What is Gouache Paint (A Complete Beginner’s Guide)

In the art community, gouache painting has become more and more popular these past several years.

Despite this rising trend, many artists and art enthusiasts still confuse gouache and watercolour because both mediums share similar qualities.

Which leads to this common question: What is gouache paint?

That’s why, in this article, I’ve written a complete beginner’s guide to gouache painting in order to:

• Explain what gouache is, which artists use it, and how artists use gouache to create stunning artwork
• Highlight the similarities and differences between gouache vs watercolour
• Recommend the best art supplies and gouache brands that are good-quality and budget-friendly

By the time you’re done reading you’ll have a solid understanding of what gouache art is and how you can get started with it!

DISCLOSURE: This page contains affiliate links. If you make a qualified purchase using any of the links, I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I appreciate every sale because it allows me to create free content to promote the growth of this website.

What is Gouache Paint?

First of all, it’s important to understand the definition of gouache.

Simply put, gouache is a type of paint that belongs to the watermedia family. That means gouache paint is activated when water is added to the pigments.

In terms of composition, gouache is similar to watercolours. Gouache paint is made using a combination of a water-soluble binder, gum arabic, pigment, and sometimes chalk which functions as a filler.

If you’re confused about how to pronounce gouache, know that it’s a French word. In English, we pronounce it as gwash.

What is Gouache Paint Used For?

Gouache is a popular medium of choice among illustrators, designers, and story boarders because they praise gouache paint’s opaque viscosity and matte finish.

In this way, gouache paint is good for illustrations, posters, advertisements, children’s books, and comics that use bold pigments and solid blocks of colour in their visual presentation.

Take a look at the painting below to observe the opaque appearance of gouache in a finished illustration.

Gouache Paint vs Watercolour Paint

Often enough, gouache is mistaken for watercolours because both mediums share a lot of similarities. As a result, many artists simply refer to gouache as opaque watercolours.

However, I believe gouache art deserves recognition for its unique qualities that make is quite distinguishable from watercolours.

So, let’s take a moment to highlight the noticeable differences between these painting styles:

• Gouache is opaque whereas watercolours have a thin consistency
• Gouache paint dries opaquely whereas watercolours dry transparently
• Gouache dries with an even matte finish whereas watercolour dries lightly with a translucent finish
• Gouache particles are coarser and heavier whereas watercolour particles are lighter
• Gouache pigments can only be lightened by using white gouache, whereas watercolour pigments are lightened by water
• Gouache paint dries quickly whereas watercolours take longer to dry
• Gouache can be used with or without water whereas watercolours must be activated with water
• Gouache can be painted light to dark or dark to light whereas watercolours work the best when painted from light to dark
• Gouache paint is so opaque that it can easily be layered over to cover up mistakes, but watercolour is transparent which makes mistakes harder to cover up

As you can see, gouache and watercolour are actually a lot more different than they appear on surface level.

So it’s fair to conclude that both mediums have their own unique characteristics and utilities.

Note: Click here for a more detailed and in-depth breakdown of the differences between watercolour vs gouache.

Gouache Paint and Brushes Guide

What Gouache Paint to Buy

There are many brands of gouache paint on the market that you can buy and experiment with.

In my opinion, Arteza Gouache Paint for beginners is a great investment because you can purchase a large amount of paint tubes for a reasonable cost without hurting your wallet.

What’s more, the pigments and rich and viscous, meaning they’re thick. The colours lay down smoothly and the pigments blend nicely.

You can use them straight from the tube, or you can water them down to thin out the consistency without losing the vibrancy of the pigments. For this reason, they have a lot of versatility.

If you’re looking for an artist grade set with superior quality pigment, then I suggest you invest in the Winsor & Newton Designers’ Gouache Set.

Why? Because the paints are very opaque which provides full coverage. What’s more, the paint dries quickly and the pigments retain their vibrancy and boldness.

The application of these paints is smooth and flat, so it is very easy to blend the colours. As well, the paints are easy to re-wet and water down into a thinner consistency.

The verdict?

If you want a set of high-quality paints that produce professional results, definitely invest in this excellent set of designer gouache.

Recommended Gouache Brushes

Luckily, gouache paint is so versatile that a large array of brushes can be used with the paint and you won’t have to worry about your brushes being damaged.

Personally, I use either synthetic watercolour brushes or a mix of synthetic and animal hair brushes, depending on what I’m painting.

For a good-quality but affordable option, you can use the synthetic Black Tulip watercolour brushes by ZenArts because the bristles hold the gouache pigments and lay them down nicely on paper.

Moreover, you can paint with gouache without watering down the pigment, so it’s not necessary to own a thirsty watercolour brush.

