Tutorial - how to draw water

A water tutorial was requested, so here's how I draw water, step by step. Hope this helps! ❤

Step one: draw the basic shape of the water on a new layer. To make it more realistic, draw random shaped edges. The base color depends on your surroundings, the weather etc. Here I have picked a blue-grayish color from the sky. 

Step two: feather the water edges, and draw sand textures around on a layer underneath the water layer. I used 10 pixel feathering, but if you don't have this tool in your program you can just use the erasing tool with 50% over the edges to make it more smooth.
For the sand texture I used my sand/gravel brush from my landscape brush pack.

Step three: now it's time for shading the water. For this process I use a basic soft round brush on 50% opacity, but use whatever you're comfortable with!
Use a darker color and go over the edges. Draw shades here and there to make a realistic "flow" in the water. Remember to shade in a separate layer, so it's easier to go back if you make mistakes. 

Step four: merge the base and the shading layer. Select the layer and contract and feather. I have contracted with 50 and feathered with 50.
Now invert the selection and use an eraser with 80% opacity. The water is shallow closed to the edges, so naturally it will be more transparent there. 

Step five: add textures. For this specific texture I have used the water reflection brush that can be found in both my landscape brush pack and the spring brush pack

Step six: now to the fun part! Merge all water layers if you still have multiple layers, and merge the sand textures with the background. Copy the background layer and place it over the water layer. Then flip it upside down, do some adjustments with warping, distorting, perspective etc.  Select the water layer, invert the selection and remove the rest of the background. Play around with the layer opacity until you're satisfied with the intensity of the mirror reflection.

Step seven: add fun details that fits your background. Since this is a fall background, I'm adding falling leaves and leaves that are floating in the water. Both the leaves brushes and the water ripple stamp can be found in my spring brush pack and landscape brush pack.

And the finished result after some light editing:

Hope you found some of this helpful. And remember, we all do things differently, so if you have other methods that works better for you, make sure to use them! 

Hope you'll have a lovely Saturday!

Hugs from Cath ❤