Drawing water

Water

Water always gives an aesthetic touch to a landscape drawing or painting. But, just like the clouds in the sky, water can assume so many different forms and we really need to start by putting our thoughts in order. Remember, water is a fluid: it runs, flows, jumps, gushes and spurts.

Depending on its movement, its own or its reflected colour can change completely. You will doubtless have noticed how a stretch of water which appears dark blue one morning may become green or grey as the day wears on. The influence of the sky is often at work here.

As you know, of course, you cannot rely on the pencil to reproduce colours, so once again you will need to think and observe in terms of values.

Stretches of water. This category will include the sea, lakes, ponds, canals (not strictly speaking running water), puddles and all other forms of static water. In the absence of wind, these waters are nothing more nor less than mirrors forcing you to draw he same subject twice, once the right way up and once "upside down". That is actually not strictly speaking true since, as you know, the reflection of an object is never entirely identical to the object - or rather, it is the same thing but seen from a different angle.

The module on how to construct reflections in perspectives deals, I hope, with this question fairly clearly so I suggest that we confine ourselves here to the shapes and tones which water can take.

Running water

Streams, rivers, all kinds of waterfall large and small, all natural or artificial spillways fall into the category of running water. Whenever their shape alters their reflections change as well. When you learn to observe a stream, you notice how the water flowing against a rock winds itself in a continuous movement giving the illusion of an unchanging aspect.

We learn that the particles of water making up this border and then a series of wavelets going round an obstacle are in fact in constant movement. And yet we look upon the whole as something more solid, like a sort of vitreous paste left to cool. A photograph which fixes or freezes running water sometimes gives this unreal look to a mass of undulating water.

But in your drawing are you going to emphasise or downplay this special effect?

The photographer's choice

An accomplished photographer can easily lengthen or reduce the camera's shutter speed, and when he takes a photo of a waterfall he can choose his exposure time. The result is a different photograph each time. If the exposure time is short the waterfall will be "frozen", showing thousands of clearly defined drops of water separated from each other like glass marbles rendered elongated by their movement. But in the case of a longer exposure time, several successive positions of each drop will be superimposed on the role of film, thereby creating a plethora of light marks indicating the direction of their movement. The result is a certain blur due to the speed at which the drops move. This result will undoubtedly be more realistic and close to what is perceived by the naked eye.

If you opt for this second approach you will render the effect of blur and movement through lines running parallel to the movement of the water. Don't overdo this effect or else you run the risk of lapsing into convention. Remember, you are not trying to emulate the cartoon approach where movement is indicated by the lines situated behind the objects. This convention which works very well in comic strip drawings would be entirely out of place in a landscape drawing.

Tonality of reflections in still water In rendering the reflection of an object, you will be at pains to observe the general tonality of what is reflected compared to the original. In many instances, the whole is a little darker and a little less contrasted, but this not always the case. With water, there is sometimes a light mist serving to "bleach" the entire range of tones of the reflected part.

This observation is important for getting you on the right track, but once you have decided whether the reflection is lighter or darker, stick to your guns and be consistent in your range of tones.

Reflections in rough waters

When there is a lot of movement, as for example on the surface of the sea in windy weather, reflected objects such as trees, boats and banks are not the only things you need to take into account. Since the facets of the water turn in all directions, there are always the sun's reflections turning towards the eye of the onlooker. As you will shortly discover, it is important to present these very bright spots in the right way.

Take in the scene carefully and, as always, consign as much as you can to memory.

River water movements

On a river, the lines of force of water movements follow a natural curve coming from the river bed. It makes no difference whether we are considering a large or small river or a stream, the movements of the running, twisting water are always organised in the same way, describing lines parallel to the middle of the stream. Outward winding movements from these lines are often visible. Make a point of respecting these natural movements when drawing waves or folds in the water.

If the wind is responsible for these folds on the surface all sorts of ripples can appear depending on the wind's strength and direction. There's no denying that, as far as wind is concerned, the most beautiful water deformations are provided by the sea - as we shall now discover.

Ripples and waves

The formation of waves at sea is a natural phenomenon which will give you plenty to think about when you include them in your drawings. But actually waves are not all that difficult to draw provided that you put in a bit of preparatory work. But there's no gainsaying the fact that drawing a sea in movement is an art in itself, so much so hat some draughtsmen, painters and watercolour artists have devoted their whole life to it.

