Russian painting is rightfully distinguished from the world artistic arts. The fact is that until the seventeenth century, domestic painting was associated exclusively with a religious theme. The situation changed with the coming to power of the reforming tsar, Peter the Great. Thanks to his reforms, Russian masters began to engage in secular painting, there was a separation of icon painting as a separate direction. The seventeenth century is the time of such artists as Simon Ushakov and Joseph Vladimirov. Then, in Russian art world portrait was born and quickly became popular. In the eighteenth century, the first artists appeared, moving from portrait painting to landscape. The artists’ pronounced sympathy for winter panoramas is noticeable. The eighteenth century was also remembered for the emergence of everyday painting. In the nineteenth century, three movements gained popularity in Russia: romanticism, realism and classicism. As before, Russian artists continued to turn to the portrait genre. It was then that the world-famous portraits and self-portraits of O. Kiprensky and V. Tropinin appeared. In the second half of the nineteenth century, artists increasingly depicted the common Russian people in their oppressed state. Realism becomes the central movement of painting of this period. It was then that the Itinerant artists appeared, depicting only real, real life. Well, the twentieth century is, of course, the avant-garde. The artists of that time significantly influenced both their followers in Russia and throughout the world. Their paintings became the forerunners of abstract art. Russian painting is a huge amazing world talented artists who glorified Russia with their creations
Looking at the paintings famous artists, you involuntarily admire their creativity, their ability to depict in bright colors the world around us. Each of us can also try to master the art of drawing and make this hobby our favorite pastime. Presented here beautiful drawings gouache for beginners, they will allow you to test your talent in painting and master the technique of painting with paints.
To master the gouache painting technique for beginners, you need to have:
- Set of gouache paints of twelve colors.
- Sheet of paper.
- Couple flat brushes from pork bristles.
- Palette and dishes with water.
The aroma of gouache paints is familiar to everyone from childhood. It is not difficult to understand how to draw with gouache; the technique of such drawing is quite simple. You need to draw, starting with a pencil sketch.
A palette knife is used to apply paint and mix it. With its help you can apply paint in even strokes.
WITH early age We draw a simple, unpretentious landscape in gouache in an album. But, you can paint patterns, flowers, mountains, and even city buildings with such paints. For beginners, working with gouache is simply an ideal option.
By drawing a sketch with a pencil, you can avoid mistakes and do the work accurately. If you smear and mix paints directly on the canvas, you will just end up with dirt on the painting. Therefore, you can add a little water to gouache and it will turn into watercolor.
To find out how to learn to draw beautifully with gouache, you need to get acquainted with step-by-step technique. This technique involves applying gouache only horizontally during painting.
First of all, let's draw the dark fragments of the picture, and only then light color depict glare. As a result we get desired color no traces of dirt.
Gouache painting techniques
Among the techniques known to artists for painting paintings with gouache, the following are common:
- Apply a wet layer of paint over the not yet dry layer. In this case, the paint applies tightly and takes a long time to dry. This method is more suitable for painting with watercolors.
- Using a dry brush, gouache paints are applied to the dried layer.
- Using a sponge, a textured picture is created. This technique is ideal when we draw autumn landscape, you can easily depict the bright colors of golden autumn.
- For a beginner, the technique of splashing paint on the canvas will cheer up and help overcome anxiety. It is enough to wet the brush in paint and spray the gouache on the paper or canvas. The result is a bright and beautiful painting. Be sure to learn this method of applying paint, which helps train your hand.
Related article: How to simply paint a picture with paints by numbers?
Of course, we cannot paint a picture without the right brush. It is advisable to choose brushes made of nylon, goat or pig hair.
On video: how to beautifully paint the sky with gouache.
Types of gouache
Gouache is suitable for painting on cardboard, paper, canvas and other surfaces. But not every gouache has such universal properties. Let's look at the main types of such paints:
- Suitable for use on surfaces intended for painting only. It is absorbed into the material and allows you to apply a second layer, making the colors in the painting more saturated and bright.
