You beat me to it, Teoh! haha. After having this in a drawer for years, it's finally next up on my review list. Thanks for showing it off, and happy belated birthday to Tiffany!
Denise, please read mgraham faq about gouache before you do your review btw. They explain why their gouache is not opaque, and why gouache naturally is not opaque (despite popular belief). Read my post above for more explanation too. Love your DaVinci palette btw, bought it recently.
Hi Teoh, I use M Graham gouache. Expensive, but the small tubes go a long way. The hues are very strong, I need to use just a little & coverage is very good! And yes, the colors are very bright!
Both DaVinci and M.Graham gouaches (which are true artist's gouaches) are less opaque than W&N and most other brands. The why is explained in the MGraham FAQ. They are not opaque because gouache is not naturally opaque -- despite popular belief. The so called Designer's gouaches that existed over the years were NOT supposed to be for artistic works, but illustrations-for-hire that where PHOTOGRAPHED for ads/magazines, and then thrown away! These Designers gouaches were full of chalk and additives to make them cheaper (since the final product was a photograph, and not a painting), which also made them opaque. MGraham and DaVinci provide real gouache, which is naturally less opaque and it's supposed to be used more like oils (in terms of how you layer things in thicker layers as you go), and watercolor (in terms of how much you can dilute it and wash in the beginning). If you want single-layer opaqueness you need to go with cheap gouache that has additives/chalk, like HIMI, or even W&N Designer's Gouache, or Poster Color.
Same is true for Schmincke btw. Their Designer's Gouache line is opaque and is meant for commercial illustration, while their Horadam gouache is the real artist's gouache and is only semi-opaque. Artists buying semi-opaque artist's gouache will have to learn to paint as if they're oil painters, which can be a big challenge, but it will also create the best result, if they master it.
Superb review. This is James Gurney preferred brand of gouache. Coincidentally I'm trying out gouache. Though the one I have are poster paint and jelly gouache that everyone online is talking about, I'm taking delight on painting with gouache. Also Happy Birthday to Tiffany!
I’ve just gotten into using gouache instead of watercolour this past month or so, and have been meaning to try M Graham (I have a small selection of M Graham, Schmincke, Holbein, and Maimeri). Maimeri is very rich and vivid, but figuring out how much water to use has been challenging, and also figuring out how to keep it looking vibrant (reflecting light from within the paint, or the white mixed in, rather than off the underlying board/paper?) 🙂 M Graham is definitely next up to try! Happy birthday to Tiffany! It’s amazing that she’s already two years old! That’s a great age (and also an exhausting one for the grownups 😄 )
Oh I love M.Graham Gouache! It's my fave just like their watercolor line. A little goes a long way and I love how I can rewet in my palette to use as opaque watercolors!
M. Graham doesn't use oqueing aggencts with adding white to the color. Also with gouache-water ratio most people start out in thin layers then get thicker as they paint
Happy Belated 2nd Birthday to Tiffany!! 🥰 Also, thanks for this introductory to Gouache! Have been curious on how to use it as I own a tray of Himi Gouache but have been scared to test them yet 🤣
Christmas gifts around Easter 😅? But hey, totally down for that! We had like double digit Celsius degrees last week - and today I drove to work while it was snowing here in Germany 🥶 I really like the basic colours, but always wonder why they never add like a colder red to them. It's not that I'm super fond of purples and violets or that one would need it overly much when painting everyday stuff around - but I at least would want to be able to mix them with my base colours 😉 Love the oranges and greens you mixed with them, though. Still got a whole 24 pack of Royal & Langnickel ones lying around. Haven't really tried them yet, because, if I find the time to paint at the moment, I'm usually drawn towards my watercolors or would bust out my old acrylics 😂. I wonder, if they'd perform as nicely as these here, though 🥰
M graham is my favorite gouache because of the honey. Makes it easy to rewet colors on the palette. I have noticed straight from the tube they are less opaque than other brands. They get their opacity from being mixed with white or with other colors. It took me a while to learn how to use the M Graham gouache and achieve the look I wanted.
This is explained in their FAQ. They are not opaque because gouache is not naturally opaque. The so called Designer's gouaches that existed over the years were NOT supposed to be artistic works, but illustrations for hire that where PHOTOGRAPHED and then thrown away! These Designers gouaches were full of chalk and additives to make them cheaper (since the final product was a photograph, and not a painting), which also made them opaque. MGraham and DaVinci provide real gouache, which is naturally less opaque and it's supposed to be used more like oils (in terms of how you layer things).
Great review Teoh! And happy bday to Tiffany✨ I was gifted some gouache awhile ago but I haven't been able to use them. Maybe it's time to give them a try :)
Ah they used naphtol red. That is a bit disappointing. But who am I kidding? I never buy sets anyway XD Thank you for the review! M Graham are my favorites in watercolors, so I have been wondering about their gouache for a while!
Thanks Teoh, this was interesting to see. I only have winsor & newton gouache and it seems more opaque than m graham maybe? The caran dache pan set looks interesting and affordable.
M. Graham gouache is made in the time-honored tradition of binding pigment with pure honey and gum arabic, just as it was for Dürer and Boucher. Providing superior coverage and a creamy application, M. Graham fine art gouache delivers lightfast color designed for your permanent artwork. With no added chalk or white, you’re in control of creating the opacity you want-whether a soft, pearlescent glow or colors that pop with lively radiance.
