Browse courses by subject
Creative Arts
The production and expression of artistic work through the use of your own imagination and original ideas, drawing upon and combining multiple disciplines including fine art, photography, visual communications, music, creative writing and textiles.
Have a lookCreative Writing
The ability to evoke the senses through description, style and individual character. You can build a world, evoke imagination, drive engagement and encapsulate your audience with the creative use of words.
Have a lookDrawing
Drawing is valued for its readiness to impart knowledge, express an idea, represent something observed, or conjure something directly from invention. This broad context, from figure drawing to map making, is at the heart of drawing practise at OCA.
Have a lookFine Art
The study and combination of the fine arts, traditionally drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture, and contemporary, time-based works, performance and installation.
Have a lookGraphic Design
The fundamental design skills centred around typography, publishing, layout and brand. Graphic Design encompasses the visual aesthetics of the creative industry to communicate messages and feeling.
Have a lookIllustration
Illustration is a mode of communication and visual storytelling. Your illustrations can provide explanation, define a text, concept, or process. Illustration covers a range of visual narratives through digital and traditional image making.
Have a lookInterior Design
It’s all about space, how we use it, how we shape it, how we can dress it, how we frame it, how we can present it and how we can help it to evolve.
Have a lookMoving Image
Moving image says a thousand things at once with the power of film or animation. Enlighten your audience with a story or explanation, bringing characters, environments, and concepts to life.
Have a lookMusic
Expression without words. Music evokes every feeling, capable of making time stand still, or go faster. Vocal, instrumental or both combined, you can produce form, harmony and awaken emotions.
Have a lookPainting
Painting is the original virtual reality experience. Creating new landscapes, dimensions, and characters through paint, texture, and colour you can invent your own world and language to describe it.
Have a lookPhotography
Photography captures a moment, providing a wealth of information open to interpretation. Photography communicates many contexts within a single frame. It’s up to the photographer to present these.
Have a lookSculpture
The study of art is not confined by two dimensions. Sculpture using different materials elevates, enhances and engenders new possibilities to explore.
Have a lookTextiles
The ability to create endless artwork through material, manufacturing and technique. From historic weaving techniques to new age fashion, textiles can convey status, provide comfort or deliver a product through detail, method and pattern.
Have a lookVisual Communications
Visual Communications encourages exploration, experimentation and imagination to navigate and display the context and important aspects of a message through a visual language.
Have a lookOn top of the flexible self-paced schedule and peer group support, the most valuable aspect for me was the relationship I built with my tutors. I was guided through personal growth and exploration.
Dewald Botha - Photography student
Student showcaseFind the right UK online art courses for your specialism
OCA have a wide range of UK online creative courses available to students worldwide. These courses follow a UK programme, and all of our qualifications are awarded by the Open University.
If you’re unsure about which UK online art course is the right one for you, our cross-discipline creative arts programmes incorporate a range of specialisms into one course. If you know which specialism you’d like to pursue, we have experts in a range of fields ready to share their knowledge through our specialist UK online art and design courses.
OCA offer distance learning art courses at your level
OCA believes in making art and design more accessible to all, this is why every UK online art course we run is open access – this means that you don’t necessarily have to have completed a previous qualification in that particular subject. Our approach to education is multidisciplinary, so there’s lots of overlap across our subject areas.
We offer online UK art courses at different study levels to give anyone wanting to pursue art and design the opportunity to learn and progress. This includes art foundation courses, bachelor’s and master’s degree level courses, personal development courses, and short courses.