How to paint foam?

Carl Brannstrom

Hi

Im working on this picture. It is a splash screen for my game Im making and now I have problems with painting some nice white foam on the waves.. But I cant make it look nice.. Here is what I have done so far:


With foam


It looks like hairy gullshit!:(

Do any of you have any tips or tricks how to make foam?

Thank you.

Eric Chadwick

First thing is to get good reference. Some search terms... underway, bow wake.

etc.

Water is more solid generally, less scattered. Try to get some directional flow in there too.

Joseph Silverman

Google turned up this, looks promising. Traditional, but should give you some ideas: http://www.realcolorwheel.com/waves.htm (There are a few more articles about waves after it, hit the next button at the bottom)

Mark Dygert

1) The sea is a little too choppy to match the calm sky. tone those waves down make the sea almost glassy with very light waves. This will help draw attention to the bow and where the water is breaking on the ship. Right now the waves steal too much focus. Really try to push the effect that the water surface is clam and the ship is breaking it. By taking detail out of the surrounding sea you will draw people back into the ship which is your focal point.

1.5) Know that waves out at sea have a different look than waves breaking on a beach. Don't forget your boats wake as it spreads out into the clam sea behind the boat. Don't assume that what the tutorial above tells you about waves is meant to be a guide for all waves at sea. It gives some good info but mostly apply what it says to the breaking waves around the boat and not the surrounding sea, unless this thing is about to beach itself hahaha.

2) Easy on the black shadows and ultra yellow highlights. Wash over those with a med blue. Remember water is semi transparent which means it will hardly NEVER cast a dark harsh shadow on itself. As a wave crests you will actually see more light thru it. So the dark shadows are killing the water right now.

3) Also try to move away from the idea that "shadows are dark so I paint them black".

4) Remember your ship is plowing thru the water not being dropped into it. The look you want is rolling, churning water in front of the boat, not high splashes.

5) You have a lot of different colors in there, I would desaturate the image a bit and do a few blue-ish-grey color overlays to help tie all the colors together.

6) I would also break up your horizon line with some really light clouds it will help give it a far off feel.

7) The boat isn't going to completely block out the light on the entire left side of the painting, some light will shine around the back of the boat.

8) The position of the sun suggests sunset, but the lighting and colors suggests earlier in the day. I would add a sunset gradient overlay to help bring out the sunset colors and really play up the drama of dusk.


9) The boat needs more of a reflection and presence under the water, remember water is semi transparent and you can often make out large blobby shapes as long as they are not too far under the waters surface.

In case you're like me and it does more good to see something rather than read it, I did a paint over.
And one with the sunset gradient applied.

10) Lastly I would move the anchor holes front and center and paint some nice big anchors in the holes. Right now your eye is drawn to the ship but there isn't much to look at. It will work well as it is IF there is text or a menu over bow. Something to look at when your eye rests on the painting. Personally I would love to paint anchors right there, some some really nice bow detailing, metal plating, or even something as simple as a water line gage.

Good luck, hope this helps more than it hurts

Eric Chadwick

Wow, way to go Vig!

Snowfly

yeah i agree, good calls vig

Asthane

One thing Vig didn't touch on: the horizon looks harsh and unnatural since the perspective on the water is off. Remember, you can see the horizon, that means you should be representing say, some hundreds of miles of ocean in the small space from the location of the back of the boat to the horizon-- that's a lot of detail, and it'll get finer as it reaches the horizon looking rather more flat and squashed than you'd expect. The water on the image as is looks more like a 45 degree angle that's cut off unnaturally, and fixing it should help quite a bit, I think.

Emil Mujanovic

Nice paintover Vig, needs more lens flare

-caseyjones

Carl Brannstrom

Thanks Vig!

Actually I just wanted to know how to make nice foam but, I don't mind at all that you give me critiques.

I wish that I read this earlier because I have worked a little more on it. Here is how it currently look like:


I'm a little unsecure about the waves. I want it to look dramatic but as you say, they take too much attention from the ship. There is going to be lots of stuff under the water too.

Your critiques are really good but I think it will give it a more realistic look. I want it to be more cartoonish but with a tuch of realism.

Here is the sketch for the picture:

Last: It's not anchor holes... It's windows. The boat design is a little weird.

I have probably forgot something but I will write here later.

Thanks.

Carl Brannstrom

An little update:


Now, this may have turned into Pimping but... Eh some mod can move this if they feel to.

Joao Sapiro

"Your critiques are really good but I think it will give it a more realistic look. I want it to be more cartoonish but with a tuch of realism."

thats a lame excuse :P keep practising, and you should really try to implement vigs sugestion.