Things You'll Need:
- Pencil
- Sketch pad
- Canvas
- Paint
- Paint brushes
- Water or paint thinner
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Step 1
Decide on the composition of your painting. Sketch lightly with a pencil and fill in the spaces you'll be painting. Sketch a line to indicate where your horizon will be, then add a second line to indicate the shoreline. If there won't be a shoreline in your seascape, sketch in the general outline of the water characteristics that you'll be painting. This means you'll produce waves that are either calm or choppy, depending upon the type of painting you want to achieve.
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Step 2
Dip a medium-size brush in the color your sky will be. Decide on a blue, clear sky with clouds or a dark, stormy sky. This will determine whether you use a mix of blue and white or black and white paint. Use the brush to layer the color onto your canvas for the sky. Mix your two color choices to create texture and variation as you bring the sky down to your horizon line.
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Step 3
Paint your ocean with a medium-size brush to get the main body of water colored first. Think about the different variations in depth and tone, the way the light shines through the water in some places, making it almost transparent. Use various shades of blue to create these differences. Focus on capturing the shades of your water now and the edge details later.
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Step 4
Use a thin brush to lighten the edges of the waves. Dip the brush into white paint and dab it around the tips of your waves to outline. Apply a bit of pressure to allow the paint to spread, which will result in the water spray typical of seascape paintings. If you're painting a more stormy atmosphere, consider using a wider, softer brush to apply white paint. Use the same dabbing motion to create the foamy-water effect and then switch to a smaller brush to paint water spray.
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Step 5
Add a cliff to one of the corners of your painting. Apply a mix of black and brown paint from one bottom corner, running about a third of the way up. The cliff should start wider at the bottom and thin out as you bring it up. Use a thin-tipped brush and lines of dark black paint to create the jagged layers of the cliff, and wash the spaces in between the dark lines with a brush dipped in water to give the cliff its depth.
