Artists & Illustrators - UK (2021-04)

sketchbook

April

TIPS • ADVICE • IDEAS

1

Gouachesharesmanyproperties

with watercolour but there is one

key difference: it dries opaque. This

means you can repeatedly layer it up

and you also don’t have to stick to

painting from light to dark as you do

with watercolour. This versatility made

it the paint medium of choice for

illustrators in the 1950s and 1960s,

as its bright and brilliant tones were

perfect for magazine printing.

2

When painting in watercolour, a

touch of gouache is perfect for the

finishing touches. Gouache’s opacity

means it will sit over the darkest areas

of a watercolour painting. This allows

you to add highlights or finer detail.

3

To fix a mistake, a neat trick is to

mix white gouache with a touch of

watercolour. For example, if a pink rose

has been accidentally overpainted and

lost its vibrancy, mixing the same pink

watercolour with a little white gouache

will allow you to rectify the problem.

4

Likewise, when dry masking fluid

is removed from a watercolour

painting, it often leaves a rough edge

behind. White gouache can be used

sparingly to tidy up those areas.

5

With landscapes, keeping the

whites of the sky clean can be a

particular challenge, especially if you

haven’t masked them out. This is where

gouache is a saviour. When the

watercolour is dry, gouache can add

a silver lining to the clouds or put a

twinkle back into those stars. A dilute

gouache mix can also sit like a veil over

the clouds in your watercolour.

http://www.matthewjeanes.co.uk

WATERCOLOUR’S

BEST FRIEND

MATT JEANES gives

five reasons why all

watercolourists should

invest in gouache