Gouache Illustration?

kaitlinmakes · 2 Dec 2018, 23:05

I fight with gouache too, especially with how the values of the paint change from wet to dry - but I do love how the paint lays down - acrylic always feels too sticky to me.
I wish there were more videos about how to work with it, but I haven't found any in depth instruction. It feels like a medium you just have to play with to figure out for yourself.

kaitlinmakes · 2 Dec 2018, 23:08

@dottyp
This is fascinating- I'm going to have to try it this way

Lee White · 3 Dec 2018, 02:18

The biggest problem I've had with Goauche is that it dries so much darker than the wet color. That is even more when painting light colors with a lot of water. There are many times I lay down what I think to be the right value, only to watch in frustration as it dries darker, and darker, and darker.

Now I only use it as some light highlights on watercolor paintings. Some people are so good with it, but I never got it to work very well.

Kristin Wauson · 3 Dec 2018, 03:30

@lee-white this was one of the things that frustrated me so much. I kept putting down very light values and watching them dry darker, then adding more light values, and they would still dry darker. You know what they say about the definition of insanity ...

Kristin Wauson · 3 Dec 2018, 03:32

@jason-bowen thanks for sharing!

Kristin Wauson · 3 Dec 2018, 03:36

@dottyp the toned paper is a great idea. I’ll have to try that. I noticed Chris Hong (artist on youtube) paints this way with gouache in thin layers. I bought M. Graham gouache since I like their watercolors.

Kristin Wauson · 3 Dec 2018, 03:53

@teju-abiola wow! Thanks for this. Great info! I guess coming from someone who had never painted digitally I should have taken that comment with a grain of salt.

I have seen people using the wet paper towel trick. Stan Prokopenko has a painting Santa demo where he does that. I have always preferred letting my watercolors dry into pans because I’ve never been good at estimating how much of a color I need to squeeze out and I hate wasting paint. I have little kids so I am always having to walk away from painting sessions and come back later when everything is dried anyway. I used to paint with oils and I wasted a lot of paint. I have also questioned lately whether or not my watercolors suffer from rewetting which makes me sad. I use M. Graham watercolors because of their rewetting ability and bought M. Graham gouache hoping for the same.

Teju Abiola · 3 Dec 2018, 04:57

@kristin-wauson I've never had a problem with reactivating watercolors and think it's standard practice at this point to put them in pans. Though some artists would swear the opposite and recommend using fresh squeezed paint always. Honestly comes down to personal preference. Tons of people use Gouache from dried pans because of the convenience, and M. Graham is a great brand for reactivating. I don't know if you already do this, but I always add a drop or so of water to each dry pan a few minutes before using them to make them easier to use. A little spray bottle works too and is also great for resetting dry mixed areas on the palette too. It's definitely a medium that requires practice and a lot of failure since it's tricky. Many art students groan at the mention of it's name, haha.

DOTTYP · 3 Dec 2018, 14:33

@kristin-wauson I will check out that video you mention. M graham gouache look really nice I might buy some when I get better at it Good luck

Enholm Molly · 30 Nov 2021, 14:51

With gouache, you don't need expensive art tools, but you do need the correct kind of paper. It looks great on watercolor paper, mixed media paper, and heavy drawing paper.
At the very least, you should search for sheets that do not buckle when you are painting. If you wonder which product is the best paper for gouache, the answer depends on your preference.