Holbein Acrylic Gouache Five Primary Colours Set (Japan Import) 20 ml (Pack of 5)

Product Information

Pearl Colours: These effect colours have a refined pearlescent lustre. The last 6 pearl colours are “interference” tones which are translucent and will vary in appearance depending on ground colour and viewing angle. To protect the painting made with Holbein acryla, the brand recommends using regular varnish like for acrylic paint. Toxicity Metallic Colours: A series of metallic shades which are slightly more translucent than the regular colours, giving a sense of luminance and depth to your painting. I’m really pleased with the end-result. The colours on the paper are still crisp and although the paints dry up plastic-y, they look really matte on paper, which I love. Being used to normal gouache, Acryla Gouache isn’t a far stretch. I do feel the colours are much brighter than my gouache sets (Lascaux and Winsor&Newton) and they dry up in a beautiful matte way. The paints feels more dry on my brush while painting compared to regular gouache. That way you can get a dry brush effect which I like a lot. But if you dip your brush in water, you get a beautiful smooth effect without losing too much colour.

You also can’t re-activate the paint but that’s because it’s partially acrylics. I don’t mind that much because I’m a fast painter. But if you know you’re a slow painter, it’s something to take into account. After almost five hours (divided over three days, mind you) I painted all 102 colour swatches. This sounds like a lot of work. Correction: this is a lot of work. But it’s worth it, trust me. Color Vibrancy: I love the vibrant and rich colors offered by Holbein Acryla Gouache. The pigments are often described as intense and long-lasting. The color vibrancy and opacity are closer to those of good gouache. The color range is also outstanding – 100+ colors are available. Traditional gouache is opaque, matte watercolour – so like watercolour it is re-soluble, not water resistant.

Holbein Acrylic Gouache

These paints are not like regular gouache. It’s made by Holbein, an art materials company based in Japan. They only produce high-end art materials and no study level supplies, which is quite unique. The price of the paints may come across as high but any high quality paint isn’t cheap. The price is perfectly reasonable! Holbein and Turner brands are the most popular and truly unique of the acrylic gouache hybrid paints. There are other "acrylic gouache" titled paints out there that are not as nice (Liquitex has a mostly semi-opaque, lesser pigment load, not fully matte version that I do not recommend). Most others like Lascaux, Jo Sonja, Amsterdam and cheap craft acrylics/decoart/americana/applebarrel just make "matte acrylic" which does not disperse as easily in wet washes. Golden's So Flat is a high quality matte acrylic that can be used a similar way, but more of their selection is semi-opaque than Holbein or Turner. I have done tests with the Turner Acryl Gouache and found that if it is really diluted to a watery wash, then it doesn’t have enough binder left to be waterproof, it is stretched too thin. Although this is the case with all acrylics it seems it is even more so with the Turner. This led me to think that perhaps the Turner Acryl Gouache is super-loaded with pigment in relation to the amount of acrylic binder. I am doing more tests while in isolation to see if I am right. I will be comparing the dilution of 4 kinds of acrylic – heavy body, fluid, ink and acryl gouache acrylics – to see when they stop being waterproof. When my painting I dry I try adding some details with pencil but because Acryla Gouache dries up more plastic than regular gouache, this is not easy. When the paint dries it is more plastic so adding layers with pencil is not ideal. I manage though, I’m stubborn like that 😉

Acryla Gouache is basically a mixture of acrylic paint and gouache. Unlike gouache, Acryla Gouache can not be reactivated by water once it has dried up on your palette. It’s also much faster in drying, though it’s still water soluble while wet. It dries up more matte and opaque compared to gouache, and it’s water-resistant. Colour swatches

Customer reviews

If you are using it like watercolour then some of the colours may not be bound well enough to be waterproof. All acrylics become under-bound with too much water, as they don’t have enough binder to coat the pigment. You can sometimes get away with it on watercolour paper as the fibres can hold onto the pigment.

I waited 4 days to be sure the test was dry and then rubbed a wet brush over the stripes to see if I could disturb them. If the pigment used is opaque. If you are looking for opaque paints the first thing might be to choose the colours in a range that are naturally opaque. This is most of the inorganic colours (mineral colours) like cadmiums, Titanium White and earth colours like Yellow Ochre. You can increase the opacity of a transparent colour by mixing it with an opaque colour. A small amount of titanium white can be added to colours to increase opacity a bit, but any more than that, of course, begins to lighten the colour. You would also avoid the transparent organic pigments like Phthalo Blue. The opacity is always mentioned on the tube, usually in a code of a filled, half-filled or empty circle. Color Wheel Rubber Stamp for Watercolor Pie Chart, Ink, Acrylic, etc. Organize Your Mixing Recipes and Monochromatic Studies (Select Mounting Option)

Alice Hole

It’s incredibly useful to have these swatches. Also because I can now mix and match, to look for the best combinations for a painting. When you’ve studied art (for those who are curious: I studied Visual Communication in art school) you know that it’s always a good idea to mix some cold colours with warm colours, if you’re going for balance. How to paint with Acryla Gouache Non toxic for hobby use, but if you are using it as a professional, make sure you don’t inhale or swallow paint accidentally because pigments use raw materials and some of them are safe to paint with but not safe to ingest. But if you compare to acrylic or oil paint, acryla has less adhesion to the surface so make sure the canvas is well prepared with gesso.

In summary, Holbein Acrylic Gouache Paints are vibrant and highly saturated, don’t flake or lift when dry, and they give you a beautiful painting or drawing with a velvety matte finish. I truly enjoyed painting with them and would recommend them to anyone who wants to use a gouache paint that has acrylic tendencies.” Judith sent me the Holbein Acryla Gouache set with 102 tubes. It’s the most extensive and expensive set available. This big box is filled with all the colours an illustrator can dream of. It also has a nice range of fluorescent and metallic colours. What is Acryla Gouache? Pastel Colours: Designed to extend the original colour range, these unique light colours are perfect for creating clean, subtle tones in your work. I also tried an application of matt spray varnish over the top and that sealed everything permanently. I used 2 thin coats of Golden MSA spray varnish matt to keep the matt surface finish.

I applied each colour in 3 stripes that each had a different amount of water – 1. straight from the tube, 2. 1/4 water, 3. lots of water like a wash. The colours are the brightest I have ever seen! I love how they dry up on paper and even layering over dark parts works perfectly. In that regard, these paints are quite extraordinary. Like I wrote earlier: once the Acryla Gouache has dried up on your palette it can not be reactivated. You might be used to that because watercolours and normal gouache can be used multiple times when dried up in a palette. So, I recommend using tiny bits of paint when creating something. The pigment in these paints are magnificent so you really don’t need a lot of paint to get a vibrant result. So, what do I think? Some traditional (gum Arabic-based) gouaches add minerals like chalk to create a physical barrier to light refraction.