Gouache Starter Pack

A lot of folks have been trying out or expressing an interest in gouache lately, so in the same vein as last years drawing starter pack, here's one dedicated to painting with gouache. It's not a 'how to paint' starter pack or 'how to use color' starter pack, though, because those are big topics all on their own.

What is Gouache, Anyway?

Gouache - sounds like 'gwash' and rhymes with 'posh' if that helps you with pronunciation - is essentially an opaque watercolor. In it's most basic form it's pigment + gum arabic medium + opacifiers. (There's other stuff too, but if you really want to get into the nuts and bolts check out James Gurney's Gouache in the Wild, which I'll link to below.)

(Pro tip: If you're working in watercolor but you need to make a passage more opaque, add a bit of white gouache to it. You can also use white gouache to pick out white highlights in a watercolor painting. If you're ever reading about old watercolor painting and see the term 'body color' used, they're talking about watercolor that had white gouache - usually zinc white, what used to be called Chinese white - added to it to give it more 'body'.)

Like watercolor it's water-based, so you thin it and clean up with it water. It comes in a thick liquid form in tubes, like acrylics or oils, but it can be allowed to dry and reactivated with water later, just like you'd do with pan watercolors.

Gouache is unique among paints in that it never "sets" completely; it can always be reactivated by water, no matter how long you wait. Put down a couple of strokes of gouache next to one another, come back in minutes, days, months, or years, and you can take a wet brush and blend those two strokes together.

Gouache dries very quickly, to an even, matte surface, and it's both those qualities that made it the first choice amongst illustrators and graphic designers for years, since it allowed them to work quickly and because gouache illustrations photograph well.

Designers gouache used to be made specifically for these applications with less expensive and more fugitive pigments, since the artworks really only had to survive long enough to be photographed, but in the present day there's really not any difference between gouache labelled 'designers' and 'artists'.

Poster colors, like those you get from manufacturers like Nicker, are the present-day equivalent of classic designers gouache. They're typically pre-watered down to a good working consistency so they'll normally come in jars rather than tubes, and they usually use less expensive and more fugitive pigments.

Acrylic gouache (sometimes labeled as 'acryl' or 'acryla') isn't really gouache at all. It's acrylic paint that dries to a gouache-like matte finish, and doesn't share the other handling qualities that make gouache gouache. It's not bad but you really have to approach using it as if you're doing an acrylic painting in terms of things like blending.

Materials

Surfaces: Just like with watercolor, you can paint with gouache on any sort of paper that'll stand up to being wet. Because you're applying it more thickly than watercolor it's a bit more forgiving when painting on lighter weight paper, like in a sketchbook. But dry gouache isn't as flexible as other paints, so your best bet is something heavier. Watercolor paper, illustration board, mat board, heavy weight kraft paper; these are all good options that give you lots of choices depending on how textured a surface you like to paint on. The heavier paper you often find in scrapbooks makes for a great surface to paint on in gouache, and makes them a viable choice instead of a traditional sketchbook.

Brushes: Brushes for watercolor are a good choice and will put down smooth, even strokes, especially when you're using it at a typical working consistency. Acrylic bristle brushes work well if you want to put down a more textured stroke.

Paints: There are lots of good gouaches being made these days. Holbein and Windsor Newton are both brands you really can't go wrong with. Arteza makes a more budget friendly gouache that's very decent.

If this is too many options to choose form, here's a basic kit to get you started, but any similar versions that are more accessible to you will do:

• A watercolor sketchbook.
• A small set of brushes
• A small set of gouache in primary colors.

A note on keeping and storing gouache paintings: Any spray varnish or fixative you try to add to gouache will change it's color and lose that velvety matte surface that's one of gouache's hallmarks, so like watercolor, the best way to preserve and display gouache paintings is unvarnished and framed under glass. Other paintings not on display should be stored flat in a dry place.

Resources

Books - There's not a lot of choice in good gouache books, but Stephen Quiller's Watermedia Painting has a good gouache section. Stan Kaminski's Three Color Painting uses gouache exclusively and has lots of step-by-step examples.

Videos - There are a lot of great gouache video resources these days.

• This video from Mary Sanche is a great explanation of the paint-to-water ratios you're looking for in gouache. If you're not sure where to start with the videos, start with this one.

• James Gurney has been at the forefront of the renewed interest in gouache these days. His channel is full of great gouache videos. His video Gouache in the Wild is very affordably priced on his Gumroad page and is absolutely worth every penny.

• Jared Loves to Draw is also full of great gouache stuff and well worth your time.

• Jared recommends the videos from pixelpchan on Gumroad in many of his videos. I have them, and they are good, but the audio quality on them is pretty terrible, particularly on the very first one, 'Gouache Techniques 1 - Paint Placing', which is unfortunately also the most useful one. If you can put up with that I recommend them as well.

• If you like long, real time drawing demos with lots of Q&A, Jeff Watts Friday Night Live videos have lots of fantastic gouache material. Jeff sketching in gouache, this early one where he paints heads in different styles, and this one where Jeff's dad does a WWII themed painting are real standouts.

Some General Tips

Like I mentioned above, gouache will reactivate when you wet it. To add an opaque layer of gouache onto one beneath it without them mixing:

• Don't thin the gouache too much. The heavy cream consistency that Mary Sanche describes in her video is what you're looking for.

• Load your brush with lots of paint and keep it loaded.

• Treat it like you're gently placing a layer of paint down. Don't scrub at it or push down into the surface. Pretend you're spreading mayo on a piece of super-soft bread that you don't want to squish flat.

Because gouache will always reactivate, you can blend two adjacent areas at any time. Wet your brush and wipe it dry so it's barely damp and brush over the area you want to blend gently. If you scrub too hard or use too much water, you'll start lifting color up instead of moving it around.

Gouache tends to shift slightly in value towards neutral as it dries: lights will dry a little darker, darks will dry a little lighter. You can get around this by mixing your lights a little lighter than your target value and your darks a little darker.

You don't really want to leave paint in your brushes to dry, but if you're someone who has trouble keeping their brushes clean after painting, gouache will wash right out of them even after it's dried. Soap and water is all you need for cleaning your brushes and any surfaces you might have splashed paint onto.

Just like watercolor, the gum arabic binder in gouache is non-toxic and safe for all ages, but not all pigments or other ingredients are non-toxic, so check for warning labels if you want to introduce gouache to younger artists who might potentially try to eat the stuff. Generally it's as safe as watercolor.

Gouache dries out fast on your palette. One way to slow this down is by using a stay-wet palette. Or you can squirt out the gouache you'll be using onto a lightly damp paper towel next to your mixing area to keep your main puddles of paint damp. Spritzing your paint occasionally with a fine-mist squirt bottle filled with water will keep things wet without watering down the paint too much, too.

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I think that's all I've got. Hope this helps!