Painting With Gouache: Mastering the Medium

1. Introduction: Hi, I'm Alyse. I'm an artist, illustrator and Etsy shop owner. I started my painting career with watercolor, but once I got my first set of gouache, I was hooked. I love creating handmade cards because it's a fun and unique way to tell someone how you feel about them or to share an experience. There's a certain charm to traditional work because you can't easily undo a mistake every brush stroke and color choice is intentional... or not. But I learned a lot about how to make things work that way. Greeting cards are a great keep sake. I often keep them in a frame so that I can cherish the memories. In this class you will learn all of my favorite tools, tips, and tricks to painting with gouache. We will put these into action as we paint a slice of birthday cake onto a card that can be gifted to someone you love. I'll see you in the next video where we'll talk more about the class project. 2. Class Project: Your class project is to use the tips and tricks learned to paint a cake that can be given as a birthday card. Everyone has a birthday and I think everyone likes to feel special. Greeting cards are a beautiful way to let someone know you care, especially when it's handmade. We'll start by sketching our cake. Then we'll decide on our color palette and paint a base wash. When that's done, we'll go on with our gouache and add details. As you complete each lesson, upload a photo of your work, the project gallery. You can do this by clicking the green Create Project button to the bottom right of your screen. I can't wait to see the way your projects come to life. When you're ready, grab your paints, and let's get started. 3. Choosing the Right Paper: Paper is important when painting. Different papers have different textures, colors, weight, et cetera. In this lesson, we'll zero in on weight and texture. So you can choose a paper that's most suitable for your project. When painting with water-based mediums like gouache, the higher the GSM, the less likely the paper is to buckle. Typically, the heavier the paper, the easier it is to work with. But for our sake, we don't want the paper to be so heavy it won't hold its shape when folded. I'd recommend choosing a paper of at least 140 pound or 300 GSM paper weight. Hot pressed paper has a smooth texture. Because of this, it absorbs less water and it can be easier to spread the paint. It's also easier to seamlessly layer. Final pieces tend to be bright and bold, and it can be easier to work with dry mediums because the texture of the paper won't interfere with it. On the other hand, cold pressed paper tends to be more textured. It can be easier to control the paint, especially watercolors. Layers of paint are more distinct. But the final painting might not look as bold. There's no right or wrong paper to use. It depends on your intention and your personal preference. So I recommend giving both a try and seeing what you prefer. For me personally, I like to use pressed paper for watercolor and hot pressed paper for gouache. It's just what I prefer. For this class. I will be using these Strathmore mixed media cards. It's 140 pound paper. If you're making the card yourself, you can choose the dimensions. For the sake of this class though, I'll recommend a five by seven inch card at landscape ratio. So if you're cutting it yourself, you'll want to choose a paper that is at least ten inches by seven inches. When it's cut to size, we'll just fold it down the middle and voila. Now that we've got our paper, we can start to think about the sketch. 4. Creating Your Sketch: I think one of the reasons why I love painting cakes is because they are themselves a work of art. I'm no cake decorator, but I can at least visualize it on paper. There's no rules to designing and decorating cakes, and the same is true when painting one. Even impossible proportions and perspectives can be done in a way that reads well on the page. So have fun, let your personality shine through. And if you're stuck for ideas, think about the person you are gifting the card to. What do they like? That said, I'm going to go with a pretty standard slice of cake. To sketch, You can use a light colored pencil or graphite pencil. There are few things to keep in mind when deciding what to sketch with. First, you'll want to sketch lightly. Graphite can smudge on the paper and show through the paint. Though the thicker the layer of gouache, the less likely it is to show through. Use a kneaded eraser to lighten the sketch before painting. You can sketch with a colored pencil similar to the colors you'll be using to paint to make it more discreet. Once you lay down your watercolor wash, you will not be able to erase the sketch. I also sometimes like to take a photo of the sketch before lightening it so I can refer to the photo when doing the details. I'll start by drawing this triangle shape with rounded edges. I'm not worried about getting it too perfect because it's just the sketch and I'm doing it lightly. Then I'll draw two even straight lines from the bottom points of the triangle and connect them with a horizontal line that's parallel to the long edge of the paper. Now I can add in the details like declarations, layers, icing, etc. I'll just clean it up a bit before adding them in. Now that we've got our sketch, Let's chat about how to pick a great color palettes. 5. How to Choose a Colour Palette: There's so much to be said about color. And while it's worthwhile to have a good understanding of color theory, that's not necessarily required for this class. For those of us who are able to see and distinguish between colors, we are constantly absorbing different palettes and different combinations. If you need some inspiration, I like to flip through different books and magazines. Here are some of my favorites. You can also turn to things like nature, photos You've taken, screen caps from your favorite movies, even the decorations you use in your bedroom and around your home. It does get a bit trickier when you're mixing your own paints. But play around and see what happens when you mix certain colors together. There are some general rules like desaturating a color by adding its complimentary and knowing the primaries cannot be created by mixing. But it's worthwhile to create a mixing chart like this one to truly understand what all of this means. I like to stick to a limited color palette of about three to four colors. The obvious starting point is to assess your paints. What have you got? What can you use with what you have? When choosing a color palette? You can also think about the mood you'd like to set. Some tried and true palettes include monochrome, complimentary, triadic, and analogous. A monochrome color palette is when you're using different shades of the same color. A complimentary color palette is when you're using colors directly opposite each other on the color wheel. A triadic color palette is when you're using three colors that are evenly dispersed around the color wheel. And an analogous color palette is when you, one main color with the colors directory around it on the color wheel. Today I'm going to use Kerrea Japonic Yellow Seedling, Pale Coral, Vermilion, and of course, white because I really like to lighten my colors. I'm going to set theese ones aside and just put the rest of the way for now. Now that we've got our paints in front of us, grab a cup of water, a scrap paper, paper towel and your brushes, and we'll start painting. 