How do I draw people underwater?
I'm drawing a mermaid for this contest, but I'm only drawing her face and shoulders, and she's in the water, so I need to know how I can draw water,...
I'm drawing a mermaid for this contest, but I'm only drawing her face and shoulders, and she's in the water, so I need to know how I can draw water, if that makes sense. 
I want it to look like shes actually in water, because right now it just looks like there's water behind her. So like what can I draw in front to suggest she's in the ocean?
Sorry if that doesn't make any sense, but I really need some help!
Thanks!
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draw the ripples and the bubbles and make her hair more swishy. draw shadows and stuff ect ect.
make her skin have a bluish cast, have her hair fan out, draw bubbles, make her face look all ripply, etc.
Give her skin/hair/everything else a bluish/greenish looking tint kinda thing, make her hair spread out and flowing, add some bubbles, maybe some fish/animals, maybe position her hands/arms to look as though she’s swimming/keeping herself in a certain position, you know what I mean?
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/images/fl/FLWEEadagio_vid.jpg
http://southfloridadaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/brooksville-020-2.jpg
You see what I mean about the blue skin/bubbles/animals? Hope I helped, good luck!
Hi There,
Ooh, great question! Are you using paint or colored pencils or pencil? I did an acrylic painting like this once. It was when I first started out painting and it turned out awful! However, I learned a lot from it and here are some of the tips that I picked up:
1. She can’t just be floating there and looking up at the viewer. It just looks…unrealistic in my oponion. In the books I’ve read and in the movie’s I’ve seen, mermaids tend to have a LOT of personality!
To do this, I would make her looking like either she is shy and hiding bashfully from the viewer or look like she’s longing to be with the viewer, above the water. For the former, have her back arched and looking over her shoulder, maybe blushing, with the tail coming out at the viewer and her deeply underwater, and shadowy, reaching into the depths where you can hardly see her hand, just the outline. I would use really vibrant colors, like golds, yellows, reds etc. for her fins and hair and clothing so that when you put that blueish tint over her, she still pops off the page. For the latter, give her a very wistful look, with a severly foreshortened hand coming out toward the viewer, with an arched back and slightly parted lips to show desire. This will give you a ton of dimension and if her tail is floating behind her, in the shadowy depths, she’ll look like she’s coming out at you.
2. Create layers, either of blue or with your pencil. Because it is a close up, I wouldn’t suggest doing any fish or anything unless they are obviously best friends. The ocean is big and it could mess up your proportions and scale. Have the deepest blue be right behind her, like you’d shade next to the neck of a person in a portrait. Bubbles, as mentioned above, are a great idea if they start small, by her tail, then come up toward the viewer. Just remember not to get too “Disney”, meaning that real life bubbles are rarely round, especially if they are big, and they float up in a big cloud, not in a perfectly spaced line.
3. Easy on the highlights. Only the space of her that is closest to the top of the water should have anything more than a little light on it…. water refracts light very well. However, the things that are closest to the light should almost be bleached where the light is hitting them.
4. Don’t (!) wave the lines of the things that are farther under water. (Trust me, it looks icky, lol) Use your shading or paint to create that effect by using an almost turtle pattern, varying only slightly between the pattern and whats in the middle, if that makes sense. This will create the same effect with her still looking like a mermaid.
I really hope that helps and good luck with your contest!
All The Best,
Lexie