4 Month GOUACHE LIGHTFAST test results ✶ Winsor Newton, Holbein, HIMI, Daniel Smith, M Graham & MORE
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- Опубліковано 3 сер 2024
- These are my gouache lightfast test results after 4 months. We'll take a first look at which colors have faded in the sunlight. I included swatches tinted with white which is really important for seeing if the color is stable in mixes. I am testing several brands: Winsor & Newton, Shinhan, Schmincke Horadam, Royal Talens, Royal & Langnickel, Arteza, Miya HIMI, Caran D'ache, Daniel Smith, Daler Rowney. And I will add more as I receive them. #gouache
High Res Scans on my Gouache Database (updated with 6 month results) ➤ bit.ly/SBgouachedata
00:00 How I read my tests
01:23 Winsor & Newton Designer Goauche
03:14 Shinhan Designers Goauche
04:51 Arteza Earth Tones Gouache
06:22 Royal Talens Extra Fine Gouache
07:08 M Graham Artists Gouache
07:45 Daniel Smith Extra Fine Gouache
08:12 Caran D'ache Tube Gouache
08:50 Holbein Artists Gouache
09:23 Miya HIMI "Jelly Gouache"
13:21 Royal & Langnickel Gouache
14:53 Schmincke Horadam Gouache
16:56 How I setup my tests
All my gouache videos (playlist) • Gouache Painting
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Unfortunately I cannot afford all of the colors in all of the brands, I am only showing what I have (I’ll continue to add to it as I get more). Keep in mind that if my tests show “good” results for certain colors in a certain brand that doesn’t mean ALL of the colors in that brand are lightfast. Almost every brand uses at least a few colors that fade in sunlight. If lightfastness is important to you, make sure to test the colors you use.
It is especially important to test them diluted with water or tinted with white.
If you want to be extra thorough, make two identical mixing charts with your most common mixes (and tinted) and put one in the window. That would give you the most useful information overall.
For people who don’t sell originals, and mostly use gouache for sketchbook work, you can ignore lightfastness as it won’t effect your work.
Hi Sarah ! I hope you feel fine. Thanks for sharing your experience. I have some Schmincke gouaches and Shinhan and trust them about the lightfastness stars they indicate on the tube. So I chosed the colours I like with chance they all have 3 or 4 stars of lightfastness. I was happy to see with your video that they are really trustable. But they are more trustable concerning years because the tests they do are very expensive for the brands. That is the reason why I trust their test and also it is obvious that we pay for.
This was so well executed, with a wide number of colors and brands included! What a great service to your fellow artists! It's typical to first perceive light-induced color change in tints, where highly reflective white pigment increases internal bombardment of less lightfast pigments. There was some dramatic fading on a few colors, but overall so far every brand performed pretty well, especially considering gouache had a long history as being used primarily for commercial art, and also considering most colors have some white added to increase opacity. We continue to be impressed with the sophisticated, well-researched benchmarking tests demonstrated on this channel!
Then please gift her more paints to test. We would all benefit from Blick’s generosity. 😊
The results are a testament to modern gouache paints that most of them didn’t fade all that much. I expected much more fading. I doubted the Arteza would do as well as the others since Arteza seems to be marketed as/used by other artists I watch as a really good student grade. Interesting to see how much the whites affected the durability. Admittedly, it’s only been four months; I look forward to the next update.
I was very pleasantly surprised by how well most of them did. We’re entering summer with verrrrry long days (light from 5am - 11pm) so I’ll check it again in a couple of months..so curious!
I should do a similar test here in New Mexico. The sun here is insane!
Thank you for doing this! Your gouache database is becoming legendary!
Such a thorough gouache review. Thank You for taking the time and effort to share this information. I feel like I have so much more information for when I move up to professional gouache!
