hi everyone in this video we're going to
talk all about gouache
what it is how to use it and the
materials you'll need so let's just get
right into it
gouache is a water media commonly known
as an opaque watercolor
you use water to thin down the paint so
it can be used thin and transparently
or thick and opaquely if less water is
added typically you work from
thin to thick meaning you start with a
very diluted wash of paint
and gradually build up the opacity by
adding less and less water
because of its opacity you can either
work from light to dark or from dark to
light
this means you don't have to preserve
the light areas like you do in
watercolor
because you can paint it in opaquely at
the end this also makes squash more
forgiving of mistakes as you can cover
an area opaquely to an extent
like watercolor gouache is resoluble
meaning you can reactivate dried paint
you can use a wet brush to re-wet paint
you've laid down on paper
or to reactivate dried paint on the
palette it's very easy to clean up after
a painting session
as all you need is a little bit of water
sometimes i leave my workspace exactly
as it is
and come back hours later or the next
day to continue where i left off just by
reactivating the paint
some other properties of gouache are
that it dries to a matte finish
because of this squash artworks
photograph beautifully as there is no
glare on the surface
a trickier property of gouache is that
it dries to a different value
light colors tend to dry darker while
dark colors dry lighter while this is
extremely tricky to get the hang of at
first it is something that gets easier
with practice
overall while gouache may be described
as some hybrid between watercolor and
acrylic
it is unique in its own way for many
reasons and it should be used as so
its main difference from watercolor
being that while it can be used thinly
it is designed to be opaque and its
beautiful matte velvety finish is what
makes it so unique
now let's talk about materials starting
with the paint that you use
gouache most commonly comes in tubes it
is best used fresh out of the tube as it
feels most creamy and workable when
fresh
i'm using my mary extra fine gouache for
all the demonstrations in the video
as for paper watercolor paper works well
as you want something that can withstand
a few layers of water and paint
here i'm using the strathmore 500 series
ready cut watercolor paper
300 gsm is an ideal paper way as it is
heavy enough to
reduce a bit of the buckling that
happens as you paint the texture of
paper
is up to personal preference i
personally like cold pressed paper
as it has a bit of texture so you can
get some nice brush strokes as the paint
clings onto the toothier parts of the
paper
for brushes you can use watercolor or
mixed-media brushes
i like to use synthetic brushes these
ones here are by princeton
i especially like these princeton aqua
elite brushes which have very long
bristles that can hold
a lot of water so the paint can go a
very long way an angular shader brush is
great for blocking in backgrounds and is
also versatile as you can get very thin
strokes on its side
with round brushes that come to a thin
tip you can get very
thin precise lines or with a bit more
control and pressure you can also
achieve wider strokes
with more blunt brushes you can
experiment to create all kinds of
interesting textures
and for even thinner lines a liner brush
is great as the paint can easily flow
off the long bristles
of course there are many other kinds of
brushes that you can try with gouache
as it's all about experimenting some
other things you'll need include a
palette
two jars of water a glass or a paper
towel to dry your brushes on
some tape to hold down the paper like
washi tape or masking tape
and a spray bottle to mist your paints
as you work because while gouache can be
reactivated on the palette it takes a
bit more time and work to re-wet and
it's not the same creamy velvety
consistency as gouache that is fresh
now that you know a bit more about
gouache and the materials you'll need
let's talk about some basic gouache
techniques and getting started with
painting
starting with the consistency of paint
here i've used black acrylic paint to
just paint out a black strip then
starting with a brush
i'm going to soak it through and just
take off a little bit of moisture on a
towel and with a generous amount of
gouache squeezed out onto my palette i'm
going to go into that gouache and just
try and pick up some paint and
paint over that black strip you'll
notice that even though i had a bit of
water on my brush
the gouache doesn't spread very smoothly
on the paper and you get a dry brush
texture
so then you can start slowly adding in
more water to the gouache mixture on
your palette and you'll find that you'll
reach this really nice creamy
consistency
while the paint is still opaque but then
as you add more water you'll see that
the paint starts to become transparent
and it doesn't
cover the black line that we've painted
in but keep in mind that some lighter
colors
are just inherently less opaque for
example this yellow doesn't have as
strong of a opaque covering power as a
darker color so when you're doing this
exercise you can pick a darker color to
start with so you can more accurately
see
how opaque it is at the creamy
consistency the next exercise that would
be helpful for
practicing mixing up a creamy
consistency is to try and block in
one large area with just a flat shade of
color this will force you to squeeze out
a lot of paint and mix up a large batch
of the paint
which is good practice as you actually
need more paint than you probably think
you do
something that tends to happen is you
dilute the paint with a lot of water
and the paint starts to become quite
streaky rather than
opaque so if you start to see brush
