You can color water for many purposes, such as making a fun drink, setting up a water playstation for your kids, or creating a centerpiece.Synthetic, natural, or even homemade options are available.Adding highlights and shadows can make a picture of water look realistic.
Step 1: Stir to mix with a couple of drops of food coloring.
Food coloring can be found in grocery stores and discount stores.Salt can be added to the water to prevent food coloring from sinking.It is easy to find water-based liquid food coloring.Liquid gel food coloring will make the final product more vibrant.Don't add too much food coloring if you're coloring water for a drink.Red colors can have a bad flavor if you use a lot of them.Wait until the last minute to put flowers in your food coloring-dyed water.Food coloring can change the color of flowers in a couple of hours.
Step 2: Gel icing will give you a brighter, more concentrated color.
A little bit goes a long way, so use a toothpick to grab a small amount of gel and swirl it around in the water.If you need more, add it until you get the color you are looking for.The paste dye can be found in grocery stores.
Step 3: Adding powdered food dye will give it an extra dark color.
Pick up a small amount of powder and place it in your water slowly.When you get the deep color you are looking for, blend in more dye a little at a time.You can add the liquid dye to your water by mixing the powder with a couple of drops of clear alcohol.
Step 4: There is a way to make water glow.
Remove the felt tube from the back of the highlighter while wearing gloves.To get the last bits of ink out of the tube, soak it in hot water for 3-6 hours and squeeze it into the water.The water will glow under a blacklight.If you want to drink the water or if your skin will be in contact with it, do not use this method.
Step 5: Natural food coloring can be used to give a softer look.
These dyes can be found in specialty stores or online.Their color is usually not as bright, so use these for a more subtle option or for water that you want to drink or have your kids play with.
Step 6: You can make your own natural liquid food dye.
It is possible to find a fruit or vegetable that matches the color you are looking for.If you reduce the liquid by heating it until most of the water is evaporated, it will leave you with a concentrated color.Once you get the hue you are looking for, add your homemade dye to water a few drops at a time.Different shades of pink are produced by strawberries or raspberries.You can get a red tomato.There are leafy greens that can be used to color water green.Adding baking soda makes red cabbage blue.Blueberries can be used to make purple coloring.
Step 7: Natural powdered food coloring can be used to color water.
Spices or drink mixes can be used to buy a powdered fruit or vegetable.You can either mix the powder directly into the liquid or steep it in a coffee filter and let it soak in warm water for a couple of hours until you get the color you want.If you want to color it orange, mix it with water.You can get yellow water by steeping saffron or turmeric.Green tea can be turned into water by stirring it.Green tea leaves can be steeped in warm water.To color coffee brown, add ground coffee or cocoa powder to water or steep a tea bag in warm water.You can get a black solution by combining activated charcoal powder and water.
Step 8: Adding highlights to a bubble will create water droplets.
Take a thin dark line and fill it with a blue or gray shade.If you want to highlight one side of the bubble, you can make a white or light colored rectangle.To match the shape of the bubble, the rectangle should be slightly curved.When coloring in the drop, use different colors to make it look 3-dimensional.There is a darker shade in the area immediately surrounding the highlight and a lighter shade on the opposite side of the droplet.If you blend all the colors within your drop, you can create a smooth, rounded shape.Give the drop a small shadow on its outside edge to complete the look, if you add extra shading around the inner edges.
Step 9: Paint waves with wavy lines.
Over the area where you want your water, add a base color.The lines are drawn over the entire water area.The lines should look similar to semicircles.The wave shapes should be smaller and deeper for distant waves and bigger for waves in the foreground.To create the appearance of sea foam, add white on the crests of some of the bigger waves, and use a darker shade to make shadows underneath the peaks.
Step 10: Diagonal lines are used when making a seascape.
Use a flat brush to create wave shapes.The strokes should be more horizontal towards the horizon of the picture.The look of foamy waves can be created by leaving some white space between your waves.
Step 11: Draw waves with a brush.
Put the darker shade towards the horizon if you want your water to be.You can use a brush tool to create wave shapes.You can add highlights to the peaks of your waves with a softer brush.You can paint the top of your waves with a white or light brush.
Step 12: Adding nearby colors will make water look realistic.
Water reflects white light and other colors as well.If you use other colors besides blue, your seascapes will look better.Light highlights on the tops of your waves should be orange if the sky is orange at sunset.
Step 13: Draw nearby objects upside-down.
Draw your object, such as a floating boat or a tree-lined shore.Next, draw an upside-down version of each object.Add in wavy lines both overtop of the reflected object as well as in the surrounding water.The waves should be tighter together in the background.Make the wave shapes the same color as the original object by crossing them into the reflected object.If you are drawing a brown tree trunk reflected into the water, make the wave shapes blue outside of the reflected outline, and brown inside of it.