How To Paint Waves Crashing On Rocks

How to Paint an Ocean Wave

Atlantic Storm - seascape oil painting - Samuel Earp.jpg

Continuing the theme of painting seascapes from the last web log and YouTube video I idea I'd show you how you can paint a breaking wave that looks dramatic and is full of lite and atmosphere.

Painting seascapes is fun especially when you create stormy scenes then in the blog post I'll show you some tips and tricks to create light and drama in your seascape. Don't forget the accompanying YouTube video on how to pigment this art work, y'all can view the video which is at the lesser of this page.

i. Calorie-free AND Atmosphere

Last year I visited the island of Guernsey, located in the English Channel. Guernsey is so cute and it has some amazing coastline, featuring an often stormy Atlantic Sea, beaches, rocks and cliffs so I took a lot of photos whilst I was at that place.

These are some of the photos I used as reference in this seascape painting, please feel free to use and copy them if you would like to have a go at painting this seascape.

We accept some great elements in these photos to create an atmospheric seascape painting. The bounding main has a heavy keen and wild breaking waves which are as well backlit past the sun. Whilst you can paint the sea from whatsoever angle, in full general I have found seascapes easier to pigment when the light is coming from the sides or behind the water. This is considering you take a precipitous contrast between the confront of the breaking wave that is in shadow and then the crest that is in total sunlight.

This contrast betwixt light and dark values falls into the subject of tonality which is the human relationship between lights and darks in a painting. In general paintings where at that place is a sharp contrast between dark and light values will invoke a dramatic and agitated feeling in the viewer, whereas a softer graduation in tonal values will produce a more restful feeling.

A quick rule to retrieve with tonality is that every bit you lot come up forrad in a painting darks become darker and lights get lighter, nonetheless distant objects will have a much smaller graduation between tone as the scale is much narrower. Darks are not quite dark and lights are not quite light.

two. CREATING THE Composition

Some general rules to follow in creating a limerick are equally follows:

Never have your focal signal in the middle of the painting
Never accept center lines in the painting and so in the instance of a seascape either have a low or a high horizon line.
Effort and avoid repeating forms, objects, lines or vectors every bit this forms a displeasing static in the painting.
Don't overcomplicate your limerick, sometimes you lot can accept too much going on in a painting. Less is more!

In this painting the breaking wave is the focal point which is to the left of centre and I take opted for a high horizon line. The rocks add rhythm to the painting and subtly pb the eye towards the breaking wave.

Sketching

After I go my photograph reference I sit down with my sketch book and draw some minor thumbnails sketches which results in a concluding sketch which I refer to when painting my seascape. I would thoroughly recommend you lot do some sketches before you get in to a painting, it'll get in so much easier. Your sketches don't have to be perfect works of art, but plenty information that you lot can use it to refer to when yous are painting.

Colour Palette

I used the following colours in this painting:

Titanium white
Cadmium xanthous
Yellowish oxide
Burnt Sienna
Burnt Umber
Cadmium red light
Quinacridone magenta
Ultramarine blue
Cobalt blue
Cobalt teal
Phthalo dark-green

Paint Brushes

I used the post-obit brushes in this painting:

No.half dozen flat bristle brush
No.2 flat bristle brush
No.2 filbert brush
No.i circular brush
No.4 fan brush
one/two" dagger brush
iii/8" dagger brush
1/4" dagger brush
one/2" mundy mop brush

three. BLOCKING IN THE PAINTING

I started this painting by applying a layer of burnt sienna and letting information technology dry out every bit this warms upwardly the canvas as it comes through the paint layers, it as well helps with color and tone.

I sketched the scene using quinacridone magenta mixed with titanium white and I mixed it with Liquin Original which thins the paint and speeds upwards the drying.

I start the painting by blocking in the heaven. I accept deliberately opted for a dark, moody heaven to indicate stormy conditions conditions, only the dark sky will also contrast nicely against the moving ridge highlights which will emphasise it and add more drama to the painting.

I mix the heaven colours with a combination of ultramarine blue, burnt umber, quinacridone magenta and titanium white and apply broad gestural castor strokes with a No.six flat bristle brush.

