Hello artsy friends! Today I want to share with you my thoughts about the Arteza 60 Color Gouache set ( US | EU ). Arteza reached out to me and provided the products in this review for free, however this post nor the video review were sponsored so my thoughts and opinions are honest.
For my review, I judged the products from an illustrators perspective but most of the points are general and can be relevant to most artists.
If you’d like to purchase this gouache set or any Arteza products, it’s be really helpful if you use one of the affiliate links below. This helps support this blog and youtube channel without any additional cost for you. You can also use the code ZiniaRedo1 to get 10% off your order till August 20th, 2019
First Impressions
The box of the set is very well made and sturdy. It has all the information you may need listed in a very nice way. Inside the box were a bunch of small plastic trays that also looked very appealing while taking everything out. Now while I don’t think this trays can be much of a use (unless you use them one or twice as disposable paint palettes), the box felt too good to throw away so I kept it to store cards and envelopes.
The actual tubes are very well designed, with all the necessary information printed on. The color swatches on the tops look beautiful, however in most cases they don’t match with the paint colors. This is a very common issue with all types of art supplies. After using the products for a while, you become more familiar with them and you know how your favorite colors look like anyway. Also color charts are always very helpful at the beginning.
Color Selection
For my swatch card, I decided to follow the color order from the chart on the box. Although the colors in each tray looked beautiful together, the overall chart was unorganized and all over the place. Initially I wasn’t very impressed but I decided to give it another go, this time arranging the colors in a rainbow order. For my second chart I also skipped the 12 metallic colors from the set to have a better representation of the regular colors.
Creating that second color chart was really helpful and made me realize that the color selection was actually great. The set could probably use a couple more bright colors like shades of teal and a few more pinks. A couple of the colors were a bit too similar for a 60 color set. For example, the range of yellows and browns but overall it’s a great balanced color palette.
This set especially shines for its selection of rich neutral/earth tones as well as some beautiful pastel shades. If you enjoy nature or landscape illustrations you will love the selection of earth and green tones. Many colors are multi pigment convenience mixes but that’s expected with a set with 60 colors. Most of the convenience colors are really beautiful mixes you can use right off the tube. That means if you are working on a series of illustrations, a children’s book or a graphic novel, you won’t need to struggle mixing colors over and over again. I often mess up with the ratio of my paint and end up with a different color.
As I said this set includes 12 metallic colors that are really beautiful. They have a very soft shimmering finish that doesn’t change harshly with the light. That means you can probably photograph and scan them nicely without harsh reflections. The metallic colors also come in a 12-pack set separately so if you want to just try those you definitely can.
Paint Performance
I didn’t have very high expectations from this set. I recently tried another affordable gouache set by Paper Fashion and I was expecting the Arteza Gouache to be pretty similar to that. However, the performance of the paint, really surprised me.
Although many colors are multi-colored mixed as I mentioned earlier, I didn’t have any troubles with the mixes I tried so far. I was able to mix shades that were missing easily and also got more muted shades that I absolutely loved.
The paint consistency was great to work with and I didn’t feel any significant streakiness. Some colors were more opaque than others as indicated in the packaging. However, in a few cases I disagreed with the tube transparency indication. The colors had a very good coverage and layered beautifully. Even the white was very nice and it reached full coverage with just 1-2 coats over bright and dark colors.
Comparing to other brands
In terms of comparison with other big brands out there like Holbein and Winsor & Newton (which are the brands I primarily use), I didn’t really feel a huge difference. Higher grade gouache definitely have more pigment and the tubes will last much longer that the Arteza set. However, during the painting process, they worked beautifully alone and together with other brands. (Please note that up to this review, I’ve only used the Arteza Gouache for a couple of illustrations.)
If you are using gouache for fine art, I would definitely caution you against Arteza. The tubes include all pigment and light-fastness information. However, I believe it’s safer to go for a well-known brand that its formula lasted and improved over many years.
On the other hand, if you are an illustrator and you will just scan in your work there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. This set is also great for sketcbooks, mixed media and art journaling.
Conclusion
This is generally a great set with a beautiful color selection and they come in a great price point. They are a good choice for aspiring artists, hobbyists as well as professionals that don’t need an archival quality for their art supplies. The only big disadvantage I notice is that these paints only come in sets and not open stock. That means that can’t repurchase a color once you run out. As of July 2019, Arteza doesn’t offer open stock gouache, however that might change in the future.
