We have heard about paintings in our day-to-day life. There are many forms of paintings in the art, amongst them is the watercolor and gouache. They are made from water-soluble pigments and binders, there are several other differences between the two. So let’s look at the Difference Between watercolor & Gouache.
There are a lot of dissimilarities between these two, one of the basic differences is the pigmentation. Gouache has a much better pigmentation in comparison to watercolor and gouache dries up fast which makes it easier while blending. So let’s look at the other differences in detail.
What is Watercolour?
Watercolors, also known as aquarelle, are made up of materials that are soluble in water. Watercolors are more transparent than any other kind of color. It is water-soluble and blotted at the back of the paper. Due to its transparency, light easily travels through its pigments and thus reflects on the back of the white paper.
What is Gouache?
Gouache, pronounced as “wash”, is made out of natural colors. It is opaque and completely insoluble in water. Unlike watercolors, the nature of gouache is opaque and gives a matte finish, which can be rewetted before use. Gouache color medium is quite similar to acrylic & oil paint.
What is the difference between Watercolor & Gouache?
There are several key differences between Gouache and Watercolour such as properties, history & origin, transparency, paper type, and more. We have elaborated on all of these below.
The difference in Properties: Watercolour v/s Gouache
Both the mediums mentioned, i.e. watercolor as well as gouache are reusable with water. To make the gouache less transparent, a mixture of chalk is added with the pigment to achieve the opacity, too, that the gouache medium is known to have.
History and origin: Watercolor vs Gouache
Watercolor painting is an ancient form of painting that grew in popularity only starting in the Renaissance age. Modern watercolor painting started in the early Northern Renaissance when artists like Albrecht Durer used English watercolor techniques for his plant and landscape studies.
Gouache is taken from the Italian word guzzle, which means — producing a painting by an opaque medium. In Europe, most of decorative artworks such as borders, initials & miniature illustrations were widely used.
Transparency: Watercolor versus Gouache
As mentioned earlier, Gouache has a higher pigmentation and watercolor by nature is transparent, you can almost do anything with watercolor and it is mostly used for fluid wash. Gouache does not have good transparency and it dries up easily, which makes it difficult to fix the errors
The difference in Paper: Watercolour v/s Gouache
Special watercolor papers are available in the market while painting with watercolor. Watercolor paper is a mixture of cotton and paper pulp. Watercolor application takes a long to dry and cannot be easily painted layer, whereas Gouache doesn’t get absorbed into the paper and therefore acts opposite to watercolor. It is opaque and tends to dry faster, unlike watercolors.
Is Gouache easier than watercolor?
Although watercolor may be more well-known, gouache is a typical starter medium as well. Unlike oil or acrylic paints, they allow for more error because you can easily rewet the paint and make any adjustments you want if you are not happy with your initial work. Ultimately, your preference for translucent or matte finishes will determine how much skill is needed.
When to Use Watercolor or Gouache?
Since gouache dries rapidly and enables you to paint huge blocks of color, illustrators frequently employ it. It is perfect for lettering and illustration because of its bold, flat, poster-like surface.
Depending on how much water is added to the watercolor, it dries significantly more slowly than gouache. Watercolor is frequently used by landscape and still-life artists because of the delayed drying time that makes blending simple.