03-18-2016, 02:02 PM
Yep what Piotr said. Also your colours are all very monotonous. Yeah that does tend to happen underwater, but there is more colour variation in reality, and since this is a painting you could amp that up even more. The first study/thumb below demonstrates that well.
Your edges are also very sharp all over. If you want to simulate water, make some soft edges to contrast against the harder ones. Focus and lighting tend to drop off quite sharply in water, so keeping everything in focus like that is breaking the impression of water
You could also push the lighting and make it stronger on the focal point. Caustic patterns tend to appear under very direct lighting and closer to the surface, so don't be afraid to push the lighting more to promote that. If this is supposed to be at great depth, you're breaking that impression with caustics.
Here is either a quick study or colour thumb example from Repin Sadko to illustrate. I've included the final painting, but I thinkn the thumbnail does a better job of capturing the feeling of water, as much as I love the final.
![[Image: 32547361515cf9161bab033ef9cc3a5b.jpg]](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/32/54/73/32547361515cf9161bab033ef9cc3a5b.jpg)
![[Image: repin_sadko_in_the_underwater_kingdom_1876.jpg]](http://www.russianpaintings.net/articleimg/repin/repin_sadko_in_the_underwater_kingdom_1876.jpg)
Your edges are also very sharp all over. If you want to simulate water, make some soft edges to contrast against the harder ones. Focus and lighting tend to drop off quite sharply in water, so keeping everything in focus like that is breaking the impression of water
You could also push the lighting and make it stronger on the focal point. Caustic patterns tend to appear under very direct lighting and closer to the surface, so don't be afraid to push the lighting more to promote that. If this is supposed to be at great depth, you're breaking that impression with caustics.
Here is either a quick study or colour thumb example from Repin Sadko to illustrate. I've included the final painting, but I thinkn the thumbnail does a better job of capturing the feeling of water, as much as I love the final.