The Open Landscape:
Atmosphere and Light with Ballpoint Pen
Hello, I'm Luis Colan!
A painter, draftsman and printmaker. with More than twenty years of drawing from life on plein air trips and from memory in the studio.
From the studio
Some of my drawings and monotypes
for anyone who loves drawing but feels stuck
"Your drawings can hold more light than you think"
Maybe you've filled a sketchbook with careful studies that never quite felt alive. The proportions were right, the details were there, and still the page felt heavy and closed. It's one of the most common frustrations I hear from artists at every level.
Seeing can be learned
After more than twenty years of drawing outdoors and in the studio, I work in a simple way: I look for the big shapes first, keep the drawing light, and build it slowly in layers. In my courses I share that process step by step, so you can bring the same sense of air and atmosphere into your own work.
Draw less of what you know, and more of what you see.
Discover the Joy in Drawing the Landscape, Not the Struggle.
Make Ballpoint Pen Your Favorite New Skill!
Take this quick quiz to discover your drawing strengths, uncover where you may be getting stuck, and see how The Open Landscape can help you build more confidence with light, depth, tone and capturing atmosphere with a simple ballpoint pen.
Hi, I'm Luis Colan
painter, draftsman and printmaker.
I've been painting, drawing and printmaking for more than two decades. I trained at the Hartford Art School and continued my studies at the Art Students League and the Teaching Studios of Art in Brooklyn.
My landscape practice has taken me from plein air trips in Tuscany, France and New England to working from memory and imagination in my New York studio. Through all of it, drawing has stayed at the center, and pen and ink became my way of exploring atmosphere and light.
My ballpoint drawings have built an audience of 190K followers on Instagram, and the question I hear most is simple: how do you do it? This course is my answer, taught in more depth than I've ever shared before.
WHAT YOU'LL UNLOCK THROUGH THE COURSE:
01
See light and atmosphere
Read a landscape for light, distance and air, and translate it into ink by keeping the drawing open where the light falls.
02
Build depth with line
Layer tone, hatching and varied line work in patient passes to build texture, depth and a full value range.
03
Draw any subject your way
Leave with a flexible framework, not a formula, that you can bring to still lifes, architecture, portraits and your own ideas.
The Open Landscape:
Atmosphere and Light with Ballpoint Pen
Learn to draw landscapes with ballpoint pen with more confidence, patience and freedom. Across 24 step-by-step video lessons and 8 modules, I'll guide you through building one complete landscape drawing, from the first line to the finishing touches, so you can create light, depth and a full range of tone with one simple pen.
You'll draw alongside me in real time and finish your own landscape. You'll also receive three bonuses: a crash course PDF of my drawing process, a mark-making and texture guide, and printable practice exercises and drawing prompts.
This is a space to slow down, look more closely, trust your eye, and find a way of drawing the landscape that feels truly your own.
LET'S CONNECT
GOT A QUESTION?
If there’s anything you’d like to know about the course, or how everything works, feel free to reach out.
Just fill out the form below, send me your message, and I’ll get back to you personally as soon as I can.