Great. I’ll keep everyone updated on progress :)
The Holbein primary 5-set has all light-fast pigments, but if you delve into their range, they are loaded with fugitive pigments, including the same fluorescent purples that Himi uses. And even on the non-fluorescent pigments, you'll see odd things. For instance, Holbein "Primary Magenta" is great, but the "Magenta" uses a fugitive pigment, so buyer beware. And other than the "Summer" box, the Irodori line is loaded with fugitive pigments, including Alizarin crimson and many of the other fugitive yellows, reds, greens. I think the best all-around gouache right now is Daniel Smith. It's lightfast and rewets wonderfully. Winsor Newton is nice, but separates in the tube even brand new. But the best art supplies are the ones you can afford and give you freedom to create without feeling like the paint is too precious. Most of us here on You Tube watching videos aren't selling our work. So my vote as an amateur is for Himi, with some added artist grade tube gouache for a fun change. Go with the Himi/Miya/Arttx 18 set, then avoid the purples and make your own.
Yes, almost all brands offer some pigments that aren’t lightfast so it’s important to do tests of colors you own (if that matters to you).
I personally hate painting with HIMI. It’s so goopy and transparent and smells like chemicals. Yes you get a lot for your money but the experience was awful. Arteza felt more enjoyable as a student grade gouache but had its own issues. I just tried MEEDEN too and it was a little better but I don’t have results for it yet.
After using some higher quality gouache, it’s incredible how much of a difference it makes. My Winsor & Newton feels like the best value (I don’t get the separation in the tube you described any more than other brands). Shinhan is probably second best value. But price is relative to where you live.
For me I’d rather own 5-8 tubes of higher quality paint rather than 24 colors of low quality paint. You can mix almost everything you need from a limited palette.
Like you said the best paint is the one you own, so use whatever you can afford 😄 but to all the beginners, if you are REALLY struggling with layering HIMI or any cheap brand, it’s not you. It’s the paint.
When it comes to the economy *AND* permanence of artist paints, the proper way is to choose a cheap brand that has a handling you're comfortable with, *AND* which declares the Color Index Name of the pigments. You should look for earth colors like Yellow Ochre, Light Red, Indian Red, Sienna, Umber, and make sure that they are declared as PR101, PY42, PBr7 (PR102 and PY43 are also great but unlikely in cheap paint) (note that there are russian, Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese brands that will mix the hues of earth colors with fugitive pigments, that's why you look for PR101, PY42, PBr7) . Combine these with blues Ultramarine & "Cerulean", declared as PB29 and PB15 (these are also cheap and durable). And a "Viridian" green declared as PG7 or PG36. These paints will be permanent, even if they're cheap. And you can do almost all of your painting with only these, and you should. Mix your greens with the yellow ochres, siennas and the intense green, not primarily blue and a bright yellow.
However, you will need a bright yellow, a bright red, and some magenta/rose. You may find PY3 lemon yellow in the cheap range, if so, it's fine enough I guess. Ideally you'd want something better, like PY175, PY65, but not common in cheap ranges. Consider buying that tube from a more expensive brand. For bright red you must find a PR254 or PR255, even if you have to pick that singular tube from an expensive brand (unless it's acrylic, then PR9 will also be fine). Same with the magenta/rose, look for PV19 or PV202. And that's all you need to mix anything, around 12-14 colors is all you need, and white and black.
@@Vermiliontea I also recommend handprint, it's a vast database of pigments that were independetly tested by Bruce MacEvoy (handprint). It helped me a lot in choosing my colors based on the pigments I researched on his and other websites. His "Secondary Palette", which is just six colors is imo WAY better (and cheaper) than the split primary palette and is the basis for any medium I'm using, with the addition of Zinc/Titan Whites, Cobalt Turq and three earth colors. Highly recommend checking it out
A lot of professional brands still sell paint that contain fugitive pigments because people like them such as alizarin crimson, prussian blue, and opera variations. It's not exclusive to Holbein. You just have to know your pigments.
Pretty sure I held my breath while you were reviewing the Holbein ones! I had put together a wish list of their gouache, which my sister in law picked up while she was in Japan. Fell in love with their performance and gorgeous colors! Thank you for putting these brands "through their paces."
important thing for holbein's check the pigments - in the holbein range - wonderful paints - there are lightfast and not lightfast versions - for example there is a magenta and a primary magenta - one is lightfast the other way from it :)
That’s exciting :) yes just because my colors were fine, doesn’t mean all Holbein are fine. Definitely do tests on the colors you get if lightfastness matters to you :)
Thank you so much for all of the time and effort this is taking! You rock! ♥
I could be wrong, but I think the camera picks up subtle changes better than the naked eye. There were several that you didn't point out as faded that actually looked faded on camera. I've seen this with other youtubers testing watercolors and gouache. I'm not trying to be disrespectful. Just something I noticed.❤
I think you’re right, because my husband watched the video and kept pointing at ones I didn’t mention 🤣 but in the scans it’s a little easier to compare differences
@@SarahBurnsStudio -- Yeah, the cameras must've picked up a bit more, for sure. (I'm red-green colorblind and so tend to notice more subtle tonal changes than most.)
