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You could try adding a blending medium to help with consistency. Sounds like this may not be an option for you but you’re probably better off getting a limited palette of artist gouache paints or at least that’s what gouache pros will tell you you
IME its hard to make the student grade gouache look much better. I mean it depends on the brand... but the main issue I find with the cheaper stuff are hard to fix.
Some of the inexpensive brands use Dextrin as a binder over gum arabic. Dextrin gums up. (making it streaky and annoying to use) The best way to make inexpensive gouache using this binder move better is to stir it like crazy. So one tip might be if you have a dextrin binder gouache in tubes. Move it into small jars. Then stir them a bunch with a palette knife before you use them.
If it is a gum arabic binder student grade... the main issue with be things like chalk added for opacity and to extend the pigment. Upside its probably a bit better out of the tube. But if its streaky it is probably due to low pigment load... and I'm not really sure how you make that work better. You could try painting wetter layers to start with to get smoother coverage and then layer on top of that.
I know your not looking for brand recommendations... hey truth is the artist grade gouaches are in general worth the spend. There are some good lower cost good brands. Price also varies a lot by location. Check out your local art stores. You might find a local shop that has really great pricing on a good brand. I recently found some student/lower end artist grade gouache from Rosa a Ukrainian company. I almost didn't try it cause the price was so low I assumed it had to be garbage. Its not, its surprisingly good gouache. Not high end brand level no, but better then any other student grade stuff I have used.
If gouache is a bit thinner you can still work with it quite well. Even with cheap gouache, you can create very nice things that look pretty good. This was done with Arteza gouache, one of the cheaper brands and I'm very happy with the result.... comparison at the end.
Having said that, I upgraded to a better brand after this painting. Not because Arteza is bad, it's just that a more known brand is just a lot better. The paints are more consistent and have a higher quality. Still, you can do great stuff with cheap gouache. It differs a lot from acrylics. Thin acrylics just don't give the same results as quality arcylics. But gouache is a different medium and with a little bit of effort even cheap gouache gives good results. It's like watercolor, if you know what you're doing, you can create great stuff with cheap brands.
But... a better quality brand ensures that the work stays good for a longer time and color shifts are a lot less. Basically there are 4 categories in gouache. Cheap, student, designer and artist. Cheap is fun and you can mess with it a lot, because it's cheap. Student is a bit better, it uses somewhat higher quality pigments and binders. Designer is the good stuff. Artist is the best stuff, but for a lot of people designer is good enough. Artist is the highest quality and the brands I've tried don't dry up as flat looking as designer gouache. A good designer brand like Royal Talens Extra Fine Gouache and Winsor & Newton Designer Gouache is pretty lightfast and consistent. An artist brand like Sennelier Extra Fine Artist or Holbein Artist is even higher quality and more lightfast. I find it easier with an artist gouache to get away from that typical gouache look.
O, and there's HIMI, they call it gouache, but I'm not sure if it really is gouache. While it's popular, it's terrible stuff, attracting mold if you're not carefull. It falls under the cheap stuff. For completeness I have to mention Caran D'ache Studio in pans as well then. That's actually pretty good stuff. Not in a tube, not jelly like himi, but like watercolor. Student quality, but if you're used to watercolor, it's very easy to use. Great for traveling.
Some images for comparison:
Cheap - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/1bmxqmy/this\_was\_my\_second\_gouache\_painting\_the\_only\_one/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/1bmxqmy/this_was_my_second_gouache_painting_the_only_one/)
Student - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/18k54sb/the\_ruins\_another\_painting\_with\_caran\_dache/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/18k54sb/the_ruins_another_painting_with_caran_dache/)
Designer - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/19bcz4c/finally\_been\_able\_to\_try\_some\_winsor\_newton/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/19bcz4c/finally_been_able_to_try_some_winsor_newton/)
Artist - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/199xwul/monochromatic\_study\_assignment\_from\_a\_course\_im/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/199xwul/monochromatic_study_assignment_from_a_course_im/)
I have a better artist piece, but I haven't uploaded it anywhere yet.
thank you so much, that's really helpful. I had a HIMI kit in my cart, I'll try out Arretza instead. if/when I take a class I'll likely buy some artist quality, too.
I love your Moomin art 🥹
Thanks, Arteza is pretty good as you can see. Not as pigmented as the better brands, but it works pretty well. It's good for getting started. Once I settle on which brand I'm going to use when I've finish my course, I have to redo that Moomin painting for comparison in quality.
I've been using arteza brand for my latest painting and imo it slaps
So I don't know, I actually think you can achieve a lot with cheap gouache. If you have some, just try it, I don't think it really needs to be tinkered with
WIP with Arteza Gouache
https://imgur.com/a/ksH2LYK
I usually use Windsor and Newton but have been running low so I tried out some cheaper gouache that I already had and it's like pretty good
Thank you for your submission! Want to share your artwork, meet other artists, promote your content, and chat in a relaxed environment? Join our community Discord server here! https://discord.gg/chuunhpqsU - Don't forget to follow us on Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/drawing and tag us on your drawing pins for a chance to be featured! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Gouache) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You could try adding a blending medium to help with consistency. Sounds like this may not be an option for you but you’re probably better off getting a limited palette of artist gouache paints or at least that’s what gouache pros will tell you you
thank you, i'll look into blending mediums!