On the other hand, you might want to use brushes with a finer, softer, and more versatile brush tip such as the Silver Black Velvet brushes.

These brushes are high-quality and offer a lot of brushstroke variation. That means you can paint an array of thick or thin strokes with one brush.

These brushes hold lots of water. So if you choose to paint with natural hair bristles, make sure you understand how to control water so that you know how much water to use with your brush.

But if you’re not yet confident in your ability to control the water, invest in a set of good-quality synthetic brushes instead.

Recommended Gouache Paper

Due to it’s versatile nature, gouache paint can be used on greater variety of papers when compared to watercolour, which is limited to thick paper that can handle heavy washes.

Personally, I paint with gouache on both watercolour paper and on mixed media paper, depending on how many layers I’m painting.

To break it down for you, I would paint with gouache on mixed media paper as such:

• Mixed media paper is heavy enough to handle a couple of washes of paint, but it will warp if you paint with too much water
• Mixed media paper is great for gouache studies and loose sketches
• Mixed media paper is great for practicing techniques, experimenting with colours, and painting thumbnails
• Mixed media paper is not the best paper if you’re planning to create finished pieces because the paper might warp or buckle under several heavy layers
• If you’re not using water and are only painting opaque matter layers, then mixed media paper is totally fine
• My recommended mixed media paper is the Canson XL Mixed Media paper which is what I use for all my sketchbooks

On the other hand, I would use 100% cotton paper as such:

• Watercolour paper is best suited for finished pieces that require lots of layering and many washes
• Watercolour paper that is made of 100% cotton paper will absorb the paint much better, thus the pigment application will be superior
• Watercolour paper is perfect for finished illustrations, artwork that you’re planning to sell, and artwork that you’re giving away as gifts
• Watercolour paper is better to paint on if you’re creating an artwork that is a combination of gouache and watercolour
• My recommended watercolour paper is Arches 100% cotton paper

Since gouache and watercolour use similar supplies, feel free to peruse this list of painting supplies for watercolour and gouache.

On the list, you’ll find a few additional items that are essential for painting with gouache.

How to Paint with Gouache

Here are a few tips and tricks to help you get started painting with gouache. By following this advice, you’ll be able to paint smoothly and enjoyably without running into frustrating painting situations.

Painting with Gouache: With and Without Water

Without wetting the pigment, dip your brush directly into the paint. Load up your brush and paint a few simple streaks on your paper to create thick and matte strokes of colour.

Pro tip: If you have a bit of pigment on your brush, you can drag the bristles across the paper to create a dry brush texture that looks similar to rocky mountains or reflected light on a body of water.

Next, water down the gouache pigment and then drag your paintbrush across the paper to create layers that have a thinner and lighter appearance.

By experimenting with various ratios of water and paint, you can create a variety of thick and thin or opaque and translucent strokes.

Note: For more information on various painting techniques, check out this article about watercolour and gouache techniques.

Lighten Pigments with White Gouache

In order to lighten gouache, you must combine the paint with white gouache. Doing so will lighten the pigment and give you the ability to create beautiful gradients.

Alternatively, if you don’t have a lot of white gouache available, you can use a lighter pigment and blend the 2 colours together to create a smooth gradient.

For example, you can blend a sky blue pigment with a medium blue pigment to create an in-between hue without relying on white gouache.

But you must have a larger set of gouache paints to work with in order to accomplish this method of mixing.

Also, since gouache is similar to watercolour, have a look at this article about helpful watercolour tips to learn more tricks of the trade.

Painting Multiple Layers

Layering (also known as glazing) is very easy to achieve with gouache paint.

All you have to do is lay down your first layer of paint and then wait for it to dry.

Once the first layer has dried, you can paint directly over the first layer. Due to the opaque nature of gouache, you are able to completely cover entire sections of the first layer.

In this way, gouache is good for beginners because it is a very forgivable medium that offers ample opportunity to fix mistakes or change details.

For more information about all the diverse techniques you can use with gouache, check out this article by the art company Arteza.

Conclusion

There you have it: a guide to understand what is gouache paint.

Although similar to watercolours, it’s clear that gouache is a cousin to watercolour and not a twin as some people mistakenly believe.

Now that you know all about the unique properties of gouache and how it can be used to create beautiful workout, it’s up to you to decide if you’ll start painting with this medium.

And if you’re already an avid fan of gouache, I hope this guide has given you greater clarity on how to use gouache in your own artwork.

If this article has piqued your curiosity about the watermedia family, the next step is to take a look at my companion article on How to Paint With Watercolours: Skyrocket Your Skill Level.

Do you paint with gouache? If not, has this article inspired you to try gouache painting? Share your opinion in the comments below!

---