Basic gouache painting techniques

Valere- subtle tonal gradation of one color.

Wet on wet - This technique is familiar to anyone who has done watercolors, and is often used when you need to depict clouds or a hazy background. In the wet-on-wet method, you should thin the paint a little harder than usual, apply it to the paper and quickly add a different color of thinned paint on top. After that, the colors will begin to blur, forming whimsical shapes with soft, blurred edges. If this did not happen, it means that you did not thin the paints liquid enough or were too late with the application of the second layer, and the lower layer of paint had time to dry out by this time. To avoid this, I advise you to pre-moisten the paper with a brush moistened with clean water. This technique is good when you need to paint a shape with clear outlines and not washed out color. At the same time, individual brush strokes remain visible in the picture. This is one of the classic techniques for working with gouache, and with it you can achieve truly amazing results. Particularly impressive are multi-colored, well-shaped paint strokes applied side by side or on top of each other. Since gouache is opaque, you can apply light paint over dark paint, and vice versa.

Gouache fill with color transition - An artistic technique that is often used to create a beautiful background with a smooth transition in tone. Allows you to achieve a smooth transition of color from dark to light, or even reduce the color to a white background. Proceed as follows: selected shades
are applied in horizontal stripes, after which we gradually begin to smear the paints (the paints should not have time to dry). Move the brush from right to left, then from left to right. You can also use a sponge to create a smooth transition.

Impasto - a technique consisting in the imposition of thick paint in thick layers. If you want to use impasto, take a tube that you have used more than once: this paint will be thicker than new, just opened. Gouache can also be thickened with acrylic additives or Winsor & Newton's special Aquapasto additive designed to apply the impasto technique to water-based paints.

Carnation -imposition of paints in several layers. It was used to depict human faces and body parts. The technique allowed for maximum realism in the image.

Glaze - a method that consists in applying transparent layers of other tones over the main color. By overlapping the base color with translucent layers, a new deep shade is obtained. For gouache, this method is available in the same way as for watercolor. The gouache needs to be diluted quite strongly with water to make it transparent. Using the glaze technique, you can create a unique fog effect, gouache is suitable for this like no other material.

Smear - This is the trail left by the brush. In oil painting, strokes can be more expressive due to the greater density of the material and the thickness of the paint layer. Using the stroke technique, you can enhance the dynamics, give the work additional expressiveness. They write with strokes on paper of any moisture content. But the best results can be achieved with slightly damp and dry paper.

Monotype (from the Greek "monos" - one, single and "tupos" - print) - one of the simplest graphic techniques, the origins of which date back to the 17th century. The essence of the monotype consists in applying paints by hand on a flat and smooth surface, followed by an imprint on another surface (on a machine) or on paper folded in half. The resulting print is always unique, and it is impossible to create two identical works. Further, the resulting colored or monochrome blots are either left in their original form, or they think over a suitable image and draw the missing details.

Layered painting - the most important technical variety
b oil painting, which requires dividing the work into a number of successive stages (underpainting, registration, glazing), separated by breaks to completely dry the paint. When performing a large thematic composition, as well as during long-term work in general, multilayer painting is the only full-fledged technique of oil painting. Until the middle of the XIX century. all of the major foremost artists of the past used this technique as their mainstay. Later, the Impressionists and their followers abandoned it.
From a narrow technological point of view, not related to the technique of the old masters, the concept of multilayer painting can only correspond to registration on a dried paint layer (without underpainting and glazing).

Paste technique gouache is also available. This technique involves applying a thick, opaque paint to the work surface. This technique is inherent mainly in oil painting. The texture, light and shadow in the paintings painted in the pasty technique depend not only on the color, but also on the shape and direction of the strokes. Gouache can also work in this style, especially if it is based on PVA or acrylic. Working in a pasty technique and using the usual artistic gouache, you need to remember that too thick a layer of this paint tends to crack and crumble after drying. Therefore, you need to very carefully add layers of thick gouache to the canvas in order to get the "golden mean" necessary for this technique and material.

Pointillism - in translation means "point". The technique allows you to achieve visual effects through strokes of a dotted or rectangular shape, eliminating mixing of colors.

Uniform brush fill - used for painting surfaces or parts thereof. Performed with a brush. The gouache should not be too thick (the paint will form in lumps) or too thin (spots will appear). Fill the contour starting from the edges.

Splashing - a very simple and pleasant way to create texture. With this technique, you can draw pebbles on the road, river pebbles, leaves, and the like. It is best to spray the gouache with a small paint brush (preferably new and designed to work only with gouache, not with linseed oil or water-based paints). Load the brush well with paint, pull its bristles back (away from the painting), and then release them abruptly. The bristles will rush forward and a whole cloud of small droplets of paint will fly off them. In order not to splatter the whole picture, make a paper mask, cut from a newspaper or an unnecessary sheet of paper, and cover the part of the picture that should not be splattered.

Cr raffito - this technique is akin to engraving. The essence of this technique is to scratch out wet paint with a sharpened stick or the tip of a knife to expose the bottom layer of paint. When working with gouache, you should perform the sgraffito as quickly as possible - within literally a few seconds after applying the top coat of paint, since gouache, unlike oil paints, dries almost instantly. Using the sgraffito technique, you can create very beautiful unusual textures that look best in the foreground of the picture.

Mixed media - in addition, gouache is perfectly used in mixed painting techniques. For example, the background is done in gouache, and the drawing on the background is acrylic. Flowers with gouache and acrylics are very effective. Gouache can also be used in combination with watercolors, pastels, tempera.

"Dry brush" - in painting and graphics, an auxiliary technique, consisting in the work with slightly saturated paint with hard brushes. As an independent technique, the dry brush is mainly used in decorative arts. Reception outwardly imitates colored pencils. Simple to execute. Allows you to easily mix colors right on paper.

Dry glazing - no less interesting method. A dry brush leaves a colorful mark from under which the layers below shine.

Sfumato - thin transition c
veta in color. The softening of the outlines of figures and objects in the black-and-white modeling in general, which allows you to convey the enveloping them like air. The sfumato technique, as the most important element of aerial perspective, was theoretically substantiated and applied by Leonardo da Vinci.

Stamping - Applying impressions with a sponge, cotton wool or even crumpled
sheet of paper. ... This can be especially useful in imitating rough ground, dense grass or foliage. In addition to the sponge, the texture can also be created with a strip of corrugated paper or cardboard folded several times - this creates very unusual and unexpected effects.