Best Professional Gouache Kits for Artists – ARTnews.com

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The main characteristic of gouache is its opacity. While these paints are similar to watercolors in the way they are applied to paper, they are formulated so that the pigments remain near the surface of the paper rather than being absorbed by its fibers. Like any other paint, gouache comes in a range of grades and can be pricey. Professional gouache is usually made with finely sourced pigments with a small amount of binder; These paints often have a high level of light fastness as well. A good way to save a little money when going for these high end options is to buy a set of tubes. While you can buy sets in dozens of colors, don’t cross out the small selections. Even with only five colors, you can create more with these beautifully blendable paints. Find your favorite gouache set in the future below. (Note that all selections below are traditional gouache paints made without an acrylic binder, which means they are re-wetable on paper.)

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Holbein Artists’ Gouache Collections
This venerable Japanese paint company, which has been in business for more than a century, produces one of the best gouache for professionals. Paints are made from finely ground pigment without common additives such as calcium carbonate, talc, or titanium dioxide. If you’ve ever worked with gouache at the student level, you’ve probably noticed that it has a rather faint chalky color. You won’t experience it with Holbein, which delivers rich, vibrant colors that don’t blur when mixed. Pigments are naturally opaque, and while they maintain this opacity when diffuse, paint can also be diluted to semi-transparent. Holbein offers a larger selection of sets than any other brand on our list, each one featuring carefully curated selections of 89 colors. Choose from sets of 5, 12, 18, 24 or 84 tubes, each containing 15ml of paint.

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M. Graham Gouache Primary Group
This is one of the best gouache you can buy. M. Graham makes his paints using pure monochromatic colors and gum arabic, as well as pure blackberry honey. The latter adds fluidity and moisture to the paint so that it reconstitutes well with just a drop or two of water; It also prevents cracking while the paint dries. This gouache provides a slightly creamier consistency than Holbein, applies smoothly and blends easily. M. Graham offers only one collectionA set of five – Azo Yellow, Naphthol Red, Cobalt Blue, Ivory Black and Titanium White – is a great palette to introduce you to this wonderful line.

Another good option
10-Tube Gouache Primer Set from Winsor & Newton Designers
If you mainly use gouache for illustrations or commercial art, consider Winsor & Newton’s Designers line. The company has formulated over 80 paints that showcase bold, consistent, and vibrant colors. Unlike gouache from Holbein, for example, such paints are the result of a less difficult set of components; It’s made with pre-mixed pigments, which helps lower the cost. You can use it out of the tube, and dry it to a streak-free, matte finish. Winsor & Newton offers a designer “introductory” set containing 10 colors in 14-milliliter tubes, including Ultra Black and Ivory.

Students’ choice
Royal & Lingual Gouache Color Pack, 24 Tubes
If you’re not ready to flaunt high-quality lines but want high-quality paints, consider this from Royal & Langnickel. Gouache has a smooth, pleasant consistency, is easy to manipulate and mix, is well rehydrated. Only one coat of paint appears opaque and vibrant (although not as rich as more expensive brands). Royal & Langnickel offers four collections to choose from, with a selection of six to 24 colours. We recommend the other, but any of these make a great combo for practice and experimentation.

top of the line
Schmincke Horadam Gouache Set
The first thing you’ll likely notice about Schmincke’s Horadam line are the eye-drying prices: Tubes go for about 50 percent more than you’d pay for Holbein’s. But you really get what you pay for in this case. The German company sources its pigments carefully: all but eight of its 48 colors are monochromatic, so they blend very easily and cleanly. It combines the best characteristics of the competition, featuring extremely high dye load, superb transparency, amazing lightfastness, ease of work and excellent recyclable properties. Schmincke offers just one paint set: 10 primary colors in 15-milliliter tubes, including titanium white, deep madder lake, bluish heliogreen, and burnt sienna.