Traditional gouache is often divided into two categories- Artist and Designer gouache. But what do these mean in practice and what do they mean for painters? The simple answer seems to be that one caters for fine artists, and the other for designers and illustrators. However, choosing a paint should not be about categorising the kind of art you make, but about what each paint has to offer. In this article, I compare the characteristics of artist and designer gouache and what it means for your painting. I also compare the characteristics of seven ranges of gouache to help you choose the best one for your practice.
What is Traditional Gouache?
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 Difference between Artist and Designer Gouache:
Lightfastness
Artist gouache ranges are more likely to contain a greater proportion of colours that have excellent lightfastness, while most Designer gouache ranges contain more fugitive pigments. Fugitive pigments are those that fade when exposed to UV light for long durations, and they are not often included in professional grade oil, acrylic, and watercolour ranges because the artworks made with them are usually intended to be displayed and therefore subject to light-exposure. However, painted images are not always made with this purpose in mind. Illustrations might be intended to be digitally reproduced, so the lightfastness of the original artwork is less of a concern. Pigments with less-than-excellent lightfastness ratings are also suitable for use in sketchbooks, as they will only be exposed to UV light for short periods of time. This is one way in which Designer gouache caters specifically to the needs of illustrators and designers. It should be noted that most Artist gouache ranges also include some fugitive pigments, so it is best to check the pigments for individual colours if this is a concern.
Shin Han Professional Designer Gouache in Opera. This colour is extremely vibrant, but contains a fluorescent dye that has poor lightfastness
Opacity
The vast majority of Artist and Designer gouache paints are opaque, as that is the defining characteristic of the medium. There are exceptions to this rule, however, and some Artist gouache ranges offer a broader range of opacities. For example, Holbein’s Artists Gouache and Schmincke Horadam Gouache contain some semi-transparent and semi-opaque colours alongside the opaque ones. This makes these ranges suitable for a broader range of painting methods, not limiting a painter to opaque techniques. It is interesting that most Artist gouache ranges claim that opacifying fillers have not been added to their paints. This might explain why there are more semi-transparent colours in Artist ranges, but in general these claims should be taken with a pinch of salt because the definition of a ‘filler’ is a loose one. What’s more, opacifying fillers are not a bad thing in themselves: they provide the velvety, matt finish that artists and illustrators love. Designer gouache ranges are, as a general rule, uniformly opaque.
Holbein Artist Gouache in Enji/ Crimson. This transparent red has more in common with watercolour than traditional gouache.
Price
Without a doubt, Artist gouache ranges are more expensive per ml than Designer gouache ranges. Their dependence on high quality, lightfast pigments is possibly one reason for this. Designer Gouache paints may contain a higher proportion of Titanium White or opacifying agents which are inexpensive and help keep the cost down for the artist.
Colour Range
Designer ranges usually offer a much larger range of colours. Daniel Smith’s Extra Fine Gouache (an Artist range) contains 22 colours, while Daler Rowney Designer Gouache has 90 colours. There are exceptions- Holbein Artists Gouache has an unusually large number of colours for an Artist gouache range, totalling 89 colours. But generally Designer ranges have a larger offering because they contain many pre-mixed colours that contain a mixture of two or more pigments, providing readymade shades without the need for mixing colours together. This can be a great advantage for illustrators and designers, who might need to use the exact same colour repeatedly.
Daniel Smith’s ‘Wisteria’ next to Daler Rowney’s ‘Saffron Green’. Both are mixtures of pigments that could be mixed from scratch, but which can be useful to have ready-made
Comparing Individual Artist and Designer Gouache Ranges
The above comparison points are useful as a general guide, but every range is unique. I compared the overall characteristics of every range of Designer and Artist gouache available at Jackson’s, and here are my findings:
Artist Gouache:
Number of Colours: 89
Of Which have Excellent or Good Lightfastness (according to their own tests): 50
Opaque/Transparent: Mostly opaque, but includes semi-transparent and semi-opaque colours
Number of Colour Series: 7
Price: ££
Size of tubes: 15 ml (2 colours in 40 ml tubes)
Daniel Smith Extra Fine Gouache
Number of Colours: 22
Of Which have Excellent or Good Lightfastness (according to their own tests): 22 (All rated ‘excellent’)
Opaque/Transparent: All opaque
Number of Colour Series: 3
Price: £££
Size of tubes: 15 ml
Number of Colours: 51
Of Which have Excellent or Good Lightfastness (according to their own tests): 47
Opaque/Transparent: Mostly opaque, but includes semi-transparent and semi-opaque colours
Number of Colour Series: 4
Price: £££
Size of tubes: 1 5ml (1 colour in a 60 ml tube)
Designer Gouache:
Winsor and Newton Designer Gouache
Number of Colours: 89
Of Which have Excellent or Good Lightfastness (according to their own tests): 82
Opaque/Transparent: Opaque
Number of Colour Series: 4
Price: ££
Size of tubes: 14 ml (5 colours in 37 ml tubes)
Shin Han Professional Designer Gouache
Number of Colours: 72
Of Which have Excellent or Good Lightfastness (according to their own tests): 61
Opaque/Transparent: All opaque
Number of Colour Series: 5
Price: ££
Size of tubes: 15 ml
For an in-depth review of Shin Han Professional Designers Gouache, read Louise Reynolds’ review
Number of Colours: 48
Of Which have Excellent or Good Lightfastness (according to their own tests): 37
Opaque/Transparent: Semi-opaque to opaque
Number of Colour Series: 1
Price: £
Size of tubes: 20 ml (2 colours in 120 ml tubes)
Number of Colours: 90
Of Which have Excellent or Good Lightfastness (according to their own tests): 54
Opaque/Transparent: All opaque
Number of Colour Series: 2
Price: £
Size of tubes: 15 ml
Further Reading
What is the Difference Between Watercolour and Gouache?
