Anna Koliadych - Gouache in 4 Easy Steps

Gouache

IN 4 EASY STEPS

A Beginners Guide to
Creating Beautiful Paintings in No Time

ANNA KOLIADYCH

Author of 15-Minute Watercolor Masterpieces

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TO MY HUSBAND AND SOUL MATE IGNAT.
THERE ARE NO WORDS TO EXPLAIN HOW LUCKY I AM TO HAVE YOU IN MY LIFE.

Hello, my name is Anna. I am an illustrator, artist and art teacher. Since I began my artistic journey with watercolor about five years ago, I have enjoyed diving into this wonderful world.

Because I am a creative person and always love experimenting and trying new things, I wanted to start with a new medium that I would love just as much as I love watercolor.

Once I bought my first gouache set of just a few tubes of paint, I immediately fell in love with this medium. It was an amazing feeling. And from that time on, I never stopped painting with this magical paint.

I always say that gouache is magical because its super vivid, unbelievably flexible and so relaxing to paint with. Gouache allows you to paint in different styles, easily fix mistakes and make the process effortless, fun and relaxing.

Gouache painting does not have as many techniques and rules as other media, such as watercolor. As a result, it is much easier to get started painting with gouache.

Inside youll find 50 quick and easy projects for anyone who wants to start painting, try a new medium or unlock their creativity. The best way to learn a new art medium is by practicing it. With the projects from this book, you will gain confidence, boost your painting skills and discover for yourself the magic of gouache.

By practicing with this book, you will quickly learn gouache. Each project takes less than an hour. I divided each lesson in this book into steps that will help you easily and quickly create impressive and beautiful results.

How to work with this book

This book is very easy to work with. It includes the basics for a better understanding of gouache, as well as chapters featuring projects on various themes.

Make sure that you read the first chapter on gouache techniques () before jumping into your first project. It will help introduce you to gouache and learn the particulars of this medium. After that, pick any project from a chapter you like and practice. All the projects are listed in order from easy to more complicated, but I advise you to choose the lessons that most appeal to you. By following all instructions and tips, you will get an easy and quick, but beautiful, painting.

Enjoy the process and the magic of gouache! I hope you will fall in love with gouache as much as I have.

With love,

Anna

What is gouache? is the most common question I have received recently via my social media. And I totally understand the interest in this medium. Gouache is becoming super trendy because it is versatile and easy to use. Here I have broken down the most important facts about gouache. This way, you will get a clear and basic understanding of what gouache is.

Gouache is a water-soluble paint.

Gouache combines some characteristics of both watercolors and acrylics.

Gouache has a thick, creamy consistency and is an opaque paint.

Gouache gives a matte finish when it dries.

Gouache paint dries quickly.

Gouache can be used as watercolor. If you add a large amount of water to the gouache, you will get a transparent layer.

Gouache works from dark to light layers, as well as from light to dark layers.

Gouache can be used on different types of paper.

Gouache usually comes in tubes and is best when freshly squeezed from the tube.

When gouache dries, dark colors become a bit lighter and the light colors become darker.

If you squeeze gouache paint from the tube onto a palette, you will see that the consistency of gouache is pretty thick and creamy. However, because its a water-based paint, it should be applied with water.

First of all, your brush should always be moistened, but not wet. The exception would be for the dry-brush technique ().

You want to add a little bit of clean water to the gouache paint to get the right consistency. It will still be creamy and thick, but much more flexible, and it will apply to the paper easily and smoothly.

In this book, all the projects are intended to use this consistency of gouache. The more water you add to the gouache paint, the more transparent it will become, and it will work more like watercolor. If youre painting with gouache for the first time, I recommend practicing with a quick exercise just to get a feel for how to get the right consistency (see ).

Image No. 1: Squeeze a small amount of gouache on the palette. Moisten your brush and pick up the paint from the palette. Now paint any shape with this paint consistency. You will get the effect of the dry brush, and its a really nice texture. While its a nice texture, its not the best consistency for a smooth finish.

Image No. 2: Now add a little bit of water to the paint on the palette and paint any shape with this consistency. Notice how, this time, the paint laid down so well and smoothly.

Image No. 3: Then add more water to the paint on the palette. Paint another shape, next to the first two. And as in the previous example, the result is still opaque, and it feels like the right consistency.

Images No. 4 & No. 5: If you keep adding water you will see that the layers become more and more transparent. Eventually you will get a transparent layer, as with watercolor paint. Your goal is to create an opaque and creamy consistencynot too thick and not too transparent.

Contrast is a principle in art that refers to the difference in parameters such as color, size and texture. High contrast means adding intensity and bringing more attention to the elements of the piece. Without contrast, the viewer may have trouble connecting with the painting and lose interest in it.

In this section, I will show you how to add contrast in the easiest way: with color. Lets have a look at a few color contrast variations.