Gouache painting. How to draw in gouache? Some features and tips for beginners

Many people like to visit art galleries and exhibitions, get acquainted with works of art on the Internet. Most of them do not even dream of learning to draw the same way. Others allow themselves not only to dream about it, but also take the first steps towards mastering the initial skills. For contemporary artists, there are a huge number of different materials. Today we will talk about gouache.

Nowadays, this paint is often perceived only as a material for children's creativity or decor. However, professional artists create beautiful and unique gouache paintings. Landscapes, especially at dusk and at dawn, are magnificent.

If you want to learn how to draw, and you have some free time, start studying at a private art school. Gouache drawing lessons can also be found on the global network, many professionals and amateurs share their experience on the Internet. This article is intended for beginner artists, it will give a general idea of ​​gouache, drawing techniques and features of working with paint.

What is gouache?

The composition of this paint includes ground pigments, a water-glue base and white.

Gouache painting can be written on paper, plywood, glass, fabric - the paint is perfectly placed on these materials. Working with gouache is convenient because there is no need to purchase various auxiliary means: special diluents, accelerators, or drying inhibitors. In addition, it does not have a specific odor, it does not need to use a solvent during operation, and making changes to the picture is possible even after some time has passed.

The main difference between gouache and watercolor is that watercolor is usually superimposed in several layers, so you can play with the final result. With gouache, the application of several layers of paint does not make sense, because the human eye in the picture will see only a layer of gouache applied on top of the rest.

Gouache painting lessons. How to choose a gouache?

The following types of gouache are available:

1. Artistic gouache, for work with which uncoated cardboard, watercolor and tinted paper are suitable as a surface. The paint is a grinded pigment with the addition of water, white and gum arabic.
2. Poster gouache is distinguished by the fact that in its production kaolin is used instead of white. This makes the paint denser and the colors applied brighter.
3. The special gouache for children's creativity in the composition has PVA glue, which replaces the more expensive gum arabic. This composition allows the paint to dry faster, less crumble and wear. With the help of children's gouache, you can draw on paper and plywood, on ceramic products and canvas without soil.
4. Acrylic gouache is used to paint all possible surfaces, and after drying it is not washed off with water.

Secrets of working with gouache

In order for the gouache painting to turn out no worse than the picture painted in watercolor, some rules must be observed:

1. It is necessary to write from dark to light, that is, first dark tones of the paint are applied and only then light glare is drawn and color accents are placed.
   
2. Mixing colors and shades will help the special color wheel used by most artists. The colors adjacent in the sectors, when mixed, give a color without dirt. For drawing shadows, color from the opposite sector is best. For the image of shadows, you can use green, blue and purple colors, but black is not suitable for this purpose. Also, this color is completely unsuitable for getting a darker shade, since in this case the gouache painting will look dirty.
3. Assuming the blot, you can fix it only after the gouache is completely dry, otherwise you will get a dirty stain. To correct the error, the brush is moistened in warm clean water and slightly wiped. Then you can gently wipe off excess paint with it or shade the too sharp outline of the subject.
4. Gouache brightens when dried, so when choosing a color, give preference to a brighter one, in order to ultimately get the result that was planned.

Choosing a gouache brush

Too good soft brushes do not work well with gouache. For shading, backgrounds and fills when working with a wet brush, columns, goat and synthetics are perfect.

For objects with a textured surface and when working with a three-dimensional image, it is best to use a dry brush with pork bristles.

To image a complex structure, you can also use a foam sponge, special rollers and ordinary paper napkins instead of a brush. With their help, you can achieve maximum realism by tracing the roughness of ceramic products or by drawing a still life.

How to create a background for gouache?

Two methods are used to draw the background:

1. The artist makes a sketch with a pencil, and then paints the contours, starting with dark elements. The contour is filled without pressure from the edge to the center, then from the center to the other edge. A guideline for determining the desired density of paint can serve as the consistency of thin sour cream. This method is suitable for working with a small pattern.
2. If the surface is large, then it is better to use the fill method when the background is written first, and only then the details are drawn. Most often, the background consists of two or three colors. For the landscape, for example, the color of the sky is used at the top of the picture, the color of the earth at the bottom, and the lightest strip is applied in the middle.
   
   Then, before the paint dries, the background is smoothed out with a wide wet brush, from left to right, moving from the bottom of the painting to the top. After that, the brush is again wetted and smoothed, moving vertically from top to bottom. This method may seem rather complicated, but only in this way will the gouache painting have a smooth and beautiful background. Further details of the landscape (for example, hills) are drawn on an still-dry background, and after the paint dries, vegetation, clouds and other conceived elements of the composition are written. For convenience, the paper should be well fixed on the tablet.

Gouache painting techniques

You can use various painting methods by painting with gouache. For beginners, the following techniques are suitable:

1. Glaze. In this method, translucent layers of other shades are applied over the main color, resulting in a new, deeper color. Translucency is achieved by diluting the paint with water. This technique is great for displaying fog.
2. Pastous technique. This method consists in applying a thick, undiluted gouache to the surface. In this style, it is most convenient to work with baby and acrylic gouache, since they do not crack and do not crumble.
3. Sgraffito is a gouache technique in which light paint is first applied to the surface and, after drying, a thick layer of dark gouache is applied. When it dries, using a feeder, a stylus and a thick needle, a pattern is created by removing the top dry but still fresh layer of dark paint.
4. Mixed technique, in which the background, for example, is written in gouache, and the elements of the composition are applied with acrylic paint.
   

Step by step painting in gouache

Let's look at a simple example of how to draw pictures with gouache. Step by step we will perform one step after another in order to draw a tree:

1. Since we plan to draw a tree on a winter day, for starters
   write the background of snow and sky. In the place where you plan to draw a tree, we advise you to highlight the sky with a brighter color, since white branches powdered with snow should be clearly visible against its background.
2. After the background dries, we draw a tree with branches with a simple pencil or immediately with a paint of a dark shade.
3. We continue to work on the tree: we draw brown branches at the trunk and white thin branches at the ends.
4. After that, you need to detail the tree itself and the white branches.
5. Since the sky and snow background itself looks a little boring, we introduce additional colors. You can, for example, add a little light pink, lilac or peach to the background. This will enliven our drawing and make it more interesting.

As you can see, a not very experienced artist can write such a simple picture. You just need to have paint, a piece of paper, a brush, water and, of course, a strong desire to learn how to draw.