strokes in the paint that's probably a
sign that you could use a bit more paint
in the mixture
so that the paint can be more opaque
when it comes to layering the basic
principle is to work from
thin to thick starting with a lot of
water in the mixture
and gradually adding less because with
thinner layers it's less
likely you'll lift off the paint from
the paper as you continue to apply more
strokes on top
this doesn't mean that you can't layer
light colors on top of a dark opaque
layer underneath you just have to be a
little more careful and there are a few
things that you want to avoid for
example
applying multiple strokes in the same
area or using very long strokes and
dragging it across the paint with a wet
brush
the best thing to do if you want greater
opacity is to let that layer dry and go
over
a second or third time here you can see
that with the thinner layer
even if i use a lot of water on it none
of the paint gets lifted off the paper
whereas with the thicker layer the paint
easily lifts off with a wet brush
you can also use this knowledge to
advantage as a good way to fix mistakes
is you can try and lift off the pigment
of the paper as it's still wet or you
can re-wet it with a wet brush and just
soak it up with the tissue and this will
give you the best chance of covering
that area with a lighter opaque
layer if needed remember though that if
you don't wait for the layer to dry
first before going
in with the second layer on top then
those two will bleed together
although if you want things to blend
then that's the way you want to go
to practice your blending you can first
start with a color and why
and just practice fading it out so here
i've got an ultramarine blue and i'm
going to start with a dark blue at the
top and just fade it out into a very
light blue i do this by just gradually
adding more white into the mixture
as i move down and i make sure to keep
up that creamy consistency
so i'm using lots of paint in the
mixture while adding in
water as well then at one point i'll
clean off my brush and just pick up some
pure white paint
and bring it upwards into the dark blue
so that way i can get a smooth gradation
you can see that i just continue to
sweep my brush back and forth
until the color blends out smoothly
i also like to clean off my brush again
and you can go in with a clean brush
and just lightly brush over any areas
that you want to blend together a bit
more smoothly
after you've practiced blending with
just one color and white you can move on
to doing two color gradations
there are different ways that you can
blend in gouache one way is to block in
half of the paper with one color and the
bottom half with another
and where it meets in the middle you can
just use a brush to sweep over and blend
it together
in order for this to work you have to
have a lot of paint on the paper
so you have enough to blend with a wet
brush the way that i prefer to blend
is to work from top to bottom so i like
to start with the first color and
gradually mix in more of the second
color into it on my palette
and start to bring it down like that as
you start to feel more comfortable with
blending you can add more colors
in and do lots of color transitions here
i'm going from blue to purple to pink
into orange the important thing to
remember is you want to blend while
having a creamy consistency of paint
otherwise there's not much pigment on
the paper for your brush to
pick up and blend with the other colors
so make sure you're working in that
creamy
velvety consistency while you're
blending
[Music]
now that you're feeling more confident
with gouache and
basic techniques let's have some fun and
experiment with some other techniques
starting with some dry brushing i like
to start by just soaking my brush
through and taking off a bit of the
excess moisture and then picking up some
of the paint and you can start to apply
onto the paper and see what kind of
texture you get then it's all about just
experimenting with the amount
of water that you want to add into it
too much water and you'll lose that dry
brush texture
a good way to take out some moisture in
the brush if you realize you have too
much
is to use a paper towel and soak it up
around the belly of the brush
once you get the hang of that then it's
time to practice painting against an
opaque layer the challenge here is to
not reactivate that layer beneath so you
really have to control the amount of
water in your brush
you want to avoid applying multiple
strokes in the same place as you're more
likely to reactivate the paint
the next technique you can try is the
opposite of dry brushing which is
glazing and this time you want to thin
down your paint with a lot of water i
especially like to use this technique
when i'm trying to paint rays of light
as it can look very convincing when done
correctly you might have a harder time
trying to not reactivate the layer
beneath as your brush is going to have a
lot of water in it but it just takes a
little bit of practice to get the hang
of this
one of my favorite things about gouache
is how i can easily make the colors
bleed together
here i've applied some paint onto the
paper and while it's still wet i'm going
to pick up a lot of white paint
with a decent amount of water in my
brush as well and as i sweep across the
edge of the paint i just lay down
the water is going to make the colors
bleed together i love to use this
technique whenever i want to create a
misty effect
you can also do this with paint that's
dried on the paper as well you just have
to go in with a wet brush and just
reactivate and soften out the edges
let's explore some other textures you
can create with your brush
here i'm using a blunt round brush and
gently pressing at the base of the
bristles to make the hair split apart
and picking up
a bit of paint i can now stipple on the
