Gouache: features of choice and advantages

Because of its vivid colors and versatility, gouache is a popular medium for children’s art. It’s a favorite of aspiring and seasoned young artists alike, frequently utilized in both homes and classrooms.

The ease of use of gouache is a primary factor in its popularity among educators and parents. Although the paint is thicker than watercolor, kids can experiment with different effects by diluting it with water. Additionally, it dries quickly, helping to avoid messes and smudges during creative sessions.

Washability and non-toxicity are important considerations when selecting gouache for children. Numerous companies provide options that are safe for children to use, so parents can feel secure about the goods their children are using.

Feature	Details
Color Variety	Gouache offers bright and bold colors that blend easily for creative projects.
Opacity	It provides good coverage, allowing artists to paint over mistakes or add layers.
Drying Time	Gouache dries quickly, making it convenient for quick projects and layering.
Water Solubility	It can be reactivated with water, which makes adjustments easier after drying.
Surface Types	Gouache works well on paper, cardboard, and even wood surfaces.
Advantages	Affordable, versatile, and suitable for all skill levels, from beginners to professionals.

Gouache is an easy-to-use paint with bright colors and good coverage that is ideal for children’s creative projects. It is also very versatile and vibrant. It’s crucial to take into account kid-safe, washable, non-toxic gouache options when selecting, along with sets that offer a range of colors and smooth application. Gouache is an excellent medium for young artists just starting out in their artistic endeavors because of its advantages, which include its ability to layer, blend, and provide a matte finish.

What is it?

Gouache and watercolor are often perceived as something related. It cannot be said that such a statement is unfair – they are similar in many ways. The difference is that gouache is much thicker: in addition to pigments and glue, it contains whitewash (this makes it a bit like pastel), which affects the final shade of the dried drawing. The recipe does not contain ox gall, which is typical for good watercolors and helps prevent paint dissolved in water from rolling into drops. In all other respects, these two dyes are similar. It is really difficult to paint large and serious pictures with fine details using gouache precisely because of the unpredictability of the final color and the rolling of pigments. However, this does not prevent it from being actively used in poster graphics and children"s art.

When gouache was first invented, it wasn’t meant for kids. In France, this kind of mixture was first referred to as gouache in the 18th century. Historians have discovered, though, that this recipe dates back several centuries. Medieval books were frequently illustrated with gouache, which was subsequently thinned (usually by half) with watercolors. Professional artists acquired gouache during the Renaissance, but they treated it more like an extra asset (they created small portraits or sketches on commission).

If we talk about the art history significance of gouache, then the peak of its use by professionals can be considered the beginning of the last century. At that time, the widespread use of gouache was also characteristic of Russian graphics (gouache technique refers specifically to graphics, not painting). Famous Russian artists who turned to gouache in their works were, for example, Alexander Benois, Isaac Levitan, Valentin Serov, Nikolai Roerich. In recent decades, gouache has experienced a second heyday – the demand for it is truly enormous. The main consumers are children, for whom it is one of the main methods of creative development, but this does not diminish its value for society.

Advantages and disadvantages

Gouache, like any other creative product fortunate enough to have competitors, has advantages and disadvantages. However, adult professional artists would share their opinions regarding the benefits and drawbacks of this kind of paint. In this instance, it is preferable to begin with its attributes concerning the child. Gouache is a good choice for the baby’s creative development because it possesses the following advantages.

Ease of error correction

It is especially crucial to avoid making irreversible mistakes when you are first learning to draw because they may deter you from trying again. Gouache is useful because the old layer can be fully covered by the new one. All that needs to be done is paint over the blot to make it invisible.

It should be noted that you shouldn’t go overboard when redrawing because adding too many layers causes the drawing’s surface to crack, but the beginner should be encouraged by the possibility of correction.

Low cost

A set of colored gouache, on average, will set parents back several dozen rubles, but this kind of gift is sufficient for a goodly number of drawings. Children from all socioeconomic backgrounds can now learn to draw. Since white paint is the most common color, it is convenient to be able to purchase whitewash separately in stores these days.