- It has a more saturated pigment and bright coloring abilities. They decorate with it theater scenery. Children's gouache contains PVA glue, so it dries quickly. This gouache is convenient to work on plywood, ceramics or canvas. But acrylic paint fits perfectly on any surface, and after drying it does not wash off and does not lose its original color.
- Fluorescent gouache. Amazing in its properties and quality. It glows when exposed to ultraviolet rays. The color is too bright, which gives the picture a special beauty.
A step-by-step method helps even children understand the basics of painting with gouache. Such lessons will allow you to master this wonderful creativity and learn how to draw in a certain sequence, choose the right colors for reflection real beauty nature, representatives of flora and fauna on canvas.
To create pictures of nature, like drawings on any other topic, you need to start with a pencil sketch. It's easiest to draw by starting at the top of the canvas or piece of paper. As a rule, at the top is the sky, which is colored blue along the pencil contours.
Clouds are painted with whitewash, brushing white highlights across the blue sky.
Mountains are depicted brown paints, and the vegetation is in green tones. The trees below are depicted in lighter or darker green gouache. The main thing is that the colors in the painting look like in reality. Paints can be mixed directly on the sheet, changing the water periodically. To create fine lines, you need to choose the right brush.
Related article: Face Painting Basics
When using gouache, you must adhere to the following tips:
- You can buy gouache in tubes or jars; everyone chooses the most convenient packaging for themselves.
- The colors you need to choose are those that will be needed to work on the painting.
- Tests should be done on the palette, only after selecting the desired color, transfer it to the canvas.
- If the paint cracks, add a little gum arabic to it and stir thoroughly.
- To apply the next layer, you need to wait until the previous one has dried.
- It is advisable to coat the painting with varnish after drying.
Having mastered the technique of drawing, you can achieve success in artistic creativity. Moving step by step, from simple to complex, beginning artists gradually master the technique of painting with gouache. Below are video tutorials, the purpose of which is to help you depict the chosen plot on the canvas as accurately as possible. This step-by-step approach allows you to quickly learn how to work with paints such as gouache.
Gouache painting lessons for beginners (2 videos)
More ideas for drawings (27 photos)
Still life with gouache will add bright colors your kitchen, dining room or living room. Realistically depicted fruits and flowers will help make the interior sophisticated, creating a volume effect.
In the Art-Icon gallery you will find gouache still lifes, as well as works by classics of the genre.
To make your search convenient, we have developed a catalog that is divided into sections by style, theme, color, size and price. You can look at the website for still lifes of famous artists, painted in gouache, and choose a suitable painting. If you couldn't find the right piece, order it in our online store. The final cost of the work consists of several components: deadlines, material, size and design.
Why is it worth ordering a still life in gouache from our gallery?
- We guarantee strict adherence to the deadlines for completing the work specified in the service contract.
- Qualified specialists of the Art-Icon gallery will advise on all questions of interest, help you choose a suitable painting, for example, a still life painted in gouache, and will also provide detailed information about the value of works of art.
- If a painting purchased in our gallery is not suitable for you, it can be returned within 7 calendar days from the date of purchase.
- We deliver the goods within 4 days.
- Valid various shapes payment:
- credit card when ordering in our online store;
- cash to the courier upon delivery of the goods.
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Voronezh artist Olga Brazhnikova is known for her bright, sunny works done in gouache. The path to art was not easy for her; giving up work as a designer, she entered the Voronezh Art School, and this year she graduated from the Pedagogical University with a degree in " fine arts" Olga mainly works with gouache and destroys stereotypes associated with this material. For Umbra Media, the artist showed her home studio and told how creativity changed her life.
About studying
“Run away from work at the factory”
— When did you realize that you wanted to become an artist?