I'm glad the winsor and newton gouache did okay since that's what I use ☺ the himi jelly gouache simultaneously did better and worse than I was expecting 😂
It literally makes my skin crawl when I see painters struggling with cheap gouache like Himi and R&L. Why??? Do you hate yourself that much?😂
@@bluewren65 which brand is R&L?
@@bleuvertetforetdepin Royal and Langnickel.
@@bluewren65 thank you. 💚
@@bluewren65 I haven't struggled really much at all with the himi gouache. I think the struggle comes from people not being used to it rewetting even after it dries on the paper.
Always soooo helpful!
This was eye-opening. Thank you!
Thanks Sarah. What a great resource
Thankyou for the research and sharing with us!
So happy to see your newest video❤ Great info. Thanks 🙏
Thank you for taking the time and effort for us!
Thanks so Sarah so much very informative ❤
Thank you so much for doing these swatches and tests - it’s a huge help!!!
This is very interesting and helpful, thank you!
Thank you so much, Sarah! 🤗😘
Thank you so much for sharing all the information ❤❤❤
Thank you for this fantastic resource really appreciated your work
Thank you for doing this, Sarah! I echo what other folks have said, and I know this is a fairly short time period for the test, but I feel like I've been excessively warned on the sensitivity of gouache as a medium. I'm particularly impressed with the reds as I've heard those can tend to fade most, and it could be you choose known stable pigments for your pro grade brands, but it's reassuring nonetheless, especially if I frame a gouache painting and intentionally keep it faced away from a window that it'll stand the test of time just fine.
Thank you so much, so helpful.❤
You have gone to so much trouble to test the colours, greatly appreciated, thank you
Thank you for doing this comparison Sarah, very interesting and much appreciated
Super happy to see you 😊 thank you for your careful study. Peace, good artist 😊
Thanks so much for doing these testing and comparison videos. It’s wonderful to not have to play trial and error on a small budget! ❤
Thank you for all the time and effort you have put into these tests! I'm honestly impressed there wasn't more fading with some of the brands.
Great Video update thank you
Thank you for doing this.
What a nice blend of artist and researcher you are! Thank you Sarah. Your experimental readings are of great value.
This is an insanely well made video. Thanks a lot for the little "experiment" Sarah!
Thank you for taking the time to do such an extensive review for us! I've been contemplating getting into Gouache, this has helped me tremendously in terms of which brand's to both consider & to stay clear of!
Thanks for all the massive leg work Sarah, such interesting results and no easy feat. Great info for anyone who purchases gouache
it's so interesting to see how the colors of different brands fade overtime! i'm so excited to see how this continues
Thank you for doing such a thorough test, this was really informative. I did not know that tinting with white could have this effect, and such a profound difference in the lower priced brands was eye opening for sure.
I just checked your gouache database, the ammount of value, especially for a beginner like me, it's Immeasurable. Thank you so, so much!
You're very welcome! I wish I had something like that when I first started so I figured others would find it helpful
Fantastically informative, as always. I especially loved that you included how you conducted the window tests at the end. I wouldn't have thought to put the strips in a mat/frame combo like that. Genius! :)
Oh wow that’s great information about the various brands of gouache. Thrilled to hear that my 2 brands I have chosen are doing well with lightfastness! Thanks for doing & sharing this wonderful information results with us. Have a great weekend 💕🥰
This video was SUPER helpful!!! Thank you Sarah, for doing this! I am just about to restock my paints, and this helped me a lot! ❤️ Keep up the great work! Love your videos, as always!
So interesting! Nice to see that most of the professional paints did very well.
Thank you so much!!! I know these tests are a lot of work and I realllllly appreciate you doing them and sharing them!
