Hello everyone! Welcome to this tutorial for creating transparency in art to capture the look of water, using tools such as layers, opacity, and layer effects.

I've also made a video of this tutorial with the full painting process on YouTube. You can view the video here:

Creating a New Layer

To begin the process of creating transparent water effects, create a new layer by clicking on the New Raster Layer button in the Layer Window.

Gradient Tool and Adjusting Layer Blending Mode and Opacity

Use the Gradient tool to create a gradient blue on the new layer. Change the Blending Mode of this layer to Overlay and lower the layer Opacity to give the layer a transparent effect. You can adjust the transparency of the layer anytime by using the layer Opacity bar (as shown in the top-right red box in below image); the lower the Opacity, the more transparent the layer will be. When the layer Opacity is set at 0, the layer will be completely transparent.

Changing the Blending Mode and Opacity of the layer gives a translucent blue appearance and adds a watery tone to the painting.

Airbrush Tool - Creating a sense of light

To add a sense of light, create a new layer. Pick a light blue color and use the Soft Airbrush (adjust the brush setting to full Hardness) to create the appearance of streaking lights. Apply the airbrush on the top of the painting and move downwards to create a streaking effect. Then lower the layer Opacity for a transparent underwater effect. This creates an appearance of a light source at the top of the image to show that light is streaking down from above.

Next use the Soft Airbrush and adjust the brush setting to the lowest Hardness. Select a dark blue color and paint the background near the bottom of the image to create more contrast while also blending in the colors, so that the background looks like the bottom of the ocean.

Soft Airbrush - Transparent Glow Effect

To add a transparent glow effect, create a new layer on top of the other layers. Pick a light color (for example, a light yellow) and use the Soft Airbrush to paint the areas where you want the glow to be. In the below example, I’m adding the airbrush on top of the mermaid's hair, parts of the face, shoulders, and other areas of the body that would get light. I also add this effect on the trident, the armor, and the mermaid's scales; this creates the sense that they are glowing too.

Then change the Blending Mode of the layer to Pin Light for transparency and adjust the layer Opacity to your preference, depending on how strong you want the glow effect to look. In the above example, I adjusted the layer Opacity to 80 for a subtle glow effect.

Droplet 2 Airbrush - Transparent Air Bubbles

To create transparent air bubble effects, add another new layer. Select the Airbrush tool and then select the Droplet 2 airbrush (under the Sub Tool menu), to create air bubbles in the water. Change the layer Blending Mode to Overlay and decrease the layer Opacity so that the effect looks more transparent.

Tone Scraping Airbrush - Water Particle Effects

To add glowing water particles, create a new layer and select the Tone Scraping airbrush. Adjust the brush Hardness to the lowest setting and set Particle Density to a low amount. Paint the glow particles in the desired areas, then change the layer Blending Mode to Soft Light so that the layer looks more transparent. You can also adjust the layer Opacity to the desired transparency level.

Running Color Spray Airbrush - Moving Water Effects

To create the effect of moving water, create a new layer and select the Tone Scraping airbrush to add some water particles (the same process as above). Then use the Running Color Spray airbrush on top of the area to add more volume and extra details. Adjust the layer Opacity to a lower amount to achieve a more transparent water appearance.

Hard Airbrush - Large Air Bubbles

To add additional details, create a new layer and draw in some larger air bubbles using the Hard Airbrush (adjust the brush setting to full Hardness). Decrease the layer Opacity so that the bubbles look more transparent and blend into the background.

 

Finishing Touches

Lastly, you can adjust the overall lighting of the image, depending on your preference. In the example below, I created a new layer and picked a light blue color to add highlights on top of the light areas, such as the light source at the top of the painting. I also added some blue to the mermaid's hair, to create a more transparent look in the waters.

Thank you!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and have fun creating!