Everything You Need to Know About Watercolour Paper
Inside the Sketchbook of Parul Arora
Why Choose Artist Quality Watercolour Paint Over Student Grade?
Shop Artist and Designer Gouache on jacksonsart.com
Thank you for the interesting
comparison.Wet gouache looks different
after drying, which sometimes makes
the use a bit difficult. How do the
featured brands behave in that respect?
What is the difference between linocut
color and gouache? Is linocut color
suitable for painting?
Hi Martin, thanks for your question. Gouache does tend to have a colour shift from wet to dry- this is due to the mattifying agents it contains, but in my experience the colour shift in Schmincke Horadam and Holbein Artist gouache paints is minimal (depends on the pigment!). Lino printing ink, like another printing inks, are either oil or water-based inks that are made to be applied extremely thinly so you may find that it dries very very slowly if it is applied with a brush, and could wrinkle. Their working properties are formulated with printing in mind, so you might find that either acrylic, watercolour, or oil paint is better for painting. As a side note- of all the painting mediums it is oil paint or good-quality acrylic paint that have the least colour shift from wet to dry!
Thank you very much for your reply.
German descriptions of Iinocut colors
as opaque,watersoluble colors
sounded very much like gouache to
me. Indeed they dry very slow apart
from that those I used for painting
behaved very much like gouache.
That’s interesting, if they are water-soluble and opaque then they do sound very similar to gouache. If they work for you I see no reason why you shouldn’t paint with them!
I use very cheap gouache paints to sketch and pay £10 for 24 small tubes. From them, I can achieve semi-transparent textural areas and flatter opaque areas. For certain bright colours, greys and white, I have used Daler-Rowney Designer Gouache and they provide much better coverage. Others suggest I should sell my studies, but my concern is lightfastness. I have considered upgrading, though no gouache has a standard lightfast rating, probably because so few use them as artist’s paints. Artists like Roger Hilton used gouache on paper, with their paintings hanging on gallery walls for over 75 years without a lightfast rating. In future I will move across to the artist gouache range.
Hello Keith, thanks for mentioning Roger Hilton’s gouache paintings- they are really beautiful. They are most likely protected behind UV glass when they are on display- lots of well-known artists’ works are sensitive to light so it’s standard practice! I would suggest doing a controlled lightfastness test by painting swatches of the paints you use and covering half of each swatch with an opaque material. If you place them in a south-facing window for around 4 months (during summer is better) and then remove the opaque cover, you’ll get a pretty good idea of how lightfast they are. UV glass is one way of giving them extra protection if they need it. Another thing you could try is an archival UV varnish with a matt finish (like this one). However, I would definitely test it before applying it to a painting you really like, as the varnish might change the tonal values of the work. Once you’ve tested the paints and taken some steps to protect the paintings if they need it, then you can inform your buyers of the material longevity of your studies, and how best to look after them.
Evie – Thank you for that very helpful comparison of gouache. Did
you find any difference in their degree of matte finish; did some
tend more toward a satin finish at all?
Thank you!
Hi Jim, looking back at my swatches they are all extremely matte, except in areas where the paint was quite thick, or where the paint has been heavily diluted- in these areas there can be a bit of shine- but that’s something I’ve found across all ranges!
Enjoyed the latest article by Evie Hatch of
the subject of Artist and Designer
Gouaches.
My question regarding the Shin Han
Gouaches is that the article lists them
having 72 colours. However, Jackson’s (in
my limited time following online) has only
shown sets of 24. Will Jackson’s ever offer
consumer’s (in Canada) a larger set for
purchase?
Hi Larry, I’m so glad you enjoyed the article! Shin Han currently only produce three sets of their Professional Gouache. There isn’t an overlap between the two 24-colour sets, so there are completely different colours in both. I’m not sure if they have any plans to extend the number of sets they make, so the tubes will need to be purchased individually if you want to broaden your collection.