paper to create a foliage like texture
if you have too much water on your brush
the hairs will clump together which will
make it difficult for you to split the
hairs apart
and at the same time the paint will be
much more watery and you won't get that
fine stipple texture
so again you can remove some of the
moisture with some paper towel just by
taking it off the belly of the brush
this will make it much easier for you to
split the hairs apart
the next brush i'm using is called a
filbert grainer brush
in the princeton velvet touch range you
can use it to create grass-like textures
as the hairs are very thin and split
apart you can have a lot of fun
experimenting with this one to create
all kinds of textures
because gouache is opaque you can use
white gouache to sprinkle on
stars you can use a liner brush and just
tap on the brush you'll be able to
achieve larger splatters while not
getting your hands dirty or you can use
a filbert greener brush or a fan brush
and sprinkle on the stars that way you
get much more smaller
clustered splatters on the paper
[Music]
now we're going to put everything we've
learned into practice and paint six
small paintings i'm going to start by
taping down some paper with washi tape
and splitting it into six small sections
these are the brushes that i'll be using
for the paintings and i've also picked
out my colors as well
i'll also be using a spray bottle to
mist my palette so that the paint can
stay fresh
on there as i work for the first
painting i'm just going to
paint in some clouds so first i'm going
to block in the sky
painting just a simple gradation from
dark blue to light blue
so i'm just using some of the basic
blending techniques that i explained in
the second video
and before i paint the clouds on i want
to make sure this first
layer is thoroughly dried so i'll leave
it to dry while i move on to the second
painting i switch to a round brush
and mix up some green paint i'm going to
use a very thin
diluted wash of this and use this to
block in some rough
leaf-like shapes i'm going to paint a
forest scene for this one with some
sunlight shining through so you can see
i'm working from thin to thick and then
i'm going to go in with a stippling
technique and just stipple on a bit more
of the foliage texture with paint that's
a little bit thicker
now that the first layer has dried in
the first painting i'm going to go back
to it and
use a dry brush texture to sweep on some
clouds i'm just using pure white paint
with a dry brush
and i'm applying it in quite thick
strokes so i'm getting a nice texture
when i want to build up the opacity of
the white i wait for it to dry and go in
with a second layer on top
i concentrate that towards the center of
the cloud so that the edges can look a
bit more transparent and wispy
and that's the first mini painting done
now my second painting has also dried so
i can go in with another layer of
thicker more opaque paint
i'm painting in the tree trunks and the
branches using black
mixed with some burnt sienna and then i
stipple on a bit more foliage texture on
top of that
once that layer has completely dried i'm
ready to go in
with some really thin down yellowish
orange paint and paint on the rays of
sunlight that are shining through the
forest trees
so i'm using a glazing technique to very
gently
glaze on that light yellow over the top
you have to take a lot of care here
to not overwork the paint beneath as you
can easily start to reactivate those
darker colors with your wet brush
after cleaning up some palette space i
mix up a
blue gray using ultramarine blue with a
bit of black and lots of white and i'm
going to paint in a misty mountain scene
for this third mini painting
my aim here is to get the bottom of the
mountain to bleed as much as possible
so i can create that mist effect i have
to be very careful though to
let each layer dry before i stack the
next mountain on top of it
as the paint is very wet on the paper
and if i try to go in with another layer
it's going to bleed together where i
don't want
it to i'm quickly blocking in the first
layer for the last three paintings so
they can all dry while i work on the
other one
i'll be painting a forest scene looking
upwards in the fourth one
a galaxy night sky in the fifth one and
a grassy field in the last one
i'm using a dark green to quickly block
in
where i want the trees to be and then
i'm going to switch to a stippling
technique so i can create more of the
foliage texture
i also mix in more yellow for some of
the lighter areas and i just continue to
build up that texture on the paper
then once that layer has dried i paint
in the tree trunks they get thinner as
they converge into the center of the
painting
even though i'm using a size 6 round
brush for this tiny painting
i can still achieve some very thin lines
because it comes to a very pointy tip
[Music]
i quickly paint on a bit of land in this
fifth painting and then i have some fun
sprinkling on the stars in the sky
then i paint in a few shooting stars
using a size one liner brush
i can get some really thin and precise
strokes with this
for the grassy field i first block in
the base color
using a very dark green and just
bringing it up into a lighter green then
it's time to make the most of this brush
and bring out as much of that wispy
texture as i can
i layer from dark to light gradually
building it up towards the front of the
painting
the best part is always removing the
tape to reveal those clean edges
and to see your finished piece i hope
you enjoyed watching this short
introduction to gouache series
and i hope it also made you want to try
out this fun and exciting medium it can
take a little bit of time to get the
hang of it but i promise it's so much
fun when you do
thank you so much for watching bye bye
[Music]
you