Gouache: Selecting your material | Canson® (2024)

FAQs

What is the best material to use gouache on? ›

Paper. Any paper made for watercolors is appropriate for gouache. You can also use at least 200 g/m², low grammage papers. To prevent any crinkling, paper under 300g/m² has to be wet and stretched on a board or frame.

Easily Turns to Mud - because of the slow drying paints, it's very easy to get muddy colors if you aren't careful. You'll really need to separate out and protect your brighter colors. It also is difficult (and not recommended) to go from light colors to dark unless you let the layer dry.

Because gouache requires the inclusion of white paint to mix colours, it can be a challenge to maintain the vibrancy of extremely light colours. It's easy to create a soft pastel, but a neon is going to seem impossible. For this reason, it's important to consider your subject matter when choosing a medium.

cold-pressed watercolor paper which is perfect for gouache. If you are looking for an album for gouache painting, many watercolor papers will do the job. However, the weight of the paper matters. Paper for painting with gouache should be at least 140 lb/300 gsm.

Gouache is unpopular as it was considered an art supply rather than a painting medium for a long time. Designers used it for flat surfaces, animation used it for backgrounds, painters used it for plein air studies, and kids used it in school. Very few artists used it as their main medium.

Some brands use pigments that tend to be naturally opaque and load the formulation with so much pigment that opacity is the result. This makes gouache more expensive than watercolor or acrylics. Those other types of paints don't need as much pigment in order for them to dry opaquely on paper or canvas.

To them, gouache was a way to express their art, a medium like others. It's impossible to name all famous gouache painters across history. Some more: Camille Pissaro, Egon Schiele, François Boucher, Adolph Menzel, Marc Chagall, Whistler…

Pronounced as “gwash,” gouache is a painting medium that's related to the watercolor family. This water-based paint boasts a cream-like consistency, matte finish and vibrant saturation. Thicker than watercolor, more flexible than acrylic... Professional artists favor gouache for its versatility.

Paper: When painting on paper, it's generally best to limit the number of layers to 2 or 3 to prevent the paper from becoming too thick and buckling. Canvas: When painting on canvas, you can apply more layers of gouache as the surface is more durable and can support a greater number of layers.

Happily, gouache is versatile and works well on both paper and canvas which is ideal if you have a preference towards one or the other. For gouache painting on paper, Reeves watercolour paper is perfect; it is designed to take water-media already and is robust enough to handle this heavier type of paint.

Do you wet the paper before gouache? ›

Wet your paper or surface with clean water. This way, the pigments will absorb less directly into the paper and the brush strokes will be invisible. For a gradient effect, work in bands across the surface, adding more water to the paint as you go along so that each new layer will blend into the previous one.

For instance, Cold Press or Rough options each offer varying levels of texture, but if you're looking to create a piece with a lot of fine details, Hot Press watercolour paper has an incredibly smooth finish, whilst maintaining the absorbent properties of its counterparts.

Gouache is more versatile, it allows you to make more textured strokes. Some may object that if you use watercolour too thick you can make paste-like strokes! But if you apply watercolour too thick (directly from a tube) it dries up in a thick glossy layer and you can really see it on paper.

Traditional gouache, effectively being opaque watercolour, will only adhere to surfaces that possess a degree of absorbency, such as paper. You could prepare non absorbent surfaces by priming with watercolour ground to make them suitable for gouache painting.

“Gouache paper” doesn't exist, so you have two options when it comes to paper. You can use a watercolor paper, or a mixed media paper. By using either, you can ensure your paper doesn't wave when applying lots of water with your gouache.

Suitable Surfaces to Paint On

When considering gouache paint vs acrylic paint, it's helpful to have a good idea of the type of your ideal medium. Gouache paint is best suited for paper, while acrylic paint has a much wider range of applications, including paper, wood, glass, and plastic.

On its own, you cannot use gouache paint on fabric. This is because gouache paint won't stain the fibers of the fabric. However, you can mix gouache with acrylic paint. Blending gouache with other painting mediums is the only way that you can use it with fabrics.