Help with painting water

[Chris Abbey]

I have just started work on some 1' modular terrain tiles.

I made the first nine several months ago and base coated them quickly because I wanted to use them for a game the next day.



As you can see, I have base coated the river blue. I had planned to drybrush ligher blue and white over this before applying several coats of varnish.

However the next three boards have a canal section along one side, and the bright blue will definitely not work for a canal. I want to be able to use the canal boards to form a quayside for a harbour, butting up to sea boards and to have an estuary board that could take the river into the sea.

Therefore I really need to find a compromise color / soloution that will work for a river / canal / sea so that they are all compatible. I'm not sure whether to go for blue / green or brown, so any ideas will be gratefully received!

[YPU]

I have found that a very very dark blue-brown with a high gloss coat works for most things. Here is a horrible stock photo I found that exemplifies what I mean:



that kind of high reflective ripples over a dark colour will suit pretty much any body of water.

[Chris Abbey]

Yes, that is certainly a good generic image for water. It looks almost grey. Maybe I should use the Dulux app to try to sample the color.

[psullie]

i'd suggest use the same colour you have for your bank but darker, after all from high up water looks clear (the fresnel effect only works with acute angles), become darker in the middle and closer to the outside of curves as deeper pools tend to be there, then run some green smudges to suggest weeds in the flow of the current. A high-gloss finish as YPU suggests.

[FifteensAway]

Rivers are very rarely blue, far more often a greenish color works better.  Lakes and oceans may appear more blue.  Of course, in flood stage they are more likely to be brown - or whatever the dominant soil color may be.  But that very dark blue with a gloss (as in reflective) coating will work.  Another option is gloss black with a gloss coating.  I've tried it with a couple of layers of gloss with a hint of blue in some layers and green in others.  Works pretty well.

[Mason]

I went with a darkish green for my docks, which should work pretty well for most bodies of water....























....white was drybrushed on to give an impression of movement and then a couple of coats of varnish.

[Chris Abbey]

Many thanks, they all look really good. My wife has gone out shopping for a dark greyish sort of color. We used Dulux app to take a sample from photo of sea, so will see how that turns out. I do however know really like the look of the greenish sea.

[SteveBurt]

I find Phthalocyanine green is a good match for deep water - it's a deep green/blue colour.
I used it for all my naval bases.