By The ARTnews Recommends Editors

Gouache, an opaque water-soluble paint with gum arabic or acrylic as its binder, is one of the best-kept secrets in painting. Want flat, opaque areas of color? You’ll need only one coat with gouache. Want strong tones? Gouache has a high pigment load, ensuring saturated color. Gouache is perfect for illustration and design work because it dries quite quickly and is great for digital scanning because it is nonreflective. It’s excellent for plein air painting too, since it’s both portable and easy to clean up. Traditional gouache paints may be reactivated with water after they dry, but note that those made with acrylic binders cannot. All gouache paints work best on premium watercolor papers; because they are opaque, they also work well on colored papers. Browse our roundup of the best gouache paints to find the one that fits you best.

Liquitex’s acrylic gouache paints are formulated with finely ground premium pigments in a fluid acrylic binder. They have a perfect viscosity, so paint application is effortless, resulting in areas of vibrant matte color. The paints are opaque, highly pigmented, and lightfast; they are also water resistant and won’t bleed or move once dry. They can be applied to a variety of surfaces, including paper and canvas. This set features primary colors plus black, white, and green for optimal color mixing. The well-designed bottles have a precise nozzle that screws off for refilling at the bottle’s extra-wide neck. Liquitex’s gouache is available in 50 mixable colors, and you’ll want them all after working with this set of six.

Turner’s Acryl gouache paints have garnered accolades for their fluid color and range of pigments. The paints are formulated with an ultrahigh pigment load in an optimal amount of acrylic binder for a velvety, opaque, lightfast finish. The paints are incredibly versatile: they can be applied to paper, canvas, metal, stone, plastic, and wood. They are water-resistant yet opaque, perfect for layering flat color. This set comes with 36 eye-popping, vibrant hues. 

Painting has never been more stylish and fun than with MIYA’s HIMI gouache paints. The paints are colorful, thick, and velvety. They dry slowly for great flexibility while painting, and they may be reactivated with water once dry. Each of this set’s 18 colors comes in a jelly cup, a plastic cube that rests within a sturdy, portable case with an airtight lid. When a color runs out, simply pop its jelly cup out of the tray and replace it with a new one. The case’s lid pops off to function as a paint palette. Nontoxic and odorless, ASTM-4236, EN71-3, and EN71-9 certified, the paints are perfect for young artists and beginners. 

Packed with pigment, Arteza’s gouache paints apply with maximum coverage and opacity and dry matte. The paints are viscous and buttery to lay down on paper, and they mix well. Once dry, these traditional gum arabic gouache paints can be reactivated with water. Nontoxic and safe, Arteza’s paints conform to ASTM D-4236 and EN 71 standards. This set of 60 colors, including a dozen metallics, will satisfy all but the most adventurous student, 

Designers, illustrators, and artists reach for Winsor & Newton’s designer gouache paints to create flat areas of vibrant color. The paint’s opacity is achieved via premium pigments and not with chalks or fillers. The ultrahigh and ultrafine pigment load provides excellent saturated color coverage that dries matte, ideal for digital reproduction. These traditional gum arabic gouache paints reactivate with water. If opacity and transparency are both desired, these paints pair well with watercolor paints. Calligraphers, paper marblers, and airbrush artists use these gouache paints because of their opacity and excellent flow. Winsor & Newton’s gouache paints are available in 91 alluring colors, six of which are featured in this set. 

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