Holbein Artists Gouache 18 color set Holbein gouache (japan import), blue,G703

Product Information

Paints do not contain any whitening agents which could be a cheap way to make a more opaque look. Holbein doesn’t cut corners with quality. Sometimes called opaque watercolor, gouache is a popular water-based paint that is used by artists and designers. Its opacity, brilliance, and matte finish make it a favored choice for illustration work, including posters and comics. While you can buy these paints individually, the best way to immerse yourself in everything this medium has to offer is with a set. Holbein gouache paint dry matte, to a rich soft finish and they do not change colors between wet and dry state. Of Which have Excellent or Good Lightfastness (according to their own tests): 22 (All rated ‘excellent’) i started noticing a difference in the quality of w&n paints a few years ago. it is getting progressively worse.

The company has a reputation for innovation and quality, and its products are highly regarded in the art community. The main difference between Holbein Artist’s Gouache and Holbein Acrylic Gouache is the binder used in each paint. To combat this, some brands will add ingredients to specific colors to improve opacity, such as calcium carbonate. In my opinion, this doesn’t matter unless it effects performance or the lightfastness. Ultimately the paint will speak for itself! Da Vinci gouache colours come in 37ml tubes, rather than the 15ml tubes that most other brands of gouache paint come in. The colours are made using quality raw materials and are milled in small batches.If you are planning on creating your painting then making a scan or taking a photo to upload online and discarding the original, these paints would be great. Alternatively, these paints would be a good accompaniment to art class, or for sketchbook work. Acrylic gouache This is a professional quality gouache paint made from mainly single pigment colours. This makes for vibrant, rich, dense and highly pigmented paint. The paint is unaltered by fillers and opacifies, which leaves the properties of the individual pigments to shine. This leaves it to the artist to decide when to add white to increase the opacity of the colour. Some especially transparent pigments can be used to make transparent washes with the addition of lots of water.

Most colours rank as moderately permanent. Therefore it’s advisable not to use this brand if you are planning to sell the original gouache painting, as the colours may start to fade over time, especially when displayed in bright natural light settings. Holbein Artist Gouache in Enji/ Crimson. This transparent red has more in common with watercolour than traditional gouache. Holbein Artist’s Gouache is a more traditional medium that is ideal for those who prefer the texture and rewettable properties of a gum arabic binder, while Holbein Acrylic Gouache is a more modern medium that is ideal for those who want a waterproof, matte finish and the ability to layer and blend colors. Traditional gouache is a water-based paint characterised by a matt, opaque finish. Like watercolour, it uses gum Arabic as a binder, but because it contains opacifying agents it offers a velvety application of colour, fast drying time, and high opacity. It is a medium often used in illustration and design because a matt surface is easier to digitally reproduce and it lends itself to bold, graphic painting techniques. Traditional gouache is also used by many watercolour artists because its opacity can be very useful for adding highlights and details on top of the luminous transparency of watercolour. The two mediums can also be used interchangeably. The properties of acrylic gouache are more similar to matte acrylic paint, rather than gouache. Its main difference is that it dries to a water resistant finish, whereas gouache is rewettable. Acrylic gouache is compatible with other water soluble media. Holbein Acrylic GouacheUnlike watercolor, gouache can provide full coverage of color. Not only that, but after it is applied to the paper, it will dry in a smooth and flat texture, which is why it works so well in certain types of illustrations. In addition, since this medium has a fast drying time like acrylic paint, and possesses an opaque appearance, you can even add layers of gouache to your composition to hide mistakes or create more depth. But before you start, it's important to have high quality paint on hand. While Holbein gouache is more expensive than some other brands of gouache, its quality and performance make it well worth for you.

Use the opaque matte colours on their own, or combine it with artists watercolours to bring transparency to the painting. The colour range is fairly limited, but they supply an excellent range of primaries, earth tones and all the essential colours to mix a full chromatic range. M. Graham make a fantastic watercolour range too, if you’re interested in finding out the differences between watercolour and gouache, read our guide.Firstly, the texture of the paints was very smooth and fluid, thinner in consistency than the buttery, heavy body acrylics. This made them very easy to use undiluted but I was concerned that this would mean that they wouldn’t be as opaque as I would like. I was pleasantly surprised that when not thinned down with water, they were very opaque, which really opens up possibilities when painting, such as adding highlights and details towards the end. You can see from my test that the white and yellow were slightly less opaque but a further layer of paint would sort that out. The paint is high quality and doesn’t use color enhancers which means that a little goes a long way, and its lightfastness means that the colors will remain vibrant and true over time.

Holbein refrains from using opacifiers and additives which can compromise the appearance of the painting, instead, they make the paint highly concentrated with pigment to increase the opacity. This means that certain Holbein tubes may appear less opaque than other brands. This isn’t necessarily a negative, as artists can always add titanium white to increase opacity. All colors are beautifully semi- or fully opaque except a few but I can see they are perfect for layering. fyi, i remember w&n tubes when they were made of zinc and i still have one of their hand-painted color charts. So why does opacity matter that much? Here’s my take: If I wanted transparent color, I would just use watercolor. The reason I use gouache is for the ability to layer, the intense color, and the blendability. To me, it’s all about the layers! Due to the high pigment load, the working properties of each pigment will come through. This means that there can be less consistency of the working properties between colours. Many of the colours, such as primary red and magenta are semi transparent.

I’ve separated the gouache into two main categories: professional and student level. The main difference is that the majority of the professional grade gouache pigments are considered lightfast, and they use high quality gum arabic binder. It’s not so easy to rank these, because the top 5 or 6 are VERY close to being perfect. To be honest you could buy any of those and have a good experience.