Next, I paint the horizon line of the sea using ultramarine blueish, a lilliputian phthalo light-green, titanium white and burnt umber to desaturate the mix. I have opted for a loftier horizon so I tin can emphasise the drama of the foreground and when painting landscapes or seascapes you lot should never have your horizon in the center of the canvas equally this forms a distraction in the limerick.

I outline the highlights of the waves and foreground white h2o with pure titanium white from the tube and liquin, I'm not concerned that I'm using white at this stage every bit it will before long mix with the painting outline and the colours I am nearly to add together to the painting.

For this stage of the painting I am using a No.6 flat bristle brush

Using a No.6 apartment bristle brush I focus on the chief focal point of the painting, the wave itself. I paint the translucent expanse of the wave by mixing titanium white with cobalt teal and phthalo green then as I movement towards the trough of the wave I starting time introducing ultramarine blue and cobalt blue into the mix and using less titanium white.

I manipulate the paint to give the appearance of turbulent water and at this phase of the painting I am not at all concerned virtually detail, I only want a base to work from.

I outset blocking in the shadows of the waves and white h2o using a combinations of ultramarine blueish, cobalt blue, quinacridone magenta and titanium white. I vary the colour combinations to accomplish a diverseness of tones in the water to requite the illusion that information technology is turbulent and stormy.

I also utilise some of my wave color mix to the white water to add interest to the foreground.

To complete the blocking in stage I add in the rocks in which I have mixed the colours using a varying combination of burnt umber, burnt sienna, yellow oxide, cadmium yellow and titanium white. I keep the tone darker at this stage then I can add highlights later in the painting.

I mix the rock shadows using a combination of of burnt umber and ultramarine blue which creates a very night tone.

I use a 1/2" dagger brush to block in the rocks.

4. Edifice Upwards THE DETAIL

Now that the blocking in stage is consummate and I've immune the painting to dry out I start working on the particular of the painting. I focus my attention on the wave highlights and the white water in the foreground only I don't want to dive in there with pure titanium white from the tube.

If y'all look at the photo for the about part the white water and wave highlights are not quite white, only a few parts of it are, and so I need to reduce the tone of the white past adding in a picayune ultramarine blueish, burnt umber and quinacridone magenta, basically the same colours I used in the sky. By using the aforementioned colours that I used in the heaven it'due south actually creating more than color harmony in the painting.

By decreasing the tone of the water I can attain a more 3D effect in the water afterward in the painting by adding lighter tone at the end.

Adjacent, using a 3/eight" dagger brush I paint the foam patterns of the breaking wave, lilliputian tendrils of trapped air in the water that course interesting patterns that add to the drama of the breaking wave. I use the aforementioned colours for the foam patterns as I did with the shadow areas of the white water.

Now that the water has gotten to the stage where I simply need to add final highlights to it, I focus my attention on the rocks on the right. I mix burnt umber, burnt sienna, titanium white and a little ultramarine blue to create the illusion of moisture rocks. I increase the tone by adding titanium white.

Using 3/8" dagger brushes I paint the rocks in the foreground on the left using a combination of burnt umber, burnt sienna, yellowish oxide and then in places a fiddling cadmium yellowish and cadmium red light to increase the saturation of the colour. I vary the tone by adding titanium white to the mix.

I am trying to give the illusion of wet rocks so I add highlights to some of the rock edges and faces to requite the illusion of the dominicus reflecting off a wet surface.

Using a No.iv fan brush I start adding more highlights to the h2o to give the illusion of droplets of water as hits the rocky shore. Using lighter tone that the previous layer allows for a more 3D effect in the h2o.

I've been edifice up the detail of the rocks using a No.1 round brush and applying lighter tone of combinations of burnt umber, burnt sienna, cadmium yellow and titanium white.

I refine the shadows in the white h2o using 1/4" dagger brushes and No.ii flat bristle brushes.

v. FINAL DETAILS

To finish the painting I had my final highlights to the rocks by mixing titanium white with a piffling cadmium yellowish and burnt umber. I also add together some reflected light to the upper surfaces of the rocks by mixing cobalt teal, quinacridone magenta, cobalt blue and titanium white which I use using a No.two filbert castor.

I add pure titanium white in small-scale quantities to the crest of the wave and to the white water in the foreground. This is where I apply my lightest tones to truly bring the water to life and with that the painting is complete.

Gratuitous VIDEO

Check out the painting video that accompanies this blog.

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