Over the past few years, gouache painting has significantly climbed up the ladder of popularity. This versatile medium will help you to turn your art into high levels of opacity and quality. When placed in a weighing scale with watercolor, gouache will always steal the day.
We have gathered information on the best gouache available in the market. Whatever we have listed here is the best of the best to save you the trouble of having to go through each and every available gouache to be able to pick what is best for you.
We have listed the best gouache available in the market, their descriptions, their pros, and their cons and we hope with these, your work has been considerably made easier.
Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache
For more than 84 years, Winsor & Newton has done nothing else but produces the best art products for its endless list of customers. Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache is one of them. This top-grade class product was introduced to the market in 1935 and since then, it has never stopped doing justice for the art industry.
This finest-quality paint has smoother and more opaque colors. Each passing season, these colors keep getting even better by being flatter and more brilliant. This brand also has lightfast paints among other colors to give an artist a wide range to choose from.
One of the best characteristics of this paint is its pigmentation level. It is a mixture of quality and high concentration. This alone assures the artist of excellent covering ability and clean color mixes. Then there is the binder which is Arabic. They are designed for a quick-drying and non-sticky flowing consistency.
Pros
- It comes in 6 primary colors.
- The colors can be intermixed.
- It is made of high levels of pigmentation.
- It has excellent opacity.
- Its covering power is great.
- It produces clean color mixing.
- It dries faster.
- It gives a matte finishing.
Cons
- The colors have some odor.
- It reacts adversely with acrylics.
- It is very expensive.
M. Graham Artists’ Gouache
This professional’s gouache paint contains no fillers or opacifiers that can interfere with its natural beautiful colors. Its colors mostly feature single pigments that are both dense and very rich in pigments.
This opaque watercolor gouache has been designed to be a bridge between transparent watercolor and gouache. M. Graham intelligently designed an entirely new line pigmented with the watercolor formula. Graham also made excellent use of gum Arabic for the binder wisely infused with pure natural honey.
Graham Artists’ Gouache comes in 5 sets of colors in 15ml tubes. The honey added to the formula helps to stop unnecessary cracking. It also increases the flow and moistness of the paint when being used on a surface.
Pros
- It dries very quickly.
- It is highly pigmented. Dense and thick.
- It does not contain opacifying adulterants.
- It is easy to use.
- It is contained in a convenient tube.
- It comes in 5 sets of vibrant colors.
- It cannot easily crack.
- Its flow is smooth.
- It contains honey to help with paint moistness.
Cons
- It is not so opaque as it should.
- It is a bit pricey.
Holbein Acryla Gouache
This acrylic-based gouache paint is designed a bit differently from the standard gouache. This is due to the fact that Holbein Acryla Gouache uses a polymer binder. It is just like how it works with acrylic paint. When this watercolor paint is wet, it is water-soluble.
This designer is also water-resistant and works excellently on grounds and layering. It works well with water-soluble media and it is matte and opaque. Its light resistance abilities are excellent and it gets permanent on the surface.
This gouache paint is packed in a 20ml squeeze tube. It comes in various sets of colors that blend well with each other. They are highly pigment and once they dry onto a surface, it might never budge.
Pros
- It gives a velvet matte finish.
- Color remains uniform when wet or dry.
- It is highly pigmented and opaque.
- It is water-resistant.
- It dries quickly.
- The colors are intermixable.
- It is a consistent hybrid paint.
Cons
- They are thinner.
- It is hard to remove from a surface once dry.
- It is hard to keep the paint wet.
- It doesn’t have waterproof features of acrylic when dry.
Caran d’Ache Gouache Studio Set
This quality studio paint is designed from a velvety smooth formulation. If you want excellent watercolor effects, this is your go-to gouache paint and it has an economical feature to it. This beginner-friendly paint is available in tubes and pan sets. Whatever flows out of these containers are thick and buttery with high pigment concentration.
Caran d’ACHE Gouache Studio Set comes in a variety set with a range of bright, lightfast colors. This gouache paint can be reactivated with water while using. It might not be so opaque as you would desire it, but it dries well and fast. The packaging containers are significantly large, and this means a generous amount of paint for you.
Pros
- It is made of natural binders.
- It has a convenient pan set.
- It is beginner friendly.
- It is economical to use.
- Its quality is good.
- It is lightfast.
- It comes in both primary and secondary colors.
- It is easy to activate with water.
- It is portable since it cannot spill.
- It dries fast.
- It comes with a mixing palette.
Cons
- It is too transparent.
- Streaky colors make it hard to wash.
- It is pricey.
Schmincke Aqua Bronze
Schmincke Aqua Bronze is designed to make your painting shine to its limit. This special design is developed to look like real metal pigments. This gouache paintworks in a very interesting manner by leaving a metallic glossy look on the surface. It is safe to say that this gouache is not afraid to leave your art beautifully glossy.
Its components are of bronze or aluminum pigments and they are not suitable for use on gypsum, metal, or plastic. To use this gouache paint, you would be required to mix it with a little water during the application. However, if your art requires altered opacity or glossiness, you will need to mix the colors with more water.
Schmincke Aqua Bronze is both lightfast and opaque. Compared to other metallic gouache paints, this one is more brilliant in terms of coloring. It is perfect for less absorbent surfaces. Perhaps if you are using paper, cardboard, or canvas you would get excellent results.
Pros
- It makes the painting shine well.
- The effect is like real metal pigment.
- Leaves a glossy look on a surface.
- Made from aluminum or bronze pigments.
- It is water-soluble.
- It is both lightfast and opaque.
- It has brilliant colors.
- Good for absorbent surfaces.
Cons
- It is very expensive.
- It is not suitable for gypsum, metal, or plastic.
- It does not work well on non-absorbent surfaces.
Da Vinci Professional Gouache
If you are looking for a permanent and lightfast pigment, Da Vinci Professional Gouache is your perfect choice. This non-toxic formula is made in small batches of 37 ml tube size. This gives an artist a generous paint for less money as compared to other gouache paints packaged in smaller tubes.
This craftsmanship with uncompromising quality is manufactured using the finest raw materials available. It is most suitable for fashion designers, illustrators, and graphic artists. It also has titanium white and black in even larger tubes of 150ml. It offers excellent value for your money and it comes with a variation of colors to choose from.
Pros
- It is permanent.
- It is a lightfast pigment.
- It is a non-toxic formula.
- It is packaged in larger tubes.
- It is of high quality.
- It is versatile.
- Made from the finest materials.
- It comes in a variation of colors.
- The pigments are vivid.
- The paints are smooth, and you can rewet.
Cons
- It can be hard to get a flat wash of this paint.
- It dries satin and not matte.
- It retains brush strokes.
- It needs a lot of getting used to it.
- It may not dry completely sometimes and may leave glossy patches.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it would be great for you to know that gouache paints work well with heavy watercolor paper because it should sit on the surface and not cockle. Synthetic brushes too are great to use with these paints since you can water it down.
Gouache is more like opaque watercolor and an excellent base for mixed media. The only key difference between watercolor and gouache is, watercolor is transparent whereas gouache is opaque. Gouache has more pigments to it, and it is an excellent choice for covering blemishes.
Dried out gouache are reusable and all you need are a few things from your kitchen to reverse it wet. Make gouache powder from the scoured dried gouache and add some warm water to it. Mix it slowly as you add the water and voila, you get back your gouache paint!