>>8408358Sure bro, I can give a pretty detailed guide, but here's one that I learned from:
http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=157503&p=637868But my method is pretty much the same as his.
First off, the base is made from that pink panther insulation board, like pic related. They're only a few bucks for a massive 4x8 board that will last you forever. You can also get thicker 1" boards that are useful for 1/350 ship dioramas, but the 1/2" ones will allow you to practice a lot and perfect the methods for making the wave forms and whatnot. Even mine are far from perfect, I've only done a few so far and I'm still learning as I go.
You will want a nice, sharp knife to carve out the foam board, and it tends to split the foam if you cut too fast or too slow, you have to find the right amount of pressure to get a nice clean even cut.
After you cut if out, you want to place the waterline part of the ship on the model itself and mark it out, if you're just going to use a waterline ship, you don't have to do any cutting, but if it's a full hull kit you might want to cut the waterline and then cut out the foam so the ship can be inserted inside. After that, take the foam and turn it upside down, and run the lighter over it, this might take some practice, but you can make very shallow, subtle waves, or very large rough waves. You can also just avoid this and use dremel tools to shave away at the foam, or just leave it flat for a calm sea and do all the texturization with the liquitex heavy and medium gels.
Either way, once you get it shaped, you want to lay down a layer of gesso as primer for your acrylic paint. You can even use the Gesso to add texture too, but it's quite a thick layer of paint. After that, pick some acrylic colors that work for an ocean, greens, blues, and just add black if you want it to be a darker open ocean tone, and then brush paint it on.