The swatches themselves are not the hard part, it’s the scans/color correcting that takes the longest 😂
I like the way you do your comparisons and tests. I feel I can make much more informed decisions about future purchases now.
I love that you took the time and created this detailed test of the colors! I have done things like this before with inks on scratch board. Anyway - I was relieved that the Holbein and M. Graham stayed saturated since that is what I use! I have sometimes ‘varnished’ my gouaches with cold wax medium when i was worried about fading but now that won’t be a factor.
You are the best friend and/or best enemy of gouache companies.
Now they have to do their job, knowing someone is watching.
Dam good job from you.
Great video! Yes I too get annoyed with my paint. at least now I know that if I mix my WN and Holbein I'm not going to have a lightfast issue. Floki is looking particularly fluffy today. Thank you for all your effort to give us knowledge to further our own journey.
Interesting! I wonder if the Himi gouche tints would hold up better with a better white, since the untinted shades did pretty well. Thank you for doing this yest!
No, the white doesn’t matter as much as the pigment itself. The white might only contribute in a minor way. But even in watercolor, diluted with water, you see fading. Unstable Pigments become even less stable when diluted with anything. Unfortunately I doubt a high quality white would help much.
@@SarahBurnsStudio although I do not believe a better whit would help, the behavior in white vs diluted in medium may sometimes be different. E.g. PY3 is unstable in acrylic when mixed with white, but is ok, when diluted with the binder.
this is really thorough! also, perfectly timed upload haha, i've never encountered your channel before and ive also never framed my work before. i was doing that today and wanted to see if anyone had tested windsor and newtons. thank you for this!
W&N does have some fugitive colors so you probably want to test all the colors you own.
This was so interesting! I didn’t know tinting could affect lightfastness. Also shows the quality difference in artist grade vs hobby grade. Thanks!
Thank you for this video, very useful. I exptected Miya Himi to be fugitive, but wow.
Thanks for doing this!! I’m always slaving over pigments between brands and comparing lightfastness for it all to be tentative (where you live, how the brand rates it, etc). Looking forward to your update ‘cause that will be really be telling
thanks for sharing this sarah ^_^
This is so awesome! Your timing is perfect! I just posted a video using your new brushes and I talked about how you test your pigments. I'm going to put a link to this video in my comments and my description! Thank you for all your hard work. I for one am grateful.
Oh that’s awesome! Thank you :)
I'm subscribing as this is the second video I've watched - and is supplying good content. I'm not a gouache user - rather I have used gouache to mix in with acrylic colors that tend to lack opacity - if working on a more rigid surface. I am big on wanting opacity in certain parts of painting, and highly transparent in other - any artist knows why. I've been getting back into real media paint. So knowing which gouache will suit my limited needs is as important as specific information on acrylics.
So again - this is the second video - with very relevant information - good content👍
lovely video and i'm honestly pleasantly surprised by the Himi gouache? i know that some of the colours faded and changed quite a lot but there are still some decently lightfast ones within the set and i expected it to just be a lot worse overall! i still wouldn't use it for gifted paintings, but it looks like it might be good enough for bookmarks and painted stickers! thank you for the video! ❤
As usual Sarah, very informative and helpful.
I became aware Prussian Blue wasn't 'light fast' fairly recently. I was struggling using it in my colour palette. I felt like I wasn't getting the colours I expected. I did some research into different blue alternatives. On my pigment journey I discovered that it wasn't as light fast as I would like. Now I have 2 brands of Prussian Blue sitting in my drawer. Perhaps my daughters will enjoy painting Gouache. I will see if I can convert them lol.
Thank you! 🙏
Wow this was well made! As expected from artist quality gouaches, they don't easily fade. The Miya Himi though. I guess it's fine using it on sketch books than putting it on display. Thank you so much for this.