6. Intro to Gouache Paints: Now that we've narrowed it down to what we need, we'll go over some basics of the medium. Gouache is a water-based paint that dries quickly but can be rewet. I love it because of how versatile it is. By playing with the amount of water you mix with it you can see how it's possible to achieve different results. Now let's set up our palettes so you can see it in action. Gouache paint is both opaque and matte. When I use it right from the tube, with just a small amount of water, it behaves kind of like acrylic paint. However, when I use a lot of water, it behaves like watercolor, creating a thin layer that is easy to spread. Finding the right balance is tricky, and that's why it's important to use a scrap piece of paper to get to know the paints and swatch out your colors before moving right into your final piece. Another reason is that you might notice darker colors, dry lighter and lighter colors dry darker. Swatch sheets are your best friend. Because it can be rewet. You'll have to be careful when layering it this can sometimes lead to streakiness. However, it also means that mistakes aren't permanent. Of course, some are easier to fix than others, but it's a generally for giving medium. Here, I'm just finishing off my swatch sheet. I created a chart that will show me what all of the colors I've chosen will look like when mixed together. If you buy your paint in large pack, this is something that can be useful to refer to you for future paintings. In the next lesson, we will discuss effective ways to layer. 7. Layering with Gouache : In this lesson, we will talk about my favorite ways to layer gouache A lot of people, myself included, like to start with a wash. This is a really thin layer of paint over the surface you'd like to paint. There are many reasons an artists might choose to do this. But for me and for this project, I just want to cover the white of the paper so that I can be certain that none of it is going to show through when I layer on gouache thickly. This is especially useful when using cold pressed paper or any other textured paper. It's also good to keep in mind that if you layer gouache on too thickly, it has the potential to crack. That's why I like to test all my colors out on the swatch sheet and keep it on hand when I'm painting. To create a wash. You can either use very watered-down gouache or watercolor. Gouache is great because you know, you're using the exact same color as what you'll lay on top. But I like to use watercolor because it can't be reactivated. That way I know when it dries, it won't budge when I go in with my gouache. Now that I've painted my wash, I'm just going to set it aside for a moment. It's really important that you wait for it to dry before you start painting the top layers. My base layer has dried, my palette is ready and I'm really excited to get into it. Right now. I'm mostly using colors from the tube in my palette. If you're mixing colors, you'll want to mix them with a dry brush or even better, a small palette knife or chopstick or something that won't absorb any of the paint. My brush is a little bit wet, so it'll help the paint move easily across the paper. I like to wait for each color to dry before moving into the next one. This just guarantees that I won't have any issues with the colors bleeding into each other on the paper, especially if I water the paints down more than necessary. My goal is to just do one pretty thick even layer, but as I paint, I might notice that I've used more water than I'd like, or I change my mind on the saturation of a color, etc. If this is the case, I'll just wait for the paint to dry entirely and then go back over it with the correction. I do this especially often to get a straight line in certain areas. Sometimes my hand gets clumsy. Now it's time for you to start painting your cake. Take your time here. And once the larger shapes and colors are in place, I'll meet you in the next lesson Where we'll chat about adding details. 8. Adding Details: Now that we've got our cake, we can start to add some detail. My favorite way to add detail to gouache is with colored pencils. I really like the texture and you can achieve, and it's much easier to control. However, you can also add your detail using gouache and a fine paintbrush. Just like with our paints, I'm going to narrow down my color selection. I'll use my swatch sheet to see what the pencils look like over the gouache. I can also use this sheet to practice any patterns, designs, and shapes I want to draw. This is my final decision and here are the colors I've chosen. If you took a photo of your sketch to capture the details before painting, you might want to refer to it now. Remember, the beauty of traditional media is the permanency of each stroke. So if you make a mistake, embrace it. You can turn it into something else or you can just leave it. That's what I like to do. I actually liked when I make a small mistake because I think it gives extra character and a uniqueness to the piece. It turned out looking a lot more plain than I wanted. So I'm going to add some starbursts and other bits around the cake. It's kind of scary doing this without a plan, but I'm just going with it. If you're unsure whether your illustration is complete or not, return to your swatch sheet and play around. Here it is. Now all that's left to do is write a nice note inside. 9. Conclusion: Congratulations, you've created a beautiful unique keepsake for someone you love and you learned some tips and tricks for painting with gouache along the way. If there's one thing you take from this class, I hope it's that traditional media is fun and handmade cards are timeless. Don't forget to post a photo of your work in the project gallery below so we can all see it. Thank you so much for taking my class. If you'd like to see more of my illustrations, you can visit my website, www.alysemerceyart.com or find me on Instagram, @alysemerceyart. See you in the project gallery.