Hello I’m Yumi,

This tutorial is about drawing something transparent (focusing on water). I hope it will be helpful.

First, I put in some darker color, this will not be the overall color but I like to start from a dark color and add light and lighter shades it gives the artwork more depth I guess. Then sketch the object that’s going to be under water (or a different transparent material).

Then put in some flat colors to the object.

Now paint over the water surface with lighter colors. Put in colors and then blend them also when your drawing water I drew it like a circle around the object (the girl). That makes it look more like water. I blend with blur and sometimes with fingertip. The blur I usually turn down the intensity to 5, but I use different intensities for different parts.

Then start putting in more colors on the object and put in some basic shadows and lights.

To show that the water in my painting is indeed transparent there is a a part of the girl sticking out of the water and that part is hit by light, this is a very good way to show the transparency.

Now I focus on some of the details (in this case it’s the clothes).

In the next screenshot you can see that the closer the object is the lighter it is which nicely shows the transparency (basically).

The highlighted parts are not under water which is shows with a clear boarder, it doesn’t have to be really sharp but it should be distinct.

Here I put in some more color and definition to the water also the water is circling around the object so I show that with some lines that I blur a bit or draw them with a lower opacity.

The last thing is the reflections of the trees. These reflections nicely show that this is transparent water. Also transparent materials reflect really nicely and since is going over the girl in the water its obvious that these branches are just reflections.

I hope this short tutorial will help you with your next painting.