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

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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. Relatively reactivatable: Even though once completely dry you won’t be able to rework acryla but while it is still drying, you have a chance. Tube Design: Sometimes the large hole in the lid makes it challenging to dispense the exact amount of paint needed, leading to potential waste.

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. Although I prefer acrylic paint, I have worked with all water-based paints (other than egg tempera) and I will say the acrylic gouache paint was easy enough to use, although it did take me a couple days to adjust to the difference. After some trial and error, I discovered the best palette to use was a small metal one. If a wet palette is left overnight, one is likely to end up with a watery mess. I found this out the hard way! 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. Greyish Colours: A range of elegant “greyish” pastel colours, perfect for subtle expression. Quiet tones that can be used without making your work too dark or murky.

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Traditional gouache is opaque, matte watercolour – so like watercolour it is re-soluble, not water resistant. 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. Holbein Acrylic Gouache does not have the same fragile surface as traditional gouache made with Gum Arabic because the acrylic paint film is more flexible. It can be mixed with other acrylic or traditional gouaches, as well as with watercolours. For every colour I had a piece of paper on which I wrote down the name and code of the colour and paint the paper. I made sure I made the top as opaque (no water) as possible and more down I add a bit of water, to see how it looks like in a more ‘watercolour-way’.

What I noticed immediately is how vibrant the colours are. It’s almost surreal: I have never seen paints before with this kind of pigment. And I have tested a lot of paints! 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. Firstly, the texture of the paints was very smooth and fluid, thinner in consistency than the buttery, heavy body acrylics. This made them very easy to use undiluted but I was concerned that this would mean that they wouldn’t be as opaque as I would like. I was pleasantly surprised that when not thinned down with water, they were very opaque, which really opens up possibilities when painting, such as adding highlights and details towards the end. You can see from my test that the white and yellow were slightly less opaque but a further layer of paint would sort that out. To protect the painting made with Holbein acryla, the brand recommends using regular varnish like for acrylic paint. Toxicity The results suggest that the reason the paint is so rich and matt is that it has a very high pigment load in relation to the amount of binder. This is good news unless you wish to add loads of water and stretch the binder too far as there isn’t a lot and the pigment may be left unbound.

Comparing acrylic gouache, traditional gouache and acrylic paint. Comparing acrylic paint, traditional gouache and acrylic gouache

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? The 4th grade is the maximum and yet the most permanency grade for acryla is “almost permanent” which is this grade 4. 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 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.”

Anna Moss

Holbein Acrylic Gouache Formerly "Acryla" - Matte Paint Review, Color Chart, Lightfast Test, Pigment Info With head offices in Osaka Japan, Holbein Artist Colours was formed over 120 years ago, and took the name of the much revered European artist Hans Holbein in the 1930s. From that time, Holbein’s presence has been significant, not only in Southeast Asia, but also in North America, Australia and Europe. Holbein colour chemists, using only the finest pigments available, have achieved the highest standards of quality control in the industry, working to precise standards at each stage of the manufacturing process. The result is unerring consistency from production run to production run. Holbein are unique in the art material trade because they do not produce any entry level/student quality colour products; each of their colour ranges is adapted to meet the special requirements of the professional/serious artist with permanence, brilliance, and technique in mind. 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 😉