layout: article
title: "Mastering Paper by 53: Drawing Water and Waves"
excerpt: "Learn techniques for drawing water and waves using the iPad app Paper by 53."
modified: 2014-04-10
image: 
  feature: paper-53-water-guide-feature.jpg
  teaser: paper-53-water-guide-teaser.jpg
  thumb: paper-53-water-guide-thumb.jpg
category: mastering-paper
tags: [Paper by 53, tutorial, drawing, painting, iPad, water, waves]
comments: true
---

Hopefully parts 2 and 3 of emonstrated just how easy drawing trees and skies on an iPad can be. Building on the techniques in those tutorials, I'm going to walk you through my process for drawing water and waves --- perfect for beach and coastline illustrations! If you enjoyed how I draw clouds, the following should be familiar territory since I use similar techniques.

{% include toc.html %}

### Mixing the Water

When choosing a color for the water, I like to mix it dull and gray by knocking the saturation down[^mixer]. I find this helps arrive at a better base color and contrasts nicely against a bright blue sky. But don't let this mix limit your creative vision, make it any color you want.

<figure>
	<img src="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-water-color-mix.jpg" alt="screenshot of blue-gray water mix">
	<figcaption>One of my favorite color mixes for painting water and waves.</figcaption>
</figure>

<i class="fa fa-star"></i> **ProTip:** Don't make the mix too dark. You'll achieve better results by applying multiple lighter coats instead of going at it with one. Mix the desired color[^mixer] you'd like to end up with and then lower the saturation and luminosity about 25% each.
{: .notice}

Much like drawing skies, you can choose to mark a horizon line in pencil to act as a guide --- or go commando if you're confident in your watercolor skills. If you decide to draw the horizon, remember to keep it light so it doesn't bleed through the watercolor we'll be applying next.

<figure>
	<img src="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-smart-cover-rule.jpg" alt="using an iPad smart cover as a ruler">
	<figcaption><strong>ProTip:</strong> An iPad smart cover placed on the screen can be used as a straight edge for drawing lines if you don&rsquo;t have a ruler handy.</figcaption>
</figure>

### Base Coat for the Water

With our blue-gray mixed and ready, select the watercolor brush and paint a slow and even stroke to make up this first layer of water. Just like painting skies, you're trying for an even application of watercolor without lifting your stylus or finger off the iPad's screen. Work your stroke from top to bottom, left to right, overlapping the previously painted portion slightly. A slow stroke with a slight zig zag to it will aid in painting an even and homogeneous tone quickly.

<figure>
	<img src="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-water-base-coat.jpg" alt="screenshot of water with a layer base coat">
	<figcaption>The slower the stroke the more evenly paint is distributed &#8212; yielding a smooth and even tone.</figcaption>
</figure>

Start with 2--3 even coats filling in the water with as smooth a tone as you can. Depending on how many wave troughs there will be, you may have to gradually fade the tone as you move down. The water I'm painting in this example is fairly flat, so keeping the tone smooth throughout is the goal here.

<figure>
	<img src="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-water-fade-reference.jpg" alt="screenshot faded blue water with two coats">
	<figcaption>In the photo reference to the right you&rsquo;ll notice the water is darkest at the horizon and gradually fades down &#8212; that&rsquo;s the effect you&rsquo;re looking to replicate by increasing the speed of your stroke as you approach the bottom.</figcaption>
</figure>

<i class="fa fa-star"></i> **ProTip:** Applying multiple coats adjacent to the horizon line and lightening as you work down will add dimension to the painting. Fading into the paper will also give you more flexibility later if you decide to add a beach or coastline.
{: .notice}

### Adding Wave Chop

For the sake of this tutorial I'm going to draw small waves using quick and choppy watercolor brush strokes. The technique is very similar to painting clouds using white, only in this case we're using the same color we painted the water's base with. The waves I'm painting are fairly flat so there's no need to go overboard with the chop.

