Holbein Artists Gouache 18 color set Holbein gouache (japan import), blue,G703

Product Information

Unlike watercolor, gouache can provide full coverage of color. Not only that, but after it is applied to the paper, it will dry in a smooth and flat texture, which is why it works so well in certain types of illustrations. In addition, since this medium has a fast drying time like acrylic paint, and possesses an opaque appearance, you can even add layers of gouache to your composition to hide mistakes or create more depth. But before you start, it's important to have high quality paint on hand. Acrylic gouache is matte, opaque acrylic based watercolour paint. Use this type of paint as a ground Most colours contain more than one pigment. Firstly, I looked at the closest colours to true primary colours in the palette – Scarlet, Canola Yellow and Ultramarine. Both Scarlet and Canola Yellow lean towards the warm side of the spectrum, which meant the greens and aubergine colours I mixed all felt warm – however, perhaps this is exactly what I should have expected from a Summer themed palette! I could definitely see how these colours could help create the feeling of the end of a late summer day, basking in the warmth of the dappled light coming through the trees at the edge of a cool lake…. Now can I be transported there? All Holbein colors are highly pigmented and made of finest pigments that guarantee stable quality and coverage. Da Vinci gouache colours come in 37ml tubes, rather than the 15ml tubes that most other brands of gouache paint come in. The colours are made using quality raw materials and are milled in small batches.

This is a professional quality gouache paint made from mainly single pigment colours. This makes for vibrant, rich, dense and highly pigmented paint. The paint is unaltered by fillers and opacifies, which leaves the properties of the individual pigments to shine. This leaves it to the artist to decide when to add white to increase the opacity of the colour. Some especially transparent pigments can be used to make transparent washes with the addition of lots of water. Firstly, the texture of the paints was very smooth and fluid, thinner in consistency than the buttery, heavy body acrylics. This made them very easy to use undiluted but I was concerned that this would mean that they wouldn’t be as opaque as I would like. I was pleasantly surprised that when not thinned down with water, they were very opaque, which really opens up possibilities when painting, such as adding highlights and details towards the end. You can see from my test that the white and yellow were slightly less opaque but a further layer of paint would sort that out. Due to the high pigment load, the working properties of each pigment will come through. This means that there can be less consistency of the working properties between colours. Many of the colours, such as primary red and magenta are semi transparent. The single pigments can be combined and mixed to create clean new colours. With tubes that are premixed (i.e. made from a combination of two or more pigments) there is a tendency for colours to become muddy in appearance sooner.The main difference between Holbein Artist’s Gouache and Holbein Acrylic Gouache is the binder used in each paint. The properties of acrylic gouache are more similar to matte acrylic paint, rather than gouache. Its main difference is that it dries to a water resistant finish, whereas gouache is rewettable. Acrylic gouache is compatible with other water soluble media. Holbein Acrylic Gouache

All colors are beautifully semi- or fully opaque except a few but I can see they are perfect for layering. I’ve separated the gouache into two main categories: professional and student level. The main difference is that the majority of the professional grade gouache pigments are considered lightfast, and they use high quality gum arabic binder. The sets are available with 5 basic colors, 12, 18, 24 and 84 colors and sometimes also have seasonal palettes. At the same time, acrylic gouache is easier to layer and can be used straight from the tube without any need to thin them with water. In general, Holbein paints are not cheap but for the quality and smaller sets price does make sense and you are getting the value for the dollar.Gouache is not inherently opaque. Opacity comes from the pigments. Some pigments are naturally more opaque than others. For instance, cadmiums are naturally very opaque, whereas quinacridones and phthalos are inherently transparent. Therefore regardless of brand, the same colors will be less opaque. In developing the Artist’s own color shades, the color selection will always give consistent reliable results without darkening or muddiness. Daniel Smith’s ‘Wisteria’ next to Daler Rowney’s ‘Saffron Green’. Both are mixtures of pigments that could be mixed from scratch, but which can be useful to have ready-made Currently, these paints are available to buy in the US, but there are limited suppliers that sell this in the UK and other countries. Holbein Artists’ Gouache Caran d’Ache paints also come in caked pan form, which is a benefit for some artists who enjoy working in this format. They manufacture their paint with calcium carbonate, which can make dried colours appear chalkier than some of the brands that don’t use this ingredient. Daler Rowney Aquafine Gouache