In actual fact, we are dealing with two separate subjects here -drawings of the open sea and drawings of the shore. It is more unusual to come across underwater scenes but I will say something about this as well at the end.

In open-sea scenes, it is important to enliven the subject with heavy waves in the foregrounds, boats, icebergs, birds, etc. - anything you like really as long as it attracts the eye, otherwise you'll end up with a dreadfully flat and visually tedious horizon line, even if the sea is well composed. Boats are of course things of beauty but you will need to beware certain classical errors which we address in the section devoted to the drawing of objects.

A methodical approach is all important when it comes to drawing waves. Don't place your horizon line too high up. Remember, you want to avoid splitting your drawing into two equal parts.

Observe the sea. The wind blows and shapes the water into waves which take on a life of their own. They load themselves with increasing quantities of water as they rise. A crest is formed, growers thinner, bends and finally creates foam as it falls.

The amount of time taken up by this process will depend on the strength of the wind and certain currents. But remember, one wave will deliver its foam at the same time as another one begins to take shape.

In other words, your drawing will incorporate waves in all their different phases. The trick is to divide up these phases as logically and naturally as possible. If you were actually looking out to sea, everything would change too quickly for you to hope to seize a particular instant. All the more reason to grasp the principle at work when you organise your seascape.

Many examples of such organisation may be taken from nature. Perhaps not a perfect organisation but then perfection is not something we should be aiming at here. It is not enough to simply draw the same wave a certain number of times in the foreground, to copy the resulting row on a slightly smaller scale behind and so on as far as the horizon. If you did that you would end up with something looking like the scales of a fish, a wallpaper pattern or printed fabric devoid of all life. So how can we ensure a realistic effect?

Look again. The waves are spread almost equally over the entire surface; those with a crest have a triangular silhouette.

As they are arranged more or less in a quincunx with the hollow parts situated between two waves, the visible form is a diamond. The stronger the wind the narrower the diamond.

Look again.

If the sea is deep or if currents come into play, the two sides of the diamond can be of unequal proportions; the wave can become longer without becoming higher.

Now that you have completed your visual analysis, you can move on to draw your frame. Holding the pencil casually and without pressing on the paper draw a criss-cross grid in order to position the waves. Now come back to your painting and from time to time move a wave from its initially planned position on the grid. Whatever you do, avoid anything that smacks of a systematic approach. Allow your pencil to guide you outside the box you originally marked, think of something else, feel your way.

Now come back to the waves in he foreground and work on their form in a little greater detail. Now is the time to break up the horizon line by making the waves rise up sufficiently to bisect it. Some of them will be in their infancy, others rolling and yet others breaking. Use these waves as a model for their smaller cousins - cousins, mind you, not identical twins - as you move towards the horizon.

Now return a third time and his time put in the touches of shadow and light, leaving the paper intact at the places where the foam is formed.

Foam in fact is not always in evidence but it is hard to deny oneself the pleasure of these cascade or lace effects which stand out so pleasantly against the blue shades of the deep water.

Remember when drawing water that it is transparent, even in the open sea. Just because you can't see the bottom of the sea, it doesn't mean that the water is opaque. So there won't be any shadows cast by one wave on another. At any rate the shadow will be very light because the wave allows part of the light to filter and because the attenuated shadow crosses the water on which it alights.

But the contrast must be sufficient to give consistency to the sea. Pure whites will be found in the foam and the sun's reflections; blacks in the thickness of the foot of the waves which are sometimes midnight blue. Feel out the facets of these volumes of water and shade them into intermediate tints.

If you are drawing from memory, remember that the sails of boats must correspond to the direction of the wind. If the sails swell to the right, the foam will be on the right of the waves. Errors with this sort of thing may not be apparent at first glance but you can be sure that people familiar with the sea will quickly spot any incongruities in your seascapes or drawings of boats.

The seaside

Far more artists are drawn to the seaside than to the open sea. It's easy to understand why. Apart from the fact that drawing on a boat is no easy matter, the seaside has a lot going for it in terms of composition and points of interest.

