GOUACHE: SUPPLIES OVERVIEW (Patreon)

Hello everyone! In preparation for the upcoming gouache tutorials, I received a few questions about the types of gouache paint I use, and  related supplies I recommend 🎨 I summarized my thoughts on this topic below, the main point being that gouache medium is extremely forgiving and you won’t need to spend as much to get a variety of fun and functional colors to work with [compared to watercolor, where quality of paint and paper really matters a great deal]. In addition, you don’t have to worry about getting expensive cotton paper - in fact I encourage you to get some colourful thick decorative papers, including black. The smoother the better! Enjoy 💜

🎨 GOUACHE BRANDS & PRICES

A bit of background. In addition to being a fun and easy medium, gouache is extremely popular in commercial applications - in fact this is the medium I use the most for my licenced artwork like book covers, postcards etc. What this means practically is that most of this gouache work gets scanned so I am not worried about the longevity of the original painted piece as it lives on in digital format. I use a combination of high-quality expensive gouache from Winsor & Newton [a few colors I find are always in my rotation] and lower quality poster gouache from Shin Han. I also own a few shades of Turner design gouache which is medium price medium quality. 

PROFESSIONAL GOUACHE

I use several pigments from the Winsor & Newton, including the primaries, a few special colors that I always include in my palette, and Silver & Gold for decorative art. The only one 1 would strongly recommend is WHITE. White is the most commonly used gouache pigment as we will use it to mix with other pigments, and also to “decorate” in folk art applications. You will also need a larger tube if you plan on working with me on collared paper as we will use it for underpainting. 

STUDENT-GRADE GOUACHE / POSTER COLOR

I own many different pigments from SHINHAN Poster Color range and Turner Design Gouache. I also tried Arteza - cheap, and a wide range of pigments but super low quality, will fade and crack over time. I mainly use these brands on simple illustrations, 2 layers maximum, as over time the paint begins to crack. Also note that cheaper paints won’t give you  full rich creamy texture as there is less pigment per cubic mm. Therefore, it is mostly appropriate for painting on white paper, not coloured paper. 

🎨 PAPERS and other surface I USE FOR GOUACHE:

Student grade 50% cotton Watercolor paper HOT pressed [any brand].

Fabriano Color Paper 

Fabriano Black Block for black paper. 

Treated wood [primer under gouache]

3D printed figurines [primer under gouache]

🎨 COATING:

I use PEBEO spray to seal the gouache for long lasting results. 

🎨 BRUSHES

You won’t have to spend a ton of $$! I recommend stiffer synthetic sable brushes, the shorter the better. Archival length as it is commonly called is perfect for gouache because we are not concerned about the amount of water a brush can hold [compared to watercolour where water retention is crucial]. 

I use a variety of cheap [no name brand] and medium priced [Raphael, Isabel, W&N synthetic sable] synthetics in sizes 0/3, 00 and all the way to 10. I don’t recommend squirrel brushes for gouache because I find it waaaay to soft for this heavy medium. Note that I often use my “retired” watercolor brushes [the ones that lost the tip after years of use] for gouache, and save a ton of $ this way as gouache can be very heavy on the brush. 

🎨 CLEANING

Good wash with warm soap or paint soap is key because gouache WILL get stuck in your brush ferule and will ruin your brushes a lot faster [compared to watercolor]. Luckily it dissolves well in warm water - just don’t wait to long:)