Ok, Well I've hit a breaking point and need your help.
Basically I am going to be working on some hand painted textures over the next few weeks.
Currently I am texturing a tentacle (don't ask why) but I haven't the slightest clue how to paint a transparent looking skin (and I cannot add any funky shaders)
Here is the piece of shit texture I have at the moment, spent about 2 hours on it.

All the visible strokes on this makes it read like wood - make it smooth and shiny. Can you use a spec map on this?

Well first of all, is it going to be unlit or is it going to have realtime shading? That is very important to know in regards to how much lighting information you can paint in and things like specmaps. Although in general your direction so far seems rather uninformed. Have you been looking at reference?

@Justin: Yes, I can indeed.

@Fingus: it will be realtime. For my method I was really just messing around with the colors, overall I felt like I wanted to go with a dark blue (which I'll throw some pics up later)
I've looked at reference, but there is so many tiny details, don't know how to convert them to bigger ones and looking realistic.

It's not good, man. It seems you gave your strokes in a aleatory manner. But you have to follow a direction, to make things consistent looking. I suggest you to read carefully the image bellow, are valuable blending tips from Linda Bergkvist:



This tutorial is ace too, how to paint getting a more loose style:

http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/C.../tower_of_evil

I suggest you read this document too. It will open your mind, specially to paint skin properly.

http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

I hope these tuts can give a better direction. And don't forget to use referecne all the time, if you want something convincing. Good luck!

thanks for uploading that sheet its really helpful