Tky a lot for sharing your experience of lightfast with the more popular brands! Your are indicating me more than ever what to buy, even though you didn’t want to influence our buying previously earlier in your videos, bc it is all depends if we are having money and if we are a beginner or not for our practicing! But, as you are said one time, the better gouache quality are more easier to work with a lot of techniques! So, I am preferring to buy my next one with Shinhan or the Newton Windsor or the Holbein, after trying cheap quality brands such as Pebeo an intermediary and Parkoo for beginners and these two are so bad, if I am comparing the Himi gouache particularly as well as others too! You are introducing me to gouache early in spring and I read and watch a lot of UA-cam lately about techniques, after I had been subscribing to your channel! You are the one that I love the most about gouache for your pretty landscapes that you are painting outside! I would love to see a video about the preservatives, bc I had bought the Jackard’s cold wax to use with my good quality’s oil pastels! Thank you so much of spending you time for you brands swatches and let us see theirs lightfast! It is quite important for me these tests bc I am selling my artworks usually! See you next time! The tone of your voice is relaxing to hear and I love to see you with your hat outside! From Quebec in Canada 🇨🇦. 😊❤
So interesting!!!
Thanks for the video! I wasn't surprised that the HIMI gouache faded a lot, it always seemed to me like a lot of paint for your money, too cheap to be high quality. They are fun to paint with though!
Thank you 😘
Thanks Sarah, that is a lot of work! Most interesting is the fading that happened when mixing white gouache with other colours, that did not fade much until white was added. I wonder why that is?
Thank you, Sarah! I've just gotten back into using gouache. I have several W&N that I bought years ago for a class, and was planning to invest in some that got completely dried out (after 15 years, so no real surprise). Glad to know it seems reliably lightfast! I did try using my Alizarin Crimson that got dried out to see if it could be reactivated, but it doesn't really come back after it's gone rock hard. Most of my tubes, remarkably, are still ok!
Hi Sarah! Jim from Madrid, Spain (a New Yorker expat living abroad).
GREAT Gouache video! Lots of info and great quality work . Awesome!
Here in the EU W&N Artist grade gouache is one if the best options, I think (bang for buck!). So far it has not given me any problems at all. I bought their 10 starter set so far. Soon I'll be including some more colours and I would lobe some Schminke Horadam, but they are really expensive in comparison (at least here in Spain). I also agree that, as a beginner in Gouache like me, it's way better to buy fewer Artist grade paint colours than using cheaper brands with lots of them... and they help you learn how to mix them better!
Can't wait for your after-summer update! And thank you for sharing all of your expertise!
Cheers from Sunny Spain!
😁👍😎
I will test my royal & Langernickel. 👍
Thanks for doing this for the gouache 'community' (if you will). You are right when you say everyone should do their own tests because we all use our own favorite colors and may even mix brands and so on, especially if we plan on framing originals for hanging. But seeing this is very helpful and interesting, I honestly expected to see worse results, so I'm pleasantly surprised. The himi gouache is a problem for anyone selling their work, I know of at least one artist that regularly sells originals painted with himi gouache and that is fine, as long as you provide a written statement for your clients that you have used colors that can fade and suggest that your client does not hang the work in any direct sunlight. I used to sell my colored pencil drawings several years ago and had a printed document that explained the use of colors that could fade from sunlight or even indoor artificial lighting (we used to use flourescent lights in our home kitchen and have since changed them because they caused paintings to fade). I wanted to be sure that my buyers knew exactly what could happen. After doing some light-fast tests, I started using colors that were less likely to fade, but I still provided that information to anyone that bought from me.
I think it's really important to frame all artworks for sale using expensive UV non-reflective glass. It really makes a difference.
It’s very ethical to tell the buyers if you know the pigment might fade. In general it’s good practice to avoid hanging art (even prints) in direct sun but most consumers don’t know that.
Fab test, Sarah. I only own W&N (fortunately watched yours and a few others videos about student v professional and dodged buying a cheap Himi set) so I'm very happy with your test results. I've been umming an arrring about buying Daniel Smith gouache for a limited dry palette after watching your recent videos, so will definitely be trying some of those out in future. Look forward to more 'dry' gouache adventures and forthcoming lightfast tests after summer. This video will be saving many watchers pockets. Thanks for the info ❤
Edit to add... loving my/your gouache brushes... I was using soft bristle watercolour brushes before, so no wonder I had headaches over water control. Now I'm getting better. Tools won't make a greater artist but sure do help when you find the right ones for the purpose. Hope you get a wider audience and many more editions because these brushes ares the bees knees :)
Sarah's brushes are just superb! A gift to us all.
