A long time ago I did an acrylic painting and haven't used it on the blog since. For the second time you'll see I've composed a painting, but this time with gouache! With over a year's extra development under my belt, how well does it turn out?
Very well I think! And no that wouldn't be because it's a painting of Droey Drawson, I'm not that vain... am I?
What's the difference between Acrylic and Gouache paints? Well Gouache actually has the same properties as Watercolour paints, but instead it is opaque. While acrylics once dried can withstand a minor splash, that might be all it takes for the gouache to reactivate so most gouache paintings are protected behind glass.
If I had good brush control, I think I would be alright with watercolours, and can certainly use watercolour pencils okay. I was thinking about getting some actual watercolours so I could make it a medium I improve my skills for, and I'm still going to set out to do that. But when asking about watercolours, another artist suggested I try out gouache instead. I got a back of twenty four gouache paints and knew where I would paint. Sketchbook 2 has canvas covers and I was saving the back cover for when I had finished the book. Originally this was going to be where I tried a watercolour piece but I would rather use gouache on a canvas, though there should be no problem with using it on paper.
I ought to point out now that gouache is a little more expensive than acrylics, so if you're thinking about painting and want a try gouache, try to get just a few colours to start with if you don't want to spend too much or are just after the chance the experiment.
Experiment is what I did, but as is with most things I did so by jumping straight into an art work! I had the concept sketched out, after seeing a beautiful blue composition on Pinterest, I knew I wanted to do this on the back cover of my sketchbook, but with Droey.
I'd like to say how I put this together, but for the most part as always when painting I didn't really think about what I was doing and just did it! But I can say some things where I had to think and give it a shot. Firstly I liked how I didn't have to mix any of my colours together, if you want a colour not provided in the tubes you just add a bit more water to the second colour and so forth to get the colour you want, unless you want to mix them prior to painting. This is how I was able to make the dark brown for the hair and the really dark ultramarine for the background.
Another thing I experimented with was the skin. Droey has white skin but I was going to need to shade it. No paint I had was anywhere near light enough so what I did was use some of the blue I had used for Droey's clothes. I dipped a wet brush into it and then elsewhere on the palette I painted to leave a wet but faint puddle of the blue. After cleaning and drying my brush, I dipped back into the puddle and applied the watery paint to the canvas, using more water to lighten and spread around the colour. This gave the skin it's blue tone, the less water and more pigment I picked up, the darker the blue which worked for the shadowy bits such as the neck and just beneath the cap.
What about painting the white bits? Well that was the hardest part and almost where I ruined my work! You need next to no water on your brush if you're going to apply a solid white to the painting, whereas a watery white will make the paint paler and slightly less saturated. I unfortunately had to face this with a section of the hair and I think I can pass it as light shining on it. I just painted a series of white lines as thin as possible around where I wanted the highlights and then signed the painting in the border, at last my best painting to date was completed!
Can I recommend gouache? Yes, I certainly can! I enjoyed working with it, I'm happy with the result and I can safeley say this is not the last time I'm going to pain with goauche, I might even start getting some canvases to do gouache paintings on! Is there a medium that you've wanted to try out? Give it a shot, it could become a new favourite for you!
What's the difference between Acrylic and Gouache paints? Well Gouache actually has the same properties as Watercolour paints, but instead it is opaque. While acrylics once dried can withstand a minor splash, that might be all it takes for the gouache to reactivate so most gouache paintings are protected behind glass.
If I had good brush control, I think I would be alright with watercolours, and can certainly use watercolour pencils okay. I was thinking about getting some actual watercolours so I could make it a medium I improve my skills for, and I'm still going to set out to do that. But when asking about watercolours, another artist suggested I try out gouache instead. I got a back of twenty four gouache paints and knew where I would paint. Sketchbook 2 has canvas covers and I was saving the back cover for when I had finished the book. Originally this was going to be where I tried a watercolour piece but I would rather use gouache on a canvas, though there should be no problem with using it on paper.
I ought to point out now that gouache is a little more expensive than acrylics, so if you're thinking about painting and want a try gouache, try to get just a few colours to start with if you don't want to spend too much or are just after the chance the experiment.
Experiment is what I did, but as is with most things I did so by jumping straight into an art work! I had the concept sketched out, after seeing a beautiful blue composition on Pinterest, I knew I wanted to do this on the back cover of my sketchbook, but with Droey.
I'd like to say how I put this together, but for the most part as always when painting I didn't really think about what I was doing and just did it! But I can say some things where I had to think and give it a shot. Firstly I liked how I didn't have to mix any of my colours together, if you want a colour not provided in the tubes you just add a bit more water to the second colour and so forth to get the colour you want, unless you want to mix them prior to painting. This is how I was able to make the dark brown for the hair and the really dark ultramarine for the background.
Another thing I experimented with was the skin. Droey has white skin but I was going to need to shade it. No paint I had was anywhere near light enough so what I did was use some of the blue I had used for Droey's clothes. I dipped a wet brush into it and then elsewhere on the palette I painted to leave a wet but faint puddle of the blue. After cleaning and drying my brush, I dipped back into the puddle and applied the watery paint to the canvas, using more water to lighten and spread around the colour. This gave the skin it's blue tone, the less water and more pigment I picked up, the darker the blue which worked for the shadowy bits such as the neck and just beneath the cap.
What about painting the white bits? Well that was the hardest part and almost where I ruined my work! You need next to no water on your brush if you're going to apply a solid white to the painting, whereas a watery white will make the paint paler and slightly less saturated. I unfortunately had to face this with a section of the hair and I think I can pass it as light shining on it. I just painted a series of white lines as thin as possible around where I wanted the highlights and then signed the painting in the border, at last my best painting to date was completed!
Can I recommend gouache? Yes, I certainly can! I enjoyed working with it, I'm happy with the result and I can safeley say this is not the last time I'm going to pain with goauche, I might even start getting some canvases to do gouache paintings on! Is there a medium that you've wanted to try out? Give it a shot, it could become a new favourite for you!
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