Art & Design Courses - Online & in London  

Encounter different approaches to making abstract paintings while developing your skills in using a variety of painting materials. With reference to the work of a variety of abstract artists explore the visual language common to both representation and abstraction, eg. colour, composition, tone and paint application.

City Lit Studios provide time each week for you to commit to working on a personal project or portfolio, alongside your peers. A tutor will be on-hand to provide insights and guidance, as and when you need it.







Illustration can be an isolating journey, so having a space to engage with like-minded people will naturally provide a supportive and inspiring environment for your practice to flourish.







Our ‘Studio’ courses provide you with a space to share your learning journey with your peers, and to tap into tutor expertise, on a specific project or practice, through one-to-one tutorials and group crits. Learners will benefit from the professional experience of tutors who will be able to provide inside knowledge of a variety of aspects of the creative industry.







Come with a project that you would like to develop, or should you need a starting point, our tutors will be able to provide you with industry-relevant briefs based on your interests, sensibilities, and visual language.







STUDIOS are for experienced learners with a burgeoning creative practice they wish to hone, in a supportive environment. For example, those who have completed a Beginners and Developing course in a relevant subject, or have equivalent industry experience.

Join us us as Dr Stephen Knott, director of the Craft Study Centre, speaks about his doctoral thesis on Amateur craft as a differential practice, carried out under the auspices of the V&A and the Royal College of Art and was supervised by Glenn Adamson (V&A) and Hans Stofer (RCA). This research was the basis for his important and influential book Amateur Craft (Bloomsbury, 2015), and he has also produced a number of other significant research outputs including chapters, papers, co-edited volumes and curation. In 2022 he co-curated the Craft Study Centre’s Presence and Absence, an exhibition that sought to decolonise narratives of studio craft and highlight absences in the Centre’s collections. He is currently in the final stages of completing his new book, Making in Free Time (Bloomsbury).

A comprehensive course to build skills, vision and flair in drawing the human form. Use traditional and experimental approaches and a range of media, including charcoal and pastel.

A 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.

Create motifs and designs for printed textiles which may then be printed onto cloth. This course is ideal for beginners in Photoshop who are textile artists, designers, or for anyone interested in exploring pattern, colour and texture.

Learn and develop a range of essential jewellery making techniques and processes for creating metal jewellery. This course is designed for beginners who would like to gain fundamental skills like sawing, filing, sanding, drilling, texturing, forging and soldering. Explore these techniques in set projects and use them to design and make your own pieces.

The fundamentals of painting are as important for the beginner as they are for the more experienced artist. This course will be an in depth focus on brushwork, brush techniques and how to improve your mark making to develop fluency in the mediums of acrylic paint.

Discover the extraordinary construction of the human body. Through direct observation of the model you will examine the fundamental anatomical structures that underlie both portrait and life drawing. For those with some drawing experience.