Thank you so much for your support (and I’m glad you love them!) ☺️
Thankyou for this video, it’s really helpful! I really like to see more of your upcoming experiment soon ❤❤ Also i’m wondering, would it have a different result in lightfastness if watercolor wax is applied?
I don't think the wax has UV properties. But you could varnish with liquid varnish like used for acrylics if you're careful (it does change how it looks though) which would add a bit of protectrion
EXCELLENT test! Thank you! I did a version of this with pictures from magazines in a window when I sold art supplies in the 80's.
P.S. Broken-hearted about the Prussian Blue.
Hi! Thank you so much for such an informative video. I’ve been thinking of investing in some tubes of gouache, but with so many choices out there it can be confusing! Your videos certainly help with the decision process. Lightfastness aside, would you mind sharing which gouache you prefer for consistency, vibrancy, ease of painting, etc. Thank you! 🎨
Oh wow I’m surprised by the results of Daler rowsey designer gouache.
Thank you for this vide. The timing is perfect as Jackson’s is having a gouache sale 🙈
Oh really! *jumps to the website* 🤪 not that i need more but maybe there’s a brand I haven’t tried
@@SarahBurnsStudio I really look forward to your videos. You are my Gouache guru. Have learned SO MUCH from you. Infact you are the reason I fell in love with gouache.
Love this review! Very helpful! For the Himi gouache, do you think mixing a different white for the dilution would make a difference? Like using winsor gouache instead?
No, the main issue lies with the pigment not the white. The white might contribute in a minor way. But even in watercolor, diluted with water, you see fading. Unstable pigments become even less stable when diluted with anything. Unfortunately I doubt a high quality white would help much.
Great gouache database! Hoping you can test Art Spectrum and Eraldo gouaches - professional and student grade pricing respectively. I think Art Spectrum might come up against W&N well.
With Art Spectrum Gouache, it depends if she can access them. In Australia not all the brands she uses I can find locally. Like most brands they have varying levels of light fastnesses. I'd expect the non-fugitive brands to be at the same level as W&N you'd think. I use to use AS, still use their white, but now use W&N.
it would be an interesting test to tint the himi gouache with a professional white and see if that makes any difference with some of those colours
Amazing!! Thank you so much for this. I will definitely be checking out your gouache database as well. 🙏😊
I'm performing light fast tests on my watercolors and the only windows I have that get sunlight are ones that face the street. Last summer my neighbor commended me for "supporting pride month". 😂 I didn't take the time to fill her in and just let it ride. 🤷♀️ 😅
Haha yea I see a lot of people stop and point up at our window 😂 I'm tempted to make a little laminated sign that explains what it is and stick it in our grass
Thank you Sarah!
I watch all your presentations. Love your kindness in sharing your knowledge!!
Im searching for your video on Cold Wax sealant. Can a wax sealed Gouache be framed under plexi?
It's the Dorlands wax, and yes you could frame it.
Great demo. 👍
Would love to know if it's possible to get a protection spray against UV rays..... one that will dry invisible and not change the colour depth or flat texture?
I'm always interested to see how well blue-biased red/rose colours perform as I've got suspicions about how well pigments reflecting that part of the spectrum stay lightfast, and those results in the professional ranges are excellent.
Same, I’m always a little suspicious of reds especially!
No surprises on the cheap stuff…It’s really just for fun and sketchbook work. But glad to see that we can trust the artist grades we know for their quality and reliability. Thanks!
I actually really love royal talens gouache. But I have to note that I can buy the tubes for just 3€. Seeing that they performed really well in the lightfast test, for the price I can get them for,cements my thoughts even more.
It's a great gouache! And if it's affordable where you live that's even better :)
Good! You've done it mostly the right way. Actually, I don't really have anything to complain about. But it is easier as well as more consistent, to just paint one strip and cut it in two. I don't know why you didn't? It is absolutely essential to test the paint in reduced strength, as you did with most of them. You'll mainly see the weaknesses of the pigments when they are reduced, as in lighter tints or in mixtures. This is because many organic pigments manage to, to some degree, work as their own filter to protect themselves. If you do a continuously graded test, which is hard to do in Gouache, you can often see a sharp front of erasure moving up across the color field, the defense of the color progressively collapsing.
