The difference between acrylic and gouache

Both acrylic and gouache are artificially synthesized pigments. They first appeared in the 20th century and were used by people in the 1950s. There are great differences between them. Because the performance of gouache is limited by lip color and brightness, there will be slight differences in saturation and dry and wet stages. So when distinguishing them, you can compare the two.

Acrylic paint is a synthetic polymer pigment invented in the 1950s. It is made by mixing pigment powder with acrylic latex.

Acrylic latex is also called acrylic resin polymer latex. There are many types of acrylic resins, such as methacrylic resin, etc. Therefore, there are also many types of acrylic paints. Foreign pigment manufacturers have produced a series of acrylic products, such as matte acrylic pigments, semi-matt acrylic pigments and glossy acrylic pigments, as well as matt acrylic oil, varnish, modeling ointment and so on.

Performance of gouache

Limitations of gouache color purity and brightness When gouache is wet, its color saturation is as high as oil paint. However, after it dries, the saturation is greatly reduced due to the effect of the powder and the color loses its luster. This is the limitation of its color purity. Increasing the brightness of gouache is achieved by diluting, adding powder or using lighter colors with more powdery pigments. Its wet and dry variations are very large. Often some colors only need a small amount of powder to add, and their brightness will show a difference of darker or lighter when wet and dry. This is the wet and dry reaction of gouache paint. Since gouache generally becomes lighter in color after drying, using the gouache well is the most difficult technical problem to solve in gouache painting. The powder-containing colors make the colors of the picture full of the unique "powdery" quality of gouache, and particularly rich intermediate colors appear, but the color delicacy of gouache is still far lower than that of oil painting. Due to the limitations of the properties of gouache paint, few large-scale works of higher specifications are created using gouache paint. The individual differences of gouache paints Most of the colors of gouache paints are relatively stable, such as ochre, earth red, ochre, orange yellow, medium yellow, light yellow, olive green, pink green, ultramarine, cobalt blue, lake blue, etc. However, the colors of gouache paints such as crimson, rose red, blue lotus, and violet are extremely unstable, prone to color changes, and difficult to cover. There are relatively few transparent colors in gouache, including lemon yellow, rose red, blue lotus and a few other colors. To paint good gouache paintings, you must fully master the personality of each gouache pigment and understand its color-receiving ability, covering power and color value. These problems can be solved through constant practice so that you can become proficient in them.