Quick drying

Kids typically learn to draw in special classes that they leave as soon as the lesson is over, rather than in a full-fledged studio. You can’t put a wet record in your school bag, so the young artist doesn’t have time to wait for the drawing to dry.

Gouache is suitable for use in educational settings because it dries one of the fastest of all paints.

Good solubility in water

Gouache is frequently sold in liquid form in specialized jars, allowing you to use it right away rather than wasting time and effort diluting it. The gouache may eventually dry out as the liquid evaporates, but it is still possible to restore the dried mass to its original state by merely diluting it with water.

Cons

Regretfully, there are certain drawbacks to this paint as well. They ultimately result in professional artists not thinking gouache is deserving of any kind of serious work at all. Additionally, some of its characteristics may make kids prefer other colors. This is what typically deters customers:

Pale of shades

Because white is a part of the mixture, they change slightly and become paler as the paint dries. This is practically disastrous for professional artists because it is nearly impossible to predict the extent of changes ahead of time. The child may become disillusioned and find learning to draw more challenging as a result.

The instability of the picture

You should avoid drawing with your finger even when using a dried-up picture because you run the risk of smearing it and possibly greasiness the design. There is a chance that the portfolio’s integrity and everything in it will be compromised.

Water can be used to wash gouache off, so in some situations, the level of pollution can be shocking.

Probability of allergies

Gouache is generally perfectly safe for the vast majority of kids. A few become allergic after using it.

Before making a purchase, carefully review the mixture’s composition to avoid such situations.

Types

Guasha shouldn’t be thought of as just one particular product because there are many different varieties. There are four primary categories based on composition and purpose.

Professional

The primary goal of a professional artistic gouache painter is to produce large, meaningful paintings—which are rare in today’s world. Its distinctive velvety matte finish and high sheener let you paint over anything you’d like. used for sketching on cardboard and paper. This 36-color palette is a classic that would have impressed exceptional painters a century ago.

Poster

Kaolin is used in special poster gouache rather than whitewash. As a result, the drawings produced by it are more vibrant and resistant to fading. Its most common usage is what gives this variety its name. Large posters and signs are drawn with it when pictorial brightness is crucial. For these purposes, a set of 24 colors is thought to be more than adequate.

Children"s

Kids’ gouache is also made specifically for them. Children’s gouache benefits from the addition of cheap PVA, which somewhat lessens its plasticity but increases its resistance to abrasion and allows for drawing on paper, plywood, or canvas. Professional gouache uses gum arabic as a binder. Sets of six to nine colors are frequently purchased by parents for their youngest children who are just beginning to draw. Sets of sixteen to eighteen colors are appropriate for students and gouache enthusiasts.

Acrylic

Such gouache has so far remains a rather rare occurrence, but it has specific properties that make some drawing lovers make a choice in her favor. With all the typical advantages of gouache, thanks to the addition of acrylic to the composition, it adheres much better to surfaces of any type, and is also more resistant to mechanical damage. For children"s creativity, gouache paints produced in jars in liquid form are more common. There is also dry gouache, which is diluted with water to a consistency chosen at your discretion. In addition to classic gouache, there is also fluorescent or neon (glow in the dark) paint, which is especially popular in poster graphics.

Composition

A typical gouache has a very basic chemical makeup. It consists of white (primarily titanium), a binder, and the necessary color pigment. Water is often added to diluted mixtures; however, distilling the liquid will benefit the paint more. The kind of gouache used is usually determined by the type of binder used. Expensive gum arabic is used in professional artistic varieties; for children’s creativity, regular PVA can be used in its place.

Less often used bases are honey or oil. These paints have an effect similar to oil paintings or watercolor drawings done with honey. Acrylic gouache is even more unique since it uses acrylic as both the dye’s foundation and a means of shielding it from harmful outside influences in the future. By using these kind of paints, you can get an effect that is similar to painting with acrylic paints—the drawing doesn’t get dirty at all and doesn’t require extra protection to last for many years.

