What is Gouache Paint?
The sheep is painted with gouache while the dog is painted with watercolor.
Why do I paint with Gouache Paint?
I discovered gouache paint when watching a YouTuber use it to illustrate a landscape and I immediately loved the vibrant colors which can be applied as thin as watercolor or thick like soft butter.
I like painting with gouache because:
It’s water-based and in some ways similar to watercolor. It doesn’t smell or have toxic chemicals.It can be thinned with water and you can add layers like watercolors. but gouache is versatile as it can be laid down as thick as yogurt or butter out of the tube or tray.
It is opaque like acrylics so you can add layers without seeing through them. Watercolors are transparent.
Gouache colors are vibrant and bright and it’s excellent for illustrative work, commercial art, and design.
You can mix white to transform colors making a lighter tone. Rather than an intensely saturated red, for instance, once you add white it can become pink and as you keep adding white the pink becomes softer and less saturated. With watercolors you add water to lighten.
It looks good on hot and cold-pressed papers - smooth or textured papers. (I prefer watercolor on cold press/textured paper and gouache on hot-pressed papers)
This guitar is painted with gouache. You can see how white gouache was added for strings and highlights over the other paint colors which differentiates it from watercolor paints.
Challenges using gouache paint
You can layer gouache but each layer can pick up or muddy layers below so take care. It doesn’t have the same ease of layering as acrylic and oils. The first layer/s can be lighter or thinned with water and then add thickness with later layers to help.
When mixing it as a thicker paint like butter, it takes getting used to manipulating the page if you’ve been used to thin watercolor. Different beast. This takes a lot of practice of mixing and painting and artists use it in a variety of ways.It also dries a slightly different color so it’s hard to predict. Practice and experience help with this challenging aspect.
Gouache Paint is Worth the Learning Curve
I like gouache and find my gouache pieces are very illustrative like children’s book-style illustrations. I use them for handmade cards, too. Like watercolors, gouache can be less expensive( student) grades to more expensive professional grades and found in gel trays and tubes. I like adding white and black accents in the final stages of paintings and I’ve gotten used to using the white on my watercolor paintings. For instance, on white caps of waves, mountain snow, or clouds. It’s worth having fun with them if you like making art or cards at home. Try it!
Landscapes that are predominantly painted with watercolors and have white gouache highlights on clouds, lake, and mountains.