Another reason is that some 'White' pigments may affect the pigment. There are in particular two crystalline variants that are harmful to a number of pigments, also some otherwise generally considered as extremely durable pigments, like phthalo blue and cadmium yellow. So a proper test should also involve the mixing white from the same brand. I hope you did it that way, because most people will use the white that the brand (often set) comes with. One of the culprits is one of the two crystals which Titanium White comes in. I think it's the 'anatile', but I have some trouble remembering these details, and that 'rutile' is the safe one. It doesn't really matters. What matters is that quality artist paints should only have Titanium White that is 100% composed of the good, harmless variety. Then there is a very opaque crystal version of Zink White, that typically goes by the name Chinese White. This is a water color for highlights only. It should not be used for mixing with colors. I think that the latest alarm was that ordinary Zink White can morph into Chinese White, as painted, in water media, with time and environment, so Zink white shouldn't be used at all as a mixing white in water media. As there are lots of old material around, painted with Zinc white as reducer, and they seem to be just fine, there's probably no cause for panic though.
Some comments. I have yet to examine the matter for myself, but the story about 'Prussian Blue' is that it actually is a "durable" color. There are plenty of real life examples of this, hundreds of years old wall papers, signs, wall paint, boat paints. So as I've heard, the hypothesis is that it fades to some equilibrium point, depending upon the intensity of light exposure.
I really don't know. It would be interesting to see if you feel that the Prussian blue stops fading at some point? Or fades away completely to the point of erasure, as a normal paint would.
Lightfastness tests are a form of accelerated time tests. The changes you see, are what may happen over time, even if the colors are protected inside a book or a folder. Organic complex molecule colorants will simply break down. And when they do they will lose their color. However, this is not a geometric relationship. Even in lightfastness tests you will see differences in outcome depending upon how you do it. Like what kind of light exactly. Xenon lamp light? Direct sunlight? Or only daylight (shaded from direct sun)? Protected by common glass?
Lightfastness is not just a case of chemical pigment class, i.e. "Color Index Name", = PR101, PY35, PB29 etc, but also the exact pigment and pigment-source/manufacturer used, and the of milling and type of binder and extender. Because of this, the finished product, the paint/pencil/pastel itself need to be tested. One cannot universally rely on only the reputation of the Color Index Name. Some are extremely reliable, like PR101, PR102, PY43, PY53, PB28, PB29, PB35, PG18, PG17, PBr7, PBk9... There is simply no variation, they're rock solid. In much the same way, there are also those which will always be failures with similar consistency, PR83, PY1, PR81,.. Then, in between, there are those which one can mostly expect a solid performance from, PV19, PB15:1, PB15:3, PR254, PO73, PY150, PY35, PY42... But then there are also those which will exhibit significant variation, apparently mostly because of the pigment-manufacturer, but maybe also due to the milling etc. These are the really interesting ones for testing, (though I suppose many painters simply avoid them), PR9, PR170, PR112, PY3, PV23, PB15:4...
Again, great work!
Fascinating, ty for sharing!
Was the white in the Himi set the Titanium White or the Zinc though, since there is two whites?
Titanium white
@@SarahBurnsStudio Ty for your quick answer 🤗
I guess because mainly the mass tones (straight out off the tube) are quite stable maybe you could avoid fading in the tinted down versions by mixing any cheaper brand with a decent white from a good quality brand. 🧐 thanks for sharing your results 🙏👍
It might help a little, but it’s a known problem that diluting certain pigments makes them fade more (it happens with watercolor too, just by adding water). So unfortunately it probably wouldn’t help much if the actual pigment isn’t stable
@@SarahBurnsStudio many thanks for your quick answer. kind regard.
Nice window decoration...😄
Nothing unexpected. But to see the faded colors is always a bit shocking. You get what you pay for.
I love my ShinHan PWC (water colors) and was thinking about purchasing ShinHan gouache. Your tests are really helpful in this regard.
Thx for your efforts!
Beware of the Shin Han purple /violet/magenta range as they all have dye based color, which is not lightfast.
