[qwertyo]

hrrrnghgh how water

edit: made some adjustments off oekaki (though still using chibipaint lol) based on feedback

(click for full res)

[Adamented]

That purple one looks the best for sure! The high contrast and saturation reflect water's properties of light way better than the others here. It does seem like there's too much white going on- Maybe focus on the distinct edges of each wave, look up images. Surf tends to be pretty foamy, but exists mainly where it builds up on the shallowest parts of the water, and the top peak of a wave, which deposits the foam when it reaches the shore. in that way, when you're blending out the surf into the water, rather than this more gradual fade, it forms almost a webbing pattern on the water.

For example, this this and this (first two are images that show how the water carries seafoam, the last shows how, in shallow gentle water, the light forms webs patterns when it reflects through the peaks of the water)

You've got an incredible grasp of colors and the translucently of those rocks though! They look fantastic.

[eyesemote]

I wanna eat ur art, it's so tasty to the eyes

[Pollee]

That purple one looks the best for sure! The high contrast and saturation reflect water's properties of light way better than the others here. It does seem like there's too much white going on- Maybe focus on the distinct edges of each wave, look up images. Surf tends to be pretty foamy, but exists mainly where it builds up on the shallowest parts of the water, and the top peak of a wave, which deposits the foam when it reaches the shore. in that way, when you're blending out the surf into the water, rather than this more gradual fade, it forms almost a webbing pattern on the water.

For example, this this and this (first two are images that show how the water carries seafoam, the last shows how, in shallow gentle water, the light forms webs patterns when it reflects through the peaks of the water)

You've got an incredible grasp of colors and the translucently of those rocks though! They look fantastic.

I love how detailed you are. I'm actually gonna use your advice to help me with how I draw water :]!

[.lucifer]

That purple one looks the best for sure! The high contrast and saturation reflect water's properties of light way better than the others here. It does seem like there's too much white going on- Maybe focus on the distinct edges of each wave, look up images. Surf tends to be pretty foamy, but exists mainly where it builds up on the shallowest parts of the water, and the top peak of a wave, which deposits the foam when it reaches the shore. in that way, when you're blending out the surf into the water, rather than this more gradual fade, it forms almost a webbing pattern on the water.

For example, this this and this (first two are images that show how the water carries seafoam, the last shows how, in shallow gentle water, the light forms webs patterns when it reflects through the peaks of the water)

You've got an incredible grasp of colors and the translucently of those rocks though! They look fantastic.

This is very good advice for sea-water, but water in creeks and rivers moves much differently, and doesn't hold surf nearly as well. Based on the movement in these pieces, I'd say this is, in fact, fresh water, likely a creek or stream, especially with the way it moves around the rocks.

For example, here we can see that running freshwater has a lot of white in it, especially in rocky areas, such as the moss-green example in the top right. here we can see water moving with small ripples, such as the two red examples. And here we can see the effects of a river running through larger boulders and bedrock. Lots of white from bubbles that fade out quickly once the turbulence is over.

If I were to give advice about painting water, I would say: focus on where the rocks both beneath and above the water are directing it, instead of just straight lines. Water doesn't flow straight- it flows around the objects in it's way, so the ripples and waves will reflect that movement.

Even so, this stylization of water is truly very effective. It invokes the right feelings and images in my mind- like the rocky creeks and rivers my family would go camping at during my childhood summers. Water is fluid, and always moving- it is very, very difficult to catch it in a still medium, but this is a very good style for it.

[Adamented]

-

This is very good advice for sea-water, but water in creeks and rivers moves much differently, and doesn't hold surf nearly as well. Based on the movement in these pieces, I'd say this is, in fact, fresh water, likely a creek or stream, especially with the way it moves around the rocks.

For example, here we can see that running freshwater has a lot of white in it, especially in rocky areas, such as the moss-green example in the top right. here we can see water moving with small ripples, such as the two red examples. And here we can see the effects of a river running through larger boulders and bedrock. Lots of white from bubbles that fade out quickly once the turbulence is over.

If I were to give advice about painting water, I would say: focus on where the rocks both beneath and above the water are directing it, instead of just straight lines. Water doesn't flow straight- it flows around the objects in it's way, so the ripples and waves will reflect that movement.

Even so, this stylization of water is truly very effective. It invokes the right feelings and images in my mind- like the rocky creeks and rivers my family would go camping at during my childhood summers. Water is fluid, and always moving- it is very, very difficult to catch it in a still medium, but this is a very good style for it.

I think my advice still stands pretty true. This is not just good advice for seawater- notice that the water even in those busy riverflows you linked as example hold a similar pattern. The first one, between the rocks you can see a similar, just condensed version of those same weblike patterns because although salt water is often less confined, with more space to flow, water still holds the same properties of light, which shift a little bit with opacity, depth, density, and whether they are murkey or clear allowing for either less light or more light to pass through.

For example, this. you can clearly see where the foam/bubbles kicked up from the water's motion gathers on the highest point, you can see how the current disrupts the rocks below, and how high contrast it is, as well as how the whiter areas where bubbles build up branch out like webs, though with rivers it is noticeably narrowed by the direction of the river/creek, and tends to build up closer to the rocks where the current is strongest.

I wasn't saying this artwork is bad by absolutely any means. I'm just providing tried and true tips, what I've said applies to both fresh and salt water. It would apply to non-water liquids too, because it's dealing with the molecular structure of a liquid form and how light passes through it, not explicitly just surf. Ultimately, I think what this style would benefit from is more contrast and more isolated motion from the water.

[qwertyo]

-

-snipping everything because Long Text lol-

Alrighty, lemme address some of the things brought up here!

To begin with, lucifer. is correct in saying that the water here is based off of fresh water, rather than sea water. Specifically, I was looking at this pic and this one as loose references.

The white in my art though is actually supposed to be like, The Lighting (highlights lol?) rather than being white due to the water running, however, I don't think I accomplished that well in the original art. I didn't actually intend for any of the arts here to feature any high water movement, haha. I was going for more still-ish sorta water. There's movement but not too much. I think my contrast wasn't high enough though, so that's probably why it didn't read that way? I took Adamented's advice for upping the contrast and that seemed to help a lot. I paint on a single layer and I'm still trying to figure out what process to use for water and how to better paint the highlights.

Both of you had excellent advice for water, really good detailed analyses and pics chosen as examples. While sea water and running water wasn't what I was doing here, it is something I intend to paint as I continue my water studies and I'll def refer to these posts here (lol I'm def stealing the pics you both gave to use as refs). Thank you for taking the time to write things up and find pics! Like, seriously, I don't really get people giving me feedback/advice so I super appreciate when I actually do!

[Adamented]

I'm glad it could help! Different things work for different people.

It took me a long time as an artist to accept reference pictures as a regular tool, and I guess that was just because of the stigma towards it when I was younger, but it's honestly the most important tool I use now.
I could definitely never paint on one layer like you do, you've got a lot of skill!

Still water is pretty hard to capture as well, at least there are obvious shapes in moving water- settled pools are pretty difficult. Especially when trying to capture the essence of reflections. I couldn't do it haha, so best of luck!

edit;; I also just want to drop some praise for your edited versions. That top left edit is completely stunning, even though it does seem like it probably took an incredible amount of time, I can assure you it was worth it!

[quirky;]

Kinda short comment here, but all of them look amazing to me! And the extra guide will definitely be used in the future by moi! The rocks also demonstrate an amazing use of the square brush that others (mainly me) can't quite capture or use to their advantage