I have tried a number of brands of gouache (Holbein, M. Graham, W&N, DaVinci, Caran D’ache). If you are using gouache for archival quality artwork, you really need to look at the lightfast ratings for the gouache you are using. I was really surprised to see low the lightfast ratings were for W&N and Holbein. The lightfast ratings for M. Graham and DaVinci are very good to excellent for most of their range. Happy Birthday to Tiffany!!
Thanks for the review.! The gouache seems to be soooo nice. So far I've only used the one by Nevskaya Palitra or Schmincke Horadam, both crumble in the palette, with the honey it sure doesn'T happen for M. Graham. Did you try that by chance and let yours dry out? Have an awesome day!
Very orange red. Why are so many primary reds orange! Granted, I know that good magentas and reds are hard to find. Lightfastness and saturation is an issue. But still.
Hey Teoh! Could you give a review of this gouache in pans? I've been trying to find a white gouache that doesn't crumple and make a mess in my travel palette.
I have had the MG gouache in pans for over a year, I didn’t get to use them for months because life got in the way. I expected a crumbly mess, and they do dry to a pretty hard rock but don’t crumble. I sprayed them with water and they work great. They aren’t as opaque as straight out of the tube but they work better if you make sure to keep them wet while you are working and let them sit before starting to paint with water on them a while.
How is the colour shifting once the paint dries for the M Graham? I've only tried the W&N gouache and the colour shifting for that brand is awful, it looks super vibrant when wet turns and really pale and chalky when dry.
These rewet ok and better than most gouache but they are nothing like mg watercolour which is incredibly moist. I have tried glycerin but that doesn’t seem to help much.
I remember someone said that contrary to most gouache, m graham was slightly transparent Also, I like this mini pallet,, what is it owo? I rlly want to buy it
If you paint with oils or acrylics then you should get a better idea how transparency affect the saturation. Adding white which is a opaque tinter would grey the tint. That is what makes watercolor naturally more vivid using mainly glazing technique. Same thing with cadmium red which is totally opaque that makes mixtures muted. Muted colors could be elegant and natural but when you need a punch, one way is to glaze or to mix with transparent colors or make gradiant mixture such as rose to red and to scarlet and to orange. And that makes the ground quite imprtant to show the color. An acrylic ground of titanium white will not yellow in binder provides more vivid color for glazing effect in oil painting. So you might want to use cad yellow or to galze azo yellow over white underpainting or azo-white underpaintings. When it comes to saturation, many things involve with it. Glazing promises the optical saturation. And it depends on the ground color. Watercolor should be vivid when people galze but the ground is absorbent and off white and the finish of watercolor is towards matte. That is the finish matters now when an oil or acrylic applied on with different varnishes. High gloss finish would provide the most saturated color. And finally the pigment concentration. All pastel painting is naturally very matte yet due to its making of only pigment and little binder, full strength pastel stroke looks so vibrant.
Dyring oil's nature to hold much more pigment without any solvent to help the flow makes oil paint most pigment concentrated comparing to any other paint, which is another aspect.
I have this set and I'm not really impressed with the opacity of the these colors, especially the red and yellow. Can anyone tell me if other colors in their line, perhaps the cadmiums, are more opaque? Thank you.
hey Michael -- there are some differences between brands when it comes to gouache. anything marketed as "designer's gouache" is typically very opaque straight from the tube. these lines are generally from the mid-to-late 1900's when designers created illustrations for magazines; the final result was for photographing and reproduction in print, and was never hung on a wall or displayed. as a result, "designer's gouache" pigments weren't made to be lightfast, and these paints are often made with opacifiers, additional chalk, and other agents to increase the opacity of the pigment. this unfortunately completely sacrifices lightfastness. if you aren't selling or displaying your work, then these gouache lines are perfectly fine though. (i have a few tubes of Mijello's White Class designer's gouache that i like to use in my sketchbooks. Winsor & Newton is another example of designer's gouache.) the M. Graham gouache is considered "true" fine art gouache, and these pigments do not include opacifiers, or additional chalk. they state on their website that they leave the addition of white to the artist. if you're looking to increase the opacity of these paints, then you have the option of adding *zinc white* (not titanium white -- titanium white is very opaque and will quickly give you a tinted pastel hue) to gradually increase opacity. zinc white is more transparent than titanium white, and while it will add a very slight dilution of vibrancy to the paint, M. Graham's line is so extremely pigmented that you have a lot of wiggle room for this technique. titanium white is useful for bright, opaque highlights. you can also use more watered down / transparent washes of paint (much like glazing in watercolor) to gradually build up your layers, thereby increasing the opacity. two artists that use this method to with much success are Jordan Rhodes (@jmr_art) and Mary Sanche (@thoughtsupnorth) who actually has a great video here on RU-vid discussing this technique and the different gouache consistencies. ( her video is here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iMz3adIVjJM.html ) i personally find that building up watered down layers is has been the most successful method for me. your paint will stretch much further as well, rather than applying extremely thick layers straight from the tube. i hope this is helpful to you!