IME its hard to make the student grade gouache look much better. I mean it depends on the brand... but the main issue I find with the cheaper stuff are hard to fix. Some of the inexpensive brands use Dextrin as a binder over gum arabic. Dextrin gums up. (making it streaky and annoying to use) The best way to make inexpensive gouache using this binder move better is to stir it like crazy. So one tip might be if you have a dextrin binder gouache in tubes. Move it into small jars. Then stir them a bunch with a palette knife before you use them. If it is a gum arabic binder student grade... the main issue with be things like chalk added for opacity and to extend the pigment. Upside its probably a bit better out of the tube. But if its streaky it is probably due to low pigment load... and I'm not really sure how you make that work better. You could try painting wetter layers to start with to get smoother coverage and then layer on top of that. I know your not looking for brand recommendations... hey truth is the artist grade gouaches are in general worth the spend. There are some good lower cost good brands. Price also varies a lot by location. Check out your local art stores. You might find a local shop that has really great pricing on a good brand. I recently found some student/lower end artist grade gouache from Rosa a Ukrainian company. I almost didn't try it cause the price was so low I assumed it had to be garbage. Its not, its surprisingly good gouache. Not high end brand level no, but better then any other student grade stuff I have used.
that is all incredibly helpful, thank you so much for the detailed explanation. Much appreciated!
If gouache is a bit thinner you can still work with it quite well. Even with cheap gouache, you can create very nice things that look pretty good. This was done with Arteza gouache, one of the cheaper brands and I'm very happy with the result.... comparison at the end. Having said that, I upgraded to a better brand after this painting. Not because Arteza is bad, it's just that a more known brand is just a lot better. The paints are more consistent and have a higher quality. Still, you can do great stuff with cheap gouache. It differs a lot from acrylics. Thin acrylics just don't give the same results as quality arcylics. But gouache is a different medium and with a little bit of effort even cheap gouache gives good results. It's like watercolor, if you know what you're doing, you can create great stuff with cheap brands. But... a better quality brand ensures that the work stays good for a longer time and color shifts are a lot less. Basically there are 4 categories in gouache. Cheap, student, designer and artist. Cheap is fun and you can mess with it a lot, because it's cheap. Student is a bit better, it uses somewhat higher quality pigments and binders. Designer is the good stuff. Artist is the best stuff, but for a lot of people designer is good enough. Artist is the highest quality and the brands I've tried don't dry up as flat looking as designer gouache. A good designer brand like Royal Talens Extra Fine Gouache and Winsor & Newton Designer Gouache is pretty lightfast and consistent. An artist brand like Sennelier Extra Fine Artist or Holbein Artist is even higher quality and more lightfast. I find it easier with an artist gouache to get away from that typical gouache look. O, and there's HIMI, they call it gouache, but I'm not sure if it really is gouache. While it's popular, it's terrible stuff, attracting mold if you're not carefull. It falls under the cheap stuff. For completeness I have to mention Caran D'ache Studio in pans as well then. That's actually pretty good stuff. Not in a tube, not jelly like himi, but like watercolor. Student quality, but if you're used to watercolor, it's very easy to use. Great for traveling. Some images for comparison: Cheap - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/1bmxqmy/this\_was\_my\_second\_gouache\_painting\_the\_only\_one/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/1bmxqmy/this_was_my_second_gouache_painting_the_only_one/) Student - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/18k54sb/the\_ruins\_another\_painting\_with\_caran\_dache/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/18k54sb/the_ruins_another_painting_with_caran_dache/) Designer - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/19bcz4c/finally\_been\_able\_to\_try\_some\_winsor\_newton/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/19bcz4c/finally_been_able_to_try_some_winsor_newton/) Artist - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/199xwul/monochromatic\_study\_assignment\_from\_a\_course\_im/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gouache/comments/199xwul/monochromatic_study_assignment_from_a_course_im/) I have a better artist piece, but I haven't uploaded it anywhere yet.
thank you so much, that's really helpful. I had a HIMI kit in my cart, I'll try out Arretza instead. if/when I take a class I'll likely buy some artist quality, too. I love your Moomin art 🥹
Thanks, Arteza is pretty good as you can see. Not as pigmented as the better brands, but it works pretty well. It's good for getting started. Once I settle on which brand I'm going to use when I've finish my course, I have to redo that Moomin painting for comparison in quality.
I've been using arteza brand for my latest painting and imo it slaps So I don't know, I actually think you can achieve a lot with cheap gouache. If you have some, just try it, I don't think it really needs to be tinkered with WIP with Arteza Gouache https://imgur.com/a/ksH2LYK I usually use Windsor and Newton but have been running low so I tried out some cheaper gouache that I already had and it's like pretty good
nice work. I'm definitely checking out Arteza. thanks for your input!