Gouache or watercolour? What is it going to be?

Many customers often ask about gouache or watercolour.

Are they the same? In fact, the answer is no. They aren’t the same. But they are closely related and can be called first cousins.

Gouache (pronounced ‘gwash’; it is Latin for mud like, is an opaque version of water colour, somewhat like poster colours. If you have used watercolour, you would have enjoyed the transparency effect that can be achieved, where the colour allows the paper below to show.

Let’s see a more specific comparison:

Gouache:

• Opacity: Gouache paint is opaque, the colours or the paper below can’t be seen. Overpainting or painting one colour over the other is not possible while using Gouache. If you add more water, the opacity does not reduce.
• Matte Finish: Gouache always creates a matte finish, unlike the sheen of watercolour. 
• Vibrant Colours: Gouache is known for its ability to create vibrant, solid colours. Cut colours as they are called. With gouache a rose can be painted with several shades from light to dark.
• Versatile: Gouache can be used for a variety of applications, including illustration, design, and fine art. 
• Re-wettable: Gouache can be re-wetted to fix mistakes 
• Dries quickly: Gouache doesn’t need much drying time 

Watercolour:

• Transparency: Watercolour paint is transparent, allowing the paper and underlying colours to show through. 
• Lighter Effects: Watercolour is best suited for creating light and subtle effects. 
• Ethereal Quality: Watercolour paintings often possess a unique, ethereal quality. 
• Versatile: Watercolour can be used on various surfaces, including paper, fabric, and wood. 
• Water-soluble: Watercolour pigments are water-soluble, meaning the paint is not waterproof. 
• Easy to blend and shade: Watercolours dry fast and are easy to blend or shade. 

Are they technically different?

Technically both gouache and water colour are similar in composition and pigments.

Both gouache and watercolour have the same pigments, binders, and formulation. The degrees of opacity and the effects of the respective colours is in the way that they are designed to be used. Some gouache colours are transparent, the dark ones tend to be less opaque, while some shades in water colour like Chinese white and Naples Yellow can get opaque.

Gouache’s opacity is achieved by adding white to the shades.

Can they be mixed?

Yes of course, because watercolour and gouache are so similar in composition, the two types of paint can be intermixed.

Can I make my water colour paints work like gouache?

This is gouache & water colour painting by William Turner.

Is gouache hard for beginners? 

Gouache is a very beginner-friendly medium, but it will take a little practice for you to get familiar with how it’s used. It behaves very differently to watercolours or acrylics, so you’ll need to take the time to learn its quirks.

In conventional watercolour, white is often the paper and any light effect is achieved by using the saved part of the paper with no colour on it. is provided by the reflective power of the paper. By using transparent colours over a heavily sized (gelatine-impregnated and coated) paper, artists achieve a sparkling brilliance, as light reflects through glazes of clear colour. This technique allows artists to achieve great intensity and depth of colour, while using a minimal amount of paint. The texture of watercolour paper, which can be rough and aggressive, enhances this effect, while breaking up surface tension and preventing paint from pooling and running excessively.

Which is more attractive and pleasing?

All art is pleasing. Having said that, gouache scores a definite advantage over water colour in terms of coming out strong in photographs. Its one of the many reasons the book and post card artists use gouache to illustrate their work. In today’s social media, gouache is more instagrammable!

Why do graphic artists prefer gouache?

Gouache dries faster than watercolour and is less likely to differ in tone and look paler after drying, as do most watercolour paints. The general rule of gouache is that after drying, dark tones appear lighter and light tones appear darker. The painting shown here is by Henri Matisse who excelled in the use of gouache and its versatile properties.

Which is easier to work with?

Watercolour requires more planning, because you cannot back up and correct mistakes. It requires more concentration and control over water, though this doesn’t mean it is always ‘tight’, it can be painted in a free, loose way, accepting the flow of water as a part of the process. And watercolour has its own special magic, that is very hard to express with words. It comes from the never quite controlled flow of paint, that you get only one chance to get it right, that the paint is a light film that seems to be a part of the surface, and of course the glow from the white paper shining through the transparent pigment.

Gouache is more suitable to contemporary painting where you work out the details as you go, with less planning. And it’s great for filling in flat areas of colour in illustrations or abstract paintings. It is more predictable and controllable, and in that sense it is much easier to use.

So next time you wish to choose between water colour and gouache, choose wisely. Either ways both are exciting colours to work with.