Designers Acrylic Gouache - How And Why You Should Use This Beautiful Medium
Acrylic gouache mixes easily and dries to a smooth matte finish, which appears rich and velvety. It has less body than acrylic, so results are flat, like watercolour, but is opaque so you can layer colours on top of one another with success. A blessing for easily correcting mistakes. It can also be diluted to create translucent washes similar in effect to watercolour. It is rich in pigment, so bright colours are very vibrant - and darker colours are rich and deep. It lends itself beautifully to mixed media projects, adding a delightful contrast to gloss, pearlescent or metallic mediums. The matt finish also makes it ideal for scanning or photographing without reflections, to reproduce prints of an original. In short, gouache is a very versatile medium!
Gouache Roses by Emma
Using Gouache - Step by Step
1. Set Up Your Workspace:
Arrange your paints, palette, brushes, and water container nearby.
If you’re using masking tape, apply it to the edges of your paper for clean borders.
2. Activate Your Paints:
Gouache can occasionally be thick and need a little water to get it moving. Squeeze out a small amount of gouache paint onto your palette, then if needed, add a little water to achieve the desired consistency.
For an opaque, solid application, use less water. For more transparent, watercolor-like effects, add more.
3. Mix Your Colors:
Gouache mixes easily, just like watercolor or acrylics. Use a small brush to mix different colours together. Create new colours by mixing the primaries and adding white for lighter tones.
Keep in mind that gouache dries to a matte finish, so dark colours will appear quite deep and velvety.
5. Build Up Layers:
Like acrylics, gouache dries quickly, so you can paint multiple layers in one session. Start with the background and larger shapes first, then move to smaller details later.
6. Adding Details:
Once the base layers are dry, paint on top to add more details and texture to your background and features. You can add dark over light - and light over dark - as long as the paint beneath is dry.
7. Smooth Blending:
If you want smooth transitions between colours, use a damp brush to blend together before they dry. You can achieve gradients or smooth shading effects this way.
For crisp edges or strong texture, allow your layer to dry before applying new colour on top.
8. Corrections:
Gouache is forgiving! You can always add new layers when dry. This is why it's great for beginners.
9. Finishing Touches:
Once you have all your layers in place and your painting is dry, you can add final details, such as white highlights in eyes or small, intricate flourishes like whiskers and eyelashes.
Additional Tips for Painting with Gouache:
Water Control: Gouache is very sensitive to water. The more water you add, the more transparent it becomes, so be mindful of the consistency.
Texture Effects: Gouache does not have the same body as regular acrylic, so does not work well for impasto, however, you can create interesting textures by using a stiff brush, or printing with sponges or scraping with card. Try a dry brush technique with a new colour over the top of other layers.