— I always liked to draw, but in the minds of my parents (my mother worked as an accountant, my father still works at an aircraft factory), being an artist is not a serious profession. So I had to go to aviation college. I don't understand how I was able to finish it. My ability to draw well helped, I made wall newspapers for tests. When my studies came to an end, I realized that I would never go to the factory. And went to the evening art school so that I have at least something for my soul. The teacher suggested that I enter the Voronezh Art School.
— How did your parents perceive that you wanted to become an artist?
“They didn’t believe that I would do it.” It was a funny story. Dad said that he knew a man who could draw a portrait of Lenin with a stick in the sand! And if I can’t do that, then I’m not an artist. Despite everything, I prepared for admission, took courses for 2-3 months, and studied drawing separately with a teacher. And when I entered, my parents supported me and were happy. And only later, when my works began to be taken to exhibitions, they believed in me. After college, I ended up at a defense company, where I still work as a designer. I had a rather long break - seven years, but then I decided to return to painting and creativity. In 2013, she entered the Voronezh State Pedagogical University, from which she graduated this year.
About materials
“Few people believe that my paintings are painted in gouache”
— Why did you choose gouache, what interests you about this material?
— I became interested in gouache at the pedagogical institute. Previously, I perceived it more as a transitional stage to oil. But now this is my favorite material. It dries quickly, is odorless, gives textured strokes and bright colors. I paint impasto, I don’t dilute the gouache with water. I usually draw on thick paper. Oil, of course, is not so convenient to work in an apartment. Especially considering that my cat constantly tries to get into some kind of jar. Once I was painting in oils, I got distracted for a while, and she already got into blue paint and left paw prints all over the apartment. Then we spent the whole evening scrubbing away these marks.
— What do you think about the fact that gouache is often called a “children’s” material?
— It seems to me that this is a stereotype and prejudice. It was in gouache, according to my colleagues, that I developed own style. When I post my works on the Internet, many people write how surprised they are that the paintings are painted in gouache and not in oil. Gouache - no children's creativity, but decent material. It seems to me that masterpieces can be created with any material; the material does not play a primary role here.
— What inspires you?
— I love cityscapes. Houses that have lived and have their own history fascinate me. I usually walk around the city, shoot stories, and then write at home. I love the riot of color and textured strokes. And from contemporary artists I am very inspired by the watercolors of Arush Votsmush.
— In what atmosphere do you like to work – in silence, or with music?
— When I write, I most often listen to good old rock. Some of my favorite bands are Aquarium and The Doors
— There is a widespread opinion that academic education “kills” the artist’s individuality. What do you think about this?
— It seems to me that education in the artistic field is more important than ever now. When you watch the same video lessons over the Internet, you are not a participant in the process, but this is necessary. I think that academic education helps to gain drawing skills. I studied with Alexander Starilov, he was a versatile artist, architect, and innovator. He believed that you need to have a classical education, and then look for your own style; the same primitivism is not born out of nothing. And I agree with him.
About implementation
“An artist is more than a profession”
— How do you manage to combine work as a designer, creativity and family?
— It’s difficult, I write mostly on weekends. And the daughter is already an adult, you don’t need to be with her all the time, she already has plenty of her own interests. During the period when I did not draw, I constantly felt that I was missing it. Now I am not going to give up painting, I like to be creative and search. Being an artist is for me the meaning of life and more than a profession. Creating a painting is some kind of mystery for me, although, of course, from a technical point of view there is no mystery. But the process is always intriguing - I wonder what will come out in the end.
— What are your plans in the near future? Would you like to have your own workshop?
— I really want to participate in exhibitions, and not be confined to my own space. I hope that soon I will be able to have a personal exhibition in art school. And the workshop is perhaps only a matter of the distant future. For now, all my works fit in the apartment. We recently completed renovations. The walls were specially painted white so that paintings could be hung. I organized the work space so that there was air around and a lot of light. So far it has not become overgrown with all sorts of interesting objects and details, but I think that this will not last long.
I still blog different artists and I take a closer look at the gouache that people use. (I also have my own, but you have to see what people are doing.) I realized that for me personally, watercolor is not well suited for plein air. I need something with more coverage and faster drying. And at the same time less capricious. Therefore, gouache now seems to be a more optimal option for plein air work, when the light and weather conditions change very quickly and there are really no amenities.
I’m not yet ready for oil, I need to carry too many heavy things with me, including canvases or boards for work, as well as special box for sketches so that they do not smear during transportation. And now, when equipped to work with watercolors, pastels and colored pencils, my shoulders just come off. So much so that after the last few trips last month I am living with Voltaren. This is not some kind of guy, if anything. This is an ointment for muscle and joint pain.
My favorite plein air artists right now are James Gurney and Nathan Fowkes. It turned out that both of them are illustrators, like myself, who go plein air or draw from life for inspiration and to pump up their artistic muscles. I didn’t specifically choose them based on this principle - it just happened that way. James is famous for his “Dinotopia” (by the way, his book on drawing in Russian “Color and Light” was recently published, in English here: Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (James Gurney Art)), and Nathan is an artist animator (you can learn from him at www.schoolism.com). And I really like the recklessness and speed with which both of these comrades work in the plein air with gouache, that even the tips of their fingers prick - I want to rush and sculpt with gouache or casein myself.
Works by James Gurney from here
Works by Nathan Fawkes from here
These are my heroes now, basically. I would like to move in my works from life from detailed piping to a freer stroke. But not because I stopped loving to languish over the details - this will not happen, I adore them. But because I would like to see after the plein air ready or almost finished works, which could be used for more serious paintings. Because now, while I’m bringing to mind the sketches from life and completing the drawings - from memory and from photos - I no longer have the strength for a larger repetition.
While searching for gouache varieties, I came across another talented illustrator, whom I will not link to here, because he causes me some internal contradictions. Moreover, I often came across the fact that it is useless to ask Western illustrators about materials or some subtleties of work. In 90% of cases, they simply do not answer and are not particularly focused on the topic of how exactly they work. I understand their position perfectly well, but I think it’s ugh. But then it turned out that there is even more superlative. The talented illustrator, to whom I am NOT linking, answers all questions about the technique and materials used very clearly: “Please send me an email to purchase the information.” At first I thought that it was simply misspelled when I saw the signature under one of the works after the list of materials used. Because purchase information is information about a purchase, but to purchase the information is the purchase of information. But no. A person really only shares information for money. And I still don’t understand how I feel about this.
On the one hand, he is right. This information didn’t just fall out of the sky to him either. He invested time and money into his work technique. It’s scary to think how much money I’ve already spent on finding materials that best suit me. So it is with him. Why should he now share with someone for free? I myself have often encountered the fact that my detailed stories or thoughtful topics and lessons that people received for free, were used for entire master classes, that is, monetized and everything passed me by into someone else’s piggy bank, including the piggy bank of recognition. But there is also such a thing as creative exchange. Without it there is no normal development. There is only stagnation. What if it was my information, which I shared from the heart, that helped some very cool artist get on his feet?! After all, without him the world would be a much poorer place.
Another point. Personally, I’m not ready to pay a person for information that I can easily do without (well, I’ll look further to see what’s there). For a master class - yes. And for one sentence, what kind of roller he applies the paint with or in what proportions he dilutes it - most likely not. Although, this is also a payment for the time spent on explanations! What if this particular detail would help me more than any master class? A very complex topic.
What do you think about this? Are artists doing the right thing when they monetize all their knowledge? Are they great or is it disgusting? Just please don’t tell me about the golden mean, that you can share it for free and at the same time convert it into banknotes through various master classes and sales. There is no talk about this. It’s already clear that you can do it in a smart way, like. What about the uncompromising: “To buy this information, write me an email”?