Gouache may contain additional ingredients in addition to the obvious ones, which would make this kind of paint unique. The most common kind of paint are fluorescent ones, which have unique pigments added to them that allow them to glow in the dark. The typical gouache composition is displayed in common multicolored sets with comparatively light weight. There are paints that come in big jars. They have the mixture in 500 ml or even 1 liter. The product’s unusual composition, professional drawing tools, or narrowly specific meaning are already suggested by the large container in which it is packaged.

Purchasing such paints for kids is not advised, even if they exhibit a notable interest in drawing.

Color palette

Many shades of modern gouache are available, including fluorescent and glitter versions. The palette is fairly extensive. Given the peculiarities of gouache color (fast shade fading during drying), the artistic variety typically includes color names that have been confirmed by GOST, allowing the artist to reasonably anticipate a specific shade in the finished product. It is important to realize that after drying, a bright, freshly completed picture will no longer be saturated, something that most other sets of similar tips typically do not include.

Gouache paints with darker tones at first because of its high covering power. They then proceed to the lighter ones; the picture’s black or dark portion emerges first, and the lighter or white portions serve as the masterpiece’s crown. Highlights can be added by the artist to a nearly completed image. Guaache colors blend harmoniously together.

You should only blend colors that are adjacent to one another on the color wheel to prevent dirt buildup.

This reasoning says that paints in red and pink, gold and yellow, mother-of-pearl and blue, and emerald and green go well together. Regarding shadows, they are not black in accordance with the guidelines for gouache graphics. The shade, which is located in the other quadrant of the color wheel, is what determines their choice. Brown is a shadow of yellow, green is a shadow of red, ochre needs a blue shadow, and silver paint needs to be shaded with black. In order to level out the lightening when drying, all shades are simultaneously captured in a more saturated version than those that appear necessary for the image.

The ability to make adjustments to a finished drawing is thought to be one of gouache’s primary benefits. Corrections must be done carefully and only after the previous layer has dried because such paint is easily removed with water. When a layer is drawn incorrectly, professionals typically attempt to erase it entirely by shading it with a damp brush until the majority of the pigment is gone.

Additionally, you can stop at shading to eliminate too-sharp contours and achieve a more subdued play of light.

How to choose?

At first look, gouache sets might appear to be identical, with the only differences being in price and color selection. In actuality, there are a lot of considerations to make when selecting paint. The "children’s" gouache is the best choice for use in the classroom. This is exactly what you need for kids.

The type of paint packaging is also very important in terms of the security of the contents of the briefcase. Since gouache is typically sold in sets of plastic jars that are all tightly closed, a cardboard box is perfectly fine. If it is presented in a different format (like dry) for whatever reason, it is a different matter. In this situation, a trustworthy container that won’t leak the mixture outside is what you should choose.

Ordinary gouache is not meant to be used with special coatings; it is meant to be drawn on top of paper and cardboard. Youngsters’ inventiveness is not limited by these limitations; for example, paints are occasionally required to draw on wood or glass. Asking the child in advance to select a special gouache is worthwhile if it is anticipated that they will draw not only inside the album but also outside of it.

When buying guns, those who wish to buy should focus on the acrylic variety because it can be reliably gripped with nearly any surface without any prior preparation.

The baby’s actual needs at this point should guide the decision regarding the number of colors. For novice peanuts, who are currently operating in the finest traditions of abstraction, acquiring a set of six colors will be more than enough. Such a gift will limit the creative thought flights of schoolchildren, as sets of 10–12 colors are needed even for relatively serious drawing. Visitors to the kids’ art studio might require sets with a lot of color.

Children and novice painters may find gouache to be an excellent option due to its versatility and ease of use. It is perfect for a variety of art projects because of its thick texture, which enables vivid, opaque colors.

Gouache’s ease of layering and adjusting makes it a great medium for children to experiment with without fear of failure. Its washable quality also simplifies cleanup, making it ideal for family environments.

Considerations such as quality, color variety, and compatibility with the artist’s style should all be taken into account when selecting gouache. For artists of all ages, gouache painting can be enjoyable and fulfilling when the right supplies are used.

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