<figure>
	<img src="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-wave-chop-dark.jpg" alt="screenshot of watercolor wave chop technique">
	<figcaption>Short, quick strokes to add hints of small waves and break up the space.</figcaption>
</figure>

<i class="fa fa-star"></i> **ProTip:** If you go too dark, just mix white into your base coat color. Continue adding white until you get a color that has a hint of the base and lightens the water as you paint. It might take trial and error to find this "sweet spot."
{:.notice}

<figure>
	<img src="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-wave-chop-light.jpg" alt="screenshot of watercolor wave chop lighten technique">
	<figcaption>And here&rsquo;s an example of lighter wave chops for those areas you may have painted too dark.</figcaption>
</figure>

### Under-painting Large Waves

Depending on the intensity of the waves this next step can be omitted. For larger waves with a lot of white foam, I like to paint a few more layers of blue anywhere these waves appear. The more layers, the darker the blue --- the darker the blue, the higher the contrast there will be between the white wave foam we'll be adding next…

<figure class="half">
	<img src="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-waves-photo.jpg" alt="wave photo reference photo">
	<a href="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-waves-underpainting-lg.jpg"><img src="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-waves-underpainting.jpg" alt="screenshot of underpainted waves in dark blue"></a>
	<figcaption>Using the photo on the left as a reference, look for the large white areas of a wave and underpaint there. The finished result is on the right.</figcaption>
</figure>

## Waves, It's in the Details

With a solid foundation set, it's time to add the finishing spit and polish to our waves. Select the pencil tool and fill it with the same blue we used to base coat the water. It doesn't have to be an exact match if you didn't save the color in your palette, just something close is all that's needed.

Starting at the top of the water lightly sketch strokes from left to right. The severity of each wave will determine the direction and angle of these pencil lines --- the larger the wave, the greater the angle.

<figure>
	<img src="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-wave-lines-blue.jpg" alt="screenshot of wave lines using the base color">
	<figcaption>Use a blue-gray base color to draw in the smaller wave shapes.</figcaption>
</figure>



### White Wave Crests and Foam

Crests or areas where waves might be crashing against land I go heavy with a white pencil and try to make it textured and scratchy. Criss-crossing or hatching my strokes is one way of doing this quickly. If you remember my [guide on painting clouds]({{ site.url }}{% post_url /mastering-paper/2013-09-05-drawing-clouds %}), the technique is the same.

<figure class="half">
	<a href="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-white-foam-detail-lg.jpg"><img src="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-white-foam-detail.jpg" alt="screenshot of wave foam zoomed in"></a>
	<a href="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-white-foam-lg.jpg"><img src="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-white-foam.jpg" alt="screenshot of finished wave foam"></a>
	<figcaption>Draw wave crests and foam using a white pencil.</figcaption>
</figure>

Depending on the size of the wave crests it's usually easier to lightly paint in some highlights using a watercolor brush filled with white. Quickly dabbing or painting in short circular bursts will allow you to gradually lighten an area, without destroying the blue base coat beneath.

<figure>
	<img src="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-wave-foam-brush.jpg" alt="screenshot of crashing wave white areas using watercolor and white">
	<figcaption>Dabs of white can cover an area much faster than the pencil tool when filling in large shapes.</figcaption>
</figure>

### Adding Shadows to the Waves

To add in shadows use a variation of the water's base color, mixed with 20--40% black. Apply the same technique used above but with this darker color instead of white. Focus on putting a few pencil strokes of dark adjacent to the white strokes which will add depth to the waves. As always, if you over work an area just rewind or draw over it using white if it's a shadow, and a shadow color if it's white.

<figure>
	<img src="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-wave-shadow-mix.jpg" alt="screenshot of wave shadow color mix">
	<figcaption>Color mixture used to draw and paint shadows and wave lines.</figcaption>
</figure>

<figure class="half">
	<a href="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-wave-shadows-zoom-lg.jpg"><img src="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-wave-shadows-zoom.jpg" alt="screenshot of wave shadows drawn in pencil"></a>
	<a href="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-wave-shadows-lg.jpg"><img src="{{ site.url }}/images/paper-53-wave-shadows.jpg" alt="screenshot of wave shadows drawn in pencil"></a>
	<figcaption>A pencil mixed with a dark blue-gray is perfect for refining edges and adding definition to smaller waves.</figcaption>
</figure>

Boom! And we're done. Combined with a blue sky from my previous guide and you'll have a landscape that looks like you drew it with traditional art supplies. Shhhhh…your secret is safe with me.

## Variations on a Theme

Using all of these techniques I was able to create a variety of backdrops for the portraits in my [PaperFaces Project]({{ site.url }}/paperfaces/). Below are a few finished waterscapes to show what is possible just by varying the color and composition.

## Watch for the Next Tutorial
{:.no_toc}

The next part will include techniques for drawing various textures with Paper's tools. Things like wood grain, brick, asphalt, and concrete will all be covered to round out the landscape portion of this guide.