City Lit Art School — Art Classes 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
- Textiles: experimental hand stitch
Course start date: Tue 20 May 2025 (and 1 other date)Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Amarjeet NandhraA contemporary approach to hand stitching and embroidery exploring a variety of traditional stitches and techniques.
Create experimental and expressive samples using traditional and non-traditional materials.Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00 - Calligraphy: 10 projects for beginners Course start date: Wed 21 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sharon ShawThis course offers an exciting range of projects to introduce you to the art of beautiful writing. Develop new calligraphy and lettering skills whilst producing your own greeting cards, wrapping paper, gift tags and wall art.
Full fee £299.00 Senior fee £239.00 Concession £194.00 - Illustration techniques Course start date: Thu 22 May 2025
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 £319.00 Senior fee £255.00 Concession £207.00 - Drawing 1 Course start date: Thu 22 May 2025 (and 10 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Andrea VoiseyAn introduction to drawing from observation through a carefully structured approach in a studio environment. Suitable for beginners.Full fee £429.00 Senior fee £343.00 Concession £279.00 - Children's book illustration: portfolio preparation Course start date: Fri 23 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Dee Shulman, Robyn Wilson-OwenThis 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. - Calligraphy for beginners and improvers Course start date: Fri 23 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sharon ShawLearn and develop calligraphy skills on this beginners and improvers course. You will practice with a range of pens and papers, and create a finished example using a favourite quotation. Advice will be given on tools and materials. Suitable for left or right-handers. - Photography in a day: Scanning negatives and transparencies Course start date: Fri 23 May 2025
Location on this date: Kean Street Photography Studio
Tutors: Dominic HarrisDo 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 - Animating still life weekend Course start date: Sat 24 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Stephanie GriffithsUsing the professional application DragonFrame to capture stop motion and a range of stop motion techniques and processes you will create an exciting and surprising animation. This weekend course will introduce you to some of the techniques of internationally celebrated animators such as Jan Svankmajer and Paul Bush.
Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £179.00 - Photography for beginners Course start date: Sun 25 May 2025 (and 17 other dates)
Location on this date: Kean Street Photography Studio
Tutors: Sara Leigh LewisAlways wondered what half the buttons on your camera actually do? Discover how to use them properly and produce impressive photographs, even as a complete beginner. Gain useful technical knowledge and get expert creative guidance in easy-to-understand language. An ideal first step before enrolling on our intermediate courses.Full fee £369.00 Senior fee £295.00 Concession £240.00 - Painting from plants and flowers Course start date: Tue 27 May 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Explore a variety of creative approaches for painting flowers from observation. Discover the rich history of this genre while taking inspiration from artists who use flowers as their subject matter.Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00 - Designing textiles online Course start date: Tue 27 May 2025
Location on this date: Online
This intermediate course will improve your Adobe Photoshop pattern tiling skills while learning new basic vector drawing skills in Adobe illustrator. We will improve on creating narratives for print design using multiple motifs and storytelling. Not suitable for beginners. You will need your own access the Adobe Creative Suite on your Mac or PC before class.Full fee £329.00 Senior fee £263.00 Concession £214.00 - Rush basketry Course start date: Wed 28 May 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John PageUsing traditional techniques you will make a variety of baskets with this native plant. There will be the opportunity to try experimental work with rush and other materials. All levels are welcome.Full fee £379.00 Senior fee £303.00 Concession £246.00 - Looking at photography: critical and analytic theories Course start date: Wed 28 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Scott PerryAn introduction to some of the main ways of thinking about photography, based on cultural theory, politics, philosophy and semiotics.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £79.00 - Garden design: small spaces Course start date: Thu 29 May 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Alison WorsterMake the most of your small garden and learn design and plant selection techniques tailored to your space. Discover how to understand your site and explore practical design solutions and tips on choosing the right materials and plants for your garden.Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00 - In conversation with Simon Poulter Course start date: Thu 29 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Join us as artist and curator Simon Poulter speaks about his present focus - a series of paintings and online works documenting the ‘New Normal’. Recent work has included three large scale commissions working with Mutiny, as part of the University of East Anglia’s Future and Formprogramme. Mutiny is about to undertake a large scale commission in 2022/23 for Hull City Council, developing a digital platform and new work for the Old Town.Full fee £5.00 Senior fee £5.00 Concession £5.00
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