Gouache paints (pronounced “gwash”) are opaque watercolor paint. These paints comes in tubes a little larger than traditional watercolors, or you could buy various colors in a pre-packaged set. They are similar to watercolors in that they can be thinned with water; however, because they are opaque, the paper won’t show through, and you won’t use the whiteness of the paper as you would with watercolor. You also cannot use them for creating a glaze as you would with watercolors.

Like oil or acrylic paints, white paint is used for mixing to create lighter colors. The paint is laid directly on the paper, so you can even use it on toned or colored paper. You can also paint lighter colors directly on darker ones.

Gouache also has properties all its own. Although you can use it in a similar manner as acrylics, it doesn’t change when it’s dry as acrylics do, thereby allowing it to be re-wetted and re-worked if needed. It can also be used to create perfectly flat color areas which are sometimes hard to produce with watercolors.

Because this paint dries with a flat matte finish, it reproduces very well with cameras or scanners, making it a popular choice among illustrators and commercial artists.