although generally considered largely in relation to system design, information and interaction design, and product design, it is a way of thinking through and deconstructing creative and/or technical challenges that is equally valuable as a lens through which to examine creative processes and problems in any discipline. In this professional practice workshop, we examine the 5 classic stages of Design Thinking, and look at how we can use them to refine our thinking processes, apply our insight and focus our imagination, to solve both creative and practical problems.



    For this workshop, you will need to have access to A3 or A4 plain paper, and a range of coloured marker pens, as well as a notebook. Basic materials will be provided, but you're welcome to bring your own as well.
    Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £79.00
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