The right colour for water?

[TotalWarrior]

Well I was looking through a lot of MOCs that include an island or a fort with bodies of flat blue studs that are a nice colour of blue. It's hard to identify the name of the blue colour that all the nice looking MOCs use. In other words, what is the best colour of blue to use for water? A colour that will look really nice.

Thank you.

[The Soup Nazi]

Well I was looking through a lot of MOCs that include an island or a fort with bodies of flat blue studs that are a nice colour of blue. It's hard to identify the name of the blue colour that all the nice looking MOCs use. In other words, what is the best colour of blue to use for water? A colour that will look really nice.

Thank you.

Well, it depends. If you want a pond-like color, then I'd go for Sky Blue. If your looking for a ocean-like color, then trans-blue is the way to go!

[Skull-Mark_Ladybug]

It also looks really nice if you have a mix of colours. Such as having the water closer to the shore being sky blue, and the deeper water being regular blue.

And for really shallow water such as streams waterfalls, etc. Transparent white bricks work well .

[Stash2Sixx]

Good topic! And since it covers many themes, I think you put in the right forum too.

I think the first question you have to ask is what type of MOC are you creating? I feel the theme can have a huge impact.

For example...(All of the pics shown belong to their respective builders. I take credit for none of these pics and am using them without their permission.)

If you look at some Fantasy / Castle type builds, EB member and Classic-Castle member RebelRock has used a couple of different colors.

As you can see, in the first two pictures, RebelRock has used colors we normally don't expect. But, for these MOCs, Black is great and really creates a feel for how dark and murky the environment is, along with whatever may be hiding in the water. Dark red gives us that creepy feel of blood.

In the third image, RebelRock uses a few different shades. Standard bright blue is used for the main water color, and gradually, medium blue and white are worked in to create the rushing, frothy water effect.

Brickshelf member hachi uses the basic bright blue (non-snotted) color on his Witch House MOC.

EB member I Scream Clone uses both bright blue and medium blue, along with a little white to create a sense of depth in the water as it approaches the shore line.

Again, bright blue and white to create the froth of the waves.

Builder Chris Edwards uses trans plates and tiles along with different shades of plate underneath the tile to create a sense of depth.

So, I don't think there really is an exact color for water. I think it depends on what you are trying to create. As shown by these builders, there are many different options. Play around with the different colors. Try some different things; never know what you might come up with.

[TotalWarrior]

Well my WIP MOC is a small rocky lookout-outpost-supply-storage-area. It's quite small. It's just going to be a wall segment with a building or two and a dock so small ships can drop off and take supplies. I still need to add to my imagination :P. It is in the Pirates theme and it is British/Imperial controlled. By the way, would these kinds of areas be very close to land or in the open ocean?(There are no civilians, it is military controlled)I will post pictures when I find my camera.

I'm currently pausing it until I get my required pieces together. My first concern is the water since I literally have a few of the flat blue studs(and the fact that I have no idea which of the 500 variations of blue I should be looking for). The second concern is that I don't have the right amount of the right pieces for my building(tower lookout like structure), small rock cliffs, and the wall. I also require those big plates that are one whole piece. Do you guys have any suggestions where I can get so many quantities of all these for a low price?

Now on topic, I really like the colour that I circled in this picture, it gives a clean nice touch to the piece. What kind of blue is it?

[JimBee]

Water is technically colorless, but who says art has to be technical?

While you could use clear plates with colored piece underneath (to create that depth effect), I agree with Stash. It depends on what you're creating and what kind of vibe your want it to have on your viewers. Stash gave many great examples. You might want to use a bright blue mixed with some deeper blues or bluish greens for a relaxed or peaceful MOC, or maybe black or dark blue for MOCs with a heavier theme. Variation is also important, like the white used as wave crests or the transition from dark to light blue as the water gets closer to shore.

Interesting topic, by the way, I'll be following this one for more good water techniques.

[Stash2Sixx]

Now on topic, I really like the colour that I circled in this picture, it gives a clean nice touch to the piece. What kind of blue is it?

Looks like good old standard bright blue. The way the light hits it makes it look a little lighter though.

[Enpaz]

Looks like good old standard bright blue. The way the light hits it makes it look a little lighter though.

I agree. This is the normal blue.

What I'd do is: get yourself some medium blue pieces, and create the water effect by combining white, medium blue, and blue. You can always experiment a bit, but medium blue pieces are always handy to have at hand if you want to 'build' water (no pun intended! ).

Happy MOCing!

[Spencer_R]

Well, it depends. If you want a pond-like color, then I'd go for Sky Blue. If your looking for a ocean-like color, then trans-blue is the way to go!

I used a layer of trans-light blue plates over top of various shades of solid color blue plates (dark, regular, medium, sky, maersk, and aqua) to simulate varying ocean depths for my Burj Al Arab. Trans-light blue plates are rare and pricey, but I think the new Atlantis sets have trans-light blue 1x4 tiles.

[RileyC]

Has anyone tried to overlay trans-blue over another colour to show that there is something under the water? Or even a crocodile under the water?

[Milan]

Has anyone tried to overlay trans-blue over another colour to show that there is something under the water? Or even a crocodile under the water?

I remember I saw some in the Pirate forum, I think it was a group of fishes underneath the water.