Looking out to sea from the coast, you can exploit two rather pleasant things: the creeks? of a little bay and the foreground. In any reasonably sized creek, the coast appears towards the centre of the drawing in the distance. Mist and sea effects will make the picture even more enjoyable and the coast breaks up the horizon line to agreeable effect. The crest of a rock can also make a welcome addition.

This kind of distant coastline is fairly easy to draw. What you want to avoid at all costs is the sort of mechanical gesture which would make this part of your drawing too regular. This is particularly important here since the coastline will stand out against a generally clear background and the contours will be clearly visible.

Important: if you are partially inventing your landscape, try not to advance on one side or the other, or if you do so, at least guard against any ungracious symmetry. As far as the path taken by the eye is concerned, if a creek? is too enclosed, the gaze starts off from the foreground, exits via the clear passage and then finds no natural path to continue. Boredom sets in immediately.

The foreground (the water lapping up against a sandy or pebble beach) is full of interest. First of all, unlike the open sea, the waves are very different in the distance and on the edge, in other words in the foreground. Here, they break up and spread out on the wet sand, creating countless reflections. The foam left behind by each wave dying at your feet produces a series of jagged borders which will enliven the foreground and give the pencil ample scope to express itself.

But remember that the seaside can also be the sea seen from the water; it is the water striking the shore, rocks and seawalls. If this is your chosen viewpoint, any number of subjects are open to you and you will have the twin pleasure of rendering the water and depicting the coast.

The effects can run the gamut from utter calm to violent storm, from very dark to very clear, from very empty to highly detailed.

Here are just a few of the many scenes that the sea conjures up: The coast at low tide when the rocks are still wet and the pools full of refreshing water; seawalls hit by the unbridled fury of the water spraying all in its path and rendering even the darkest stones white; the fishermen's houses reflected in the still water of the evening; fishing ports, lighthouses, beach huts; tall trees, coconut trees, lush tropical vegetation. And so on and so forth!

Underwater views

Many an artist has been attracted by the magical aspect of underwater scenes. Doing justice to this submarine environment is a fine exercise and challenge.

Since water in itself has no colour, it is "perceived" by the way the light is filtered and the subject organised. But there is one thing which can mark the division between air and water: he folds of the water's surface which, so to speak, attach the daylight to the "ceiling".

Apart from these curly effects - make sure they are very light - the water must grow darker as you descend towards the depths, and by "depths" I mean the thickness of the water, in any direction. If you are depicting a sea bed of clear sand, the sand will be he lightest surface except for the sun's reflection on the surface.

Make sure that any animals or humans move realistically in such an environment. People don't run underwater, they progress slowly! So make a point of rendering slow and silent movements.

Rocks

Rocks come in an infinite variety of shapes and sizes and their presence beside the water is a never-ending source of wonder. Their surface may be soft and polished by the water or rendered jagged and harsh by the elements.

Depending on their situation, rocks can assume extraordinary forms and sizes. Use your framing window? to find the most pleasing composition. Notice how rocks can attract the sun and cast deep shadows. Their mineral structure can often be glimpsed through different-coloured layers or through cuts showing the erosion wrought by time.

Seek out these accidents and forces of nature and build up your drawing around them. If possible, collect a few rock samples as you walk along the seashore.

What is the point of the samples? Well, they possess an interesting property. Naturally, they provide a model of the rock's colour, but more to the point their structure is very often the same as that of the rock itself. In other words they are sometimes veritable miniature rocks, and this is really what I'm driving at.

You see, if you've collected a sufficient amount of samples, if you've chosen them well and if you've had the bright idea of taking some sand as well, you'll be able to carry out an extremely enjoyable task - the construction of an infinite number of scale models of landscapes!

Spread out the sand on a tray or a large board (a plate would be too small). Take the pebbles one at a time and lay them out as naturally as possible. It's a good idea to close one eye and imagine the result.

Almost before you know it, you will have an entirely realistic landscape which, once seen in an appropriate frame, will give an impression of imposing rocks. It will be easy to make out the cracks, shadows and strata, in short to create extraordinarily lifelike coastlines.

This is an excellent drawing lesson in getting used to changing your scale of reference. Naturally, it cannot altogether replace the "real thing" but it is certainly not to be sneered at, if only to see your friends racking their brains as they try to locate your landscape!