Thank you for your thorough review! I'm curious. Especially since you said the fact that one color in a brand is lightfast, others may not be, did you by chance compare your results to the company's lightfast rating? So if we want to "know" whether a pigment is lightfast without duplicating your effort.... we could rely on their analysis? I am new to gouache... so I'd like to start on the right foot. Definitely not a good enough artist to sell my art.... but if a few reds are lightfast and others are not, I would prefer to go with the lightfast. Does that make sense? Thanks again. Your test was "enlightening." And I am looking forward to watching your tutorials. Regards!
Hi! Have you ever tried Schmincke Akademie gouache? Here in the Netherlands, a tube of the first series costs a little less than the designers W&N. But this is 60 ml versus 14 ml. So it's more than three times cheaper. Looks tempting :) It would be interesting to know your opinion.
Brilliant content here. FYI, it’s Day-ler Rowney not Dahl-er Rowney😊
Potato, potahto.....
📊 The most useful data point would be rich which paints deviate from the manufactures lightfast results.
I agree..and I dont think the manufacturers take tinting into account? Which is clearly a major factor. I for one use white with almost every color in a painting, rarely is a color used straight from tube to paper. So it seems hugely important to do that in the tests.
SCIENCE!
This is awesome for someone like me who only vaguely know about lightfastness. Can this apply to artificial lights too?
I believe that it is the UV in the sunlight that causes pigments to fade, but I may be wrong. I'd think that under home lighting conditions that fading would be minimal.
@@beautifully_wonderfullymade Interesting. Thank you for this insight!
Noticeably, the HIMI set suffered the greatest fading when colors were mixed with HIMI white. Some HIMI sets have two whites. Do you know which white you used? I have the 5 top brands and will start using only a major brand Titanium White with HIMI colors. I have not used the HIMI set, as it has not arrived. But I am eager to try the advantages of less mixing time and even considering the 50-color set.
Sarah said she did all the mixing with Titanium white. There are however two types: anatase and rutile. The anatase is an older form that is less stable and more prone to causing fading of tints. It may be this form that Himi uses (although Sarah didn't say whether she used the Himi titanium white in her mixes or another brand).
@@bluewren65 is the fading definitively caused by the quality of the white mixer? i thought that the problem would arise from the dilution of the color pigment itself (but purely speculation on my part, would be happy to learn more!)
The main issue lies with the pigment not the white. The white might contribute in a minor way. But even in watercolor, diluted with water, you see fading. Unstable pigments become less stable when diluted with anything. Unfortunately I doubt a high quality white would help much.
@@gouachelog I agree with Sarah that it's more likely that the fading is due to low quality pigments rather than the white. However, it was only a few days ago that I read on the Jackson's blog about the difference between the rutile and anatase forms of titanium white with the anatase being less stable so I was really just conjecturing about the unknown factor.
@@SarahBurnsStudio Agreed, and with a cheap brand such as Himi it must be assumed that the pigments are going to be of lesser quality.
The Indian yellow in the schmincke sample...is that a py83 ?
Totally unrelated to this video, but I'd love to know how you approach color correcting your scanned or photographed art. It's the one thing I hate most about the entire process.
It’s a nightmare tbh 🤣 I scan them and then hold up my swatches to the light to get a good look at the color. Then I manually adjust the scans in photoshop until everything looks like I see it in person
HI Sarah, do M Graham and Holbein Gouache stay soft or hard, if you place in a pan ?
It really depends on the color! Certain colors dry a lot harder like cobalt and burnt umber. But unlike the watercolors, M Graham gouache does eventually dry out
Hello, I would like to make a custom pastel gouache palette. I have a set of primary colors Winsor and Newton, including white, which is almost out. I would like to buy a LARGE jar of white gouache for mixing custom colors, and I definitely wouldn't want to buy another white W&H, it feels light gray to me (maybe because it is over 5 years old?) Please advise a affordable large format white gouache, thanks!
Weird because my Miya blues haven’t changed at all in my own loghtfastness test
At this point Im like Im gonne ditch me the arteza and himi gouache bc next to the mold this was a deceprion, I will just buy me tube of white and mix my artist wc. I know it sound snobbish but I dont have the budget to see that kind of failure happening
It’s not unusual for paper to lighten in sunlight. Some UA-camrs disregard very minor changes in colour after one year and attribute it to the paper becoming lighter.