Light Through Water

Today I want to show you a technique that resembles the effect of light shining through water. This technique would also work for sunlight shining through clouds, or perhaps starlight or moonlight shining down on an object. I've used the technique to create a shaker card, which I intended to resemble a goldfish pond filled with light and sparkling bubbles.

Stamp the images on a piece of smooth cardstock and colour with pencils. You'll need to colour the whole image, including the background. Try to lay down lots of colour so that you'll have plenty of pigment to create the contrast between light and dark.

This bit is a little daunting, I must admit, but the results are definitely worth it. Take a nice soft, clean eraser and drag one of the long edges in a straight line, from the top of the coloured image to the bottom. As the eraser moves along, it takes away a layer of colour. As you can see below, it starts off as quite a crisp line, then starts to blend and blur as the eraser makes it's way through the pencil. This gives the impression of light dispersing as it gets deeper into the water.

It's important to CLEAN THE ERASER with each pass you make. You don't want to start out with a dirty eraser or you won't get that nice crisp start to your light beam. Make each beam of light wider at the bottom than the top, again, to give the impression that the light is dispersing as it makes it's way through the water.

I added a third fish over the top of the background to give the finished card some depth. It was secured in place with foam tape, which brings it flush against the acetate sheet making it appear to be in the foreground of the scene.

Stamps and Dies: