Holbein Acrylic Gouache

Every colour in the Holbein Acrylic Gouache range

Holbein makes 109 Acrylic Gouache colours and we stock all 109 as single 20ml tubes. Here they are grouped by colour family, with Holbein's own colour numbers, so you can find a specific tube quickly or see what is available in a family before you commit.

A note on the swatches above: these are approximations calculated from the Munsell colour notation Holbein publishes for each colour, converted to screen colour. They are close, but they are not a substitute for a printed colour chart, and no screen shows paint accurately. Holbein does not publish a Munsell value for the ten metallics or the four luminous colours, because neither a metallic nor a fluorescent can be described that way, so those chips are left blank rather than guessed at.

What is actually in the traditionally named colours

Several colours in this range carry historic pigment names, and it is worth knowing what is in the tube, because it affects how they mix. This is all from Holbein's own published pigment data, not our guesswork.

• #93 Cobalt Blue is made from PB15:3, a copper phthalocyanine, not from genuine cobalt PB28. It is a cobalt hue rather than a cobalt.
• #94 Cerulean Blue is PB15:3 with titanium white PW6 added, so it is a lightened phthalo rather than genuine cerulean PB35.
• #64 Viridian is PG7 and PB15:3, a phthalo mix, rather than genuine viridian PG18.
• #91 Ultramarine Blue and #92 Ultramarine Deep are both genuine ultramarine, PB29.
• The earth colours are genuine iron oxides. #39 Yellow Ochre is PY42, #131 Burnt Sienna is PR101 and #133 Burnt Umber is PBr6.

None of this makes the colours worse. Phthalo-based blues and greens are stronger tinters and mix cleaner than the mineral pigments they are named after, which is exactly why manufacturers use them. It simply means that if you are matching a swatch made with a genuine cobalt, you will want to know before you start.

Choosing your first Holbein Acrylic Gouache colours

If you are starting from nothing, a small mixing palette will take you further than a grab bag of ready-made shades. This is what we would put in a first box, and why.

A first six

• #34 Lemon Yellow, a clean cool yellow on a single pigment, PY3. Good for mixing bright greens.
• #33 Deep Yellow, a warmer deep yellow on PY83, for oranges and for warming greens down.
• #9 Pure Red, a single-pigment red on PR170. A useful middle red that leans neither orange nor pink.
• #1 Crimson, a cooler crimson on PR122 and PR184, which is what you need for clean purples.
• #91 Ultramarine Blue, genuine ultramarine PB29. Warm blue, the workhorse.
• #151 Titanium White, titanium white PW6. In an opaque paint you will get through more white than anything else.

The next six

• #192 Primary Cyan, a cyan on PB15, for the cool corner ultramarine cannot reach.
• #137 Lamp Black, lamp black on carbon PBk7. Holbein rates this one at the top of its lightfastness scale.
• #39 Yellow Ochre, genuine yellow ochre PY42, which does the work of a muted yellow without dulling everything.
• #131 Burnt Sienna, burnt sienna PR101, for warm shadows and for knocking back a green.
• #133 Burnt Umber, burnt umber PBr6, a genuine native earth and a gentler dark than black.
• #66 Sap Green or #64 Viridian, if you would rather not mix every green from scratch.

After that, buy on need rather than on completeness. The reason we sell these as singles is that most people end up with a palette that looks nothing like a boxed set, and the colour you run out of first is always white.

Art Shed staff tips

• Squeeze out less than you think. Holbein gives an open time of roughly 10 to 30 minutes. Paint that skins over on the palette is gone, so work in small amounts and top up.
• Two thin coats beat one thick one. The paint is opaque enough that a second pass will even out any streaking, and thin even layers dry flatter.
• Keep a brush in water. Because it dries water resistant, acrylic gouache will set in a brush and stay there. Rinse as you go rather than at the end.
• Test the luminous and fluorescent colours before you commit. Holbein publishes no lightfastness rating for the fluorescent colours, including #4 Opera, #111 Violet and #115 Magenta. They are superb for work that will be scanned or printed and a poor choice for something hanging in daylight.
• Layer light over dark, not just dark over light. This is the advantage over watercolour. A pale colour will cover a dark one if the underlayer is properly dry.

What makes Holbein Acrylic Gouache different?

Traditional gouache is bound with gum arabic. It stays water-soluble for good, which is exactly why some painters love it, because you can re-wet it, move it around and rework a passage days later. Holbein Acrylic Gouache swaps that gum arabic binder for an acrylic polymer emulsion. Holbein describes the result as water resistant once dry, specifically so that you can paint layer upon layer.

The look on the page stays very much in gouache territory. Holbein describes the colour as opaque, intense, smooth and velvety, and most painters would call the dried finish matte with no gloss to it. Holbein also states that the paint does not shift in colour tone from wet to dry, so the colour you mix is the colour you end up with. If you have ever mixed a perfect grey in traditional gouache and watched it dry into a different grey entirely, you will understand why that matters.

Who is acrylic gouache best for?

Acrylic gouache suits anyone who wants flat, opaque, controllable colour. It is particularly well suited to illustrators, graphic designers and commercial artists, and Holbein notes it is suitable for design sketches. It is a strong choice if you work in clean shapes and defined edges, if you paint in layers and need earlier layers to stay put, or if you like the character of gouache but want a dry surface you can keep building on.

That said, there is nothing precious about it. Plenty of people use it simply because they like how it handles, and it is a friendly paint to learn on: it goes on evenly, it does not need solvents, and water is the only thing you need to thin it or clean up. If you are coming from acrylics you will find it far more matte and far more opaque, and if you are coming from watercolour you will find it far more forgiving of a change of mind.

Series A and Series C explained

You will see Holbein Acrylic Gouache colours listed as Series A or Series C. The series letter reflects what the pigment costs to make, not how good the paint is. Series A covers the standard colour range. Series C covers the specialty colours, the metallics and the luminous brights, which use more expensive pigments and are priced accordingly.

A Series C colour is not a better or more professional paint than a Series A colour. It is the same paint with a pricier pigment in it. Choose on colour, not on series.

Acrylic gouache vs traditional gouache

Neither one is better. They suit different ways of working, and a lot of people keep both on the desk.

• Re-wetting. Traditional gouache re-wets and reworks indefinitely. Acrylic gouache dries water resistant and is not designed to be reactivated.
• Layering. With traditional gouache, a wet layer can pick up the dry layer beneath it. With acrylic gouache, dry layers stay where you put them, which makes building up colour much more predictable.
• Corrections. Traditional gouache lets you lift colour back off. Acrylic gouache corrections are made by painting over the top, which it does very well because it is so opaque.
• Palette habits. Traditional gouache can be left to dry on the palette and revived later. Acrylic gouache cannot, so put out what you need as you go.
• Finish. Both dry matte and opaque. Holbein Acrylic Gouache is often described as having a particularly velvety, even surface.

A fair way to think about it: traditional gouache keeps its options open, acrylic gouache commits. If your process involves a lot of reworking, stay with traditional. If your process involves clean layers over clean layers, acrylic gouache will make your life easier. If it is traditional gouache you are after, our biggest range is Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache, which Winsor & Newton list in 89 colours and make with a gum arabic binder.

Buying Holbein Acrylic Gouache in Australia

Holbein is a Japanese brand, and the usual difficulty with it here is getting the colour you actually want rather than the twelve that came in a box. We hold all 109 colours as single 20ml tubes in Australian stock, so you can order one tube of one colour and have it on the way the same way as anything else in the shop.

• Prices are in Australian dollars and include GST. No currency conversion, no import duty, and no customs step between you and a tube of paint.
• Shipping Australia wide with Australia Post. eParcel Standard or eParcel Express, whichever you choose at checkout, to any Australian address.
• Click and collect. If you would rather pick your order up, you can collect it from our Moorabbin store and we will email you when it is ready.
• Schools, Creative Rewards and staff pricing. If you are on one of those accounts your pricing applies automatically once you are signed in.
• Ordering from outside Australia. We do ship internationally with signature, though customs and any local taxes are outside our control.

Delivery costs and available options are calculated for your address at checkout, so you can see the choice before you commit to it.

Single tubes or a set?

Both have their place, and we sell both. A set is the cheaper way to get a spread of colours in one go and makes a straightforward gift. Singles are how you actually keep painting, because you run out of white and one or two favourites long before you touch the rest.

Our honest recommendation: if you are new to the paint, start with a set or with the first six above, find out which colours you reach for, then top those up as singles. If you already know how you work, skip the set entirely and buy the tubes you want.

• Holbein Acrylic Gouache Primary Set 5 x 12ml, the smallest way in.
• Holbein Acrylic Gouache Primary Set 5 x 20ml, the same five colours in the full size.
• Holbein Acrylic Gouache Set 12 x 12ml, a broader starting spread.
• Holbein Acrylic Gouache Pastel Set 12 x 20ml, if the muted and pale colours are what drew you in.
• Holbein Acrylic Gouache Set 15 Colours School Set, built for classroom use.
• Holbein Acrylic Gouache Set 36 x 20ml, the serious one.

You can see everything together in our gouache sets range.

How to use Holbein Acrylic Gouache

It is designed to be used straight from the tube, and Holbein states it will dry to even, uniform paint layers that way. Add a little water if you want it looser, though very diluted washes can go streaky over large areas, so build coverage in thin even coats rather than flooding it on.

Holbein gives an open time of roughly 10 to 30 minutes and notes the drying time is much like ordinary watercolour. The practical upshot is not to let paint sit drying on your palette while you work, because once it goes off it will not come back. Squeeze out small amounts as you need them. It is compatible with all acrylic mediums if you want to change the body or the finish.

Holbein lists it as suitable for a wide variety of surfaces with excellent adhesion, including paper, canvas, cloth, stone, wood, leather, plexiglass and concrete. For most illustration work a decent heavyweight paper or a mixed media pad will do nicely, and you will find plenty of options in our pads and paper range. Soft synthetic watercolour brushes suit it well, since they hold enough paint to lay a flat area without dragging.

One honest note on permanency: Holbein rates the range for permanency overall, but lightfastness does vary from colour to colour, and the very bright fluorescent and luminous colours are the least permanent of the bunch, as they are in every brand. If a piece is going to hang in daylight for years, check the rating on the individual colour or keep the neons for work that will be scanned or reproduced.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is acrylic gouache?

Acrylic gouache is an opaque paint that combines the flat, matte, gouache style of colour with an acrylic emulsion binder. It handles like gouache but dries water resistant rather than staying permanently re-wettable, so layers can be painted over without disturbing the colour underneath.

How many colours are in the Holbein Acrylic Gouache range?

109. Holbein publishes 109 Acrylic Gouache colours, made up of the standard colour range plus ten metallics, four luminous colours, five primaries, four neutral greys and two super opaque colours. We stock all 109 as individual 20ml tubes.

Is Holbein Acrylic Gouache waterproof when dry?

Holbein describes it as water resistant once dry, not waterproof. In practice a normal dried layer will take another layer painted over it without lifting, but very thin, heavily diluted passages can still be disturbed if you scrub at them with a wet brush. Treat it as permanently drying and water resistant rather than sealed.

Does acrylic gouache reactivate with water?

No, not in the way traditional gouache does. Traditional gum arabic gouache stays water-soluble and can be re-wet and reworked long after it has dried. Acrylic gouache sets as the acrylic binder cures and is not designed to be reactivated.

What is the difference between acrylic gouache and regular gouache?

The binder. Regular gouache uses gum arabic and remains re-wettable, which is ideal for reworking and lifting colour. Acrylic gouache uses an acrylic emulsion and dries water resistant, which is ideal for layering. Both dry to a matte, opaque finish, so the difference is in how they behave rather than how they look.

Which Holbein Acrylic Gouache colours are least lightfast?

The fluorescent and luminous colours. Holbein publishes no lightfastness rating at all for the fluorescent pigments used in colours such as Opera, Violet and Magenta, and the four Luminous colours are the least permanent in the range. This is normal for fluorescent pigments in any brand. Every product page here lists what Holbein publishes for that specific colour, including where it publishes nothing.

Is Holbein's Cobalt Blue real cobalt?

No. Holbein's published pigment data lists Cobalt Blue #93 as PB15:3, a copper phthalocyanine, so it is a cobalt hue rather than genuine cobalt PB28. The same applies to Cerulean Blue #94, which is PB15:3 with white added, and to Viridian #64, which is a phthalo mix. The ultramarines, #91 and #92, are genuine PB29, and the earth colours are genuine iron oxides.

Is Holbein Acrylic Gouache good for illustration?

Yes, it is one of the most popular choices for illustration and design work. Illustrators tend to value it for three reasons: the colour is genuinely opaque so it covers cleanly, the finish is flat and matte so it scans and photographs well without glare, and dry layers stay put so detail can be built up over a base without the earlier work lifting.

Can you layer Holbein Acrylic Gouache?

Yes, and it is one of the main reasons artists choose it. Holbein specifically describes the paint as water resistant once dry so that you can paint layer upon layer. Let each layer dry properly first, then work over the top as much as you like.

What surfaces can you use acrylic gouache on?

Holbein lists paper, canvas, cloth, stone, wood, leather, plexiglass and concrete, and notes excellent adhesion across them. For illustration and design work, heavyweight paper, illustration board and mixed media pads are the usual choices.

Does Holbein Acrylic Gouache come in 20ml tubes?

Yes. The range we stock is supplied as individual 20ml tubes, so you can top up single colours rather than replacing a whole set.

Is Holbein Acrylic Gouache the same as Holbein Acryla Gouache?

Yes, it is the same product. Holbein used the Acryla Gouache name until around 2021 and now calls the range Acrylic Gouache. If you have older tubes labelled Acryla Gouache, they are the same line. You can see more of the brand on our Holbein page.

Where can I buy Holbein Acrylic Gouache in Australia?

Art Shed stocks all 109 Holbein Acrylic Gouache colours as single 20ml tubes, in Australian stock, priced in Australian dollars including GST. You can order any single colour on its own, have it posted anywhere in Australia with Australia Post, or collect it from our Moorabbin store.

Are your Holbein Acrylic Gouache prices in Australian dollars?

Yes. Every price on the site is in Australian dollars and includes GST. There is no currency conversion at checkout and no import duty or customs handling to deal with, because the stock is already here.

How is Holbein Acrylic Gouache delivered in Australia?

By Australia Post, either eParcel Standard or eParcel Express, chosen at checkout. Delivery options and costs are calculated for your address before you pay. Click and collect from our Moorabbin store is also available, and we email you when your order is ready.