I’ve been using gouache for many years, and this was my first time trying Caran D’Ache Gouache. I bought the primary ‘Studio’ set with 5 tubes which includes white, black, cyan, primary yellow, and scarlet. At the end of this post, I compare the tubes to the set of dried pans (‘cakes’) which I’ve used many years ago.

Basic Information

At nearly $5 per tube, Caran D’Ache Gouache is much more expensive than the other student grade gouache brands.

The 10 ml tubes are much smaller than the standard 15 ml tubes of other brands.

The company confirmed their binder is made with dextrin and say it’s suitable for amateur artists or painting classes. Most likely this is due to lower pigment load and the colors are less lightfast than a professional would require. I will continue to update my Gouache Database with my lightfast test results.

Caran D’Ache Gouache Pigment Numbers

It took a few emails to get this information from them, but I finally have a list of the Caran D’Ache gouache pigment numbers!

• Titanium White 001 : PW6
• Black 009 : PBk7
• Orange 030 : PY1 – PY3 – PO13
• Ochre 035 : PY42
• Burnt Sienna 069 : PR101 – PY83 – PBk7
• Scarlet 070 : PR2 – PR210 – PR184
• Purple 090 : Pr122 – PR184
• Violet 120 : PW6 – Pr15:3 – PV23
• Ultramarine 140 : PB29
• Cyan 170 : PB15:3
• Emerald Green 210 : PG7
• Lemon Yellow 240 : PY3 – PY74

I believe they only sell their paints in sets, either a set of tubes or pans (see below). I bought the Primary Set of tubes which includes:

• Titanium White 001 : PW6
• Black 009 : PBk7
• Scarlet 070 : PR2 – PR210 – PR184
• Cyan 170 : PB15:3
• Lemon Yellow 240 : PY3 – PY74

Swatches

Performance

While I was painting with the Caran D’Ache gouache, I had mixed feelings. On one hand, the colors are vibrant, and they dry with an expected velvety matte finish. However during the painting process, they felt slightly ‘gummy’ or sticky – sort of how cheap acrylics feel. I could see streaks in almost every color mix even though I attempted to mix thoroughly. In a way it felt like the pigment was not dispersed in the binder as well as it should be. This might have to do with their vegetable binder (still not exactly sure what that is).

In addition, they were more transparent than I would expect gouache to be. Yes, some colors are naturally more transparent, but with high quality gouache there is a higher pigment load which helps. But while painting this coastal scene, I had to add a lot of white and continuously layer over my previous colors to increase the depth of the paint/opacity. So you rely on layering, you’ll definitely have to use a lot more white than usual with this gouache (I suggest buying an extra tube, my preferred white is Winsor & Newton’s Primary White).

Conclusion: Can you paint with it? Of course. But I didn’t find it enjoyable. I just can’t get past the transparency and that slightly gummy feeling while mixing. For the price I don’t think it’s worth it, because there are other brands at a comparable price range that feel better. And to reiterate, we don’t know exactly what pigments or binder is in these paints and the company has still not responded to my requests for more information. The transparency and consistency of this gouache might be especially frustrating for beginners.

Caran d’Ache Gouache Studio Set of 15 “Pans”

I bought this set of gouache pans when I first moved to Scotland in 2016. It was very early on in my painting journey, especially with gouache.

I was coming from a watercolor mindset, and the ‘dried paint pans’ idea was easy to digest. However the problem with dried gouache is that you need water to activate it. As soon as you introduce water you lose some opacity. So you can’t use these expecting normal gouache results. In my opinion, it’s better to think of these as ‘very opaque watercolors.’

When I first bought them I didn’t really understand how to use regular gouache, let alone this type in dried form. So after only a couple of attempts, I felt frustrated that it was so transparent. I gave up on it and they sat in my drawer for years.

Basic Information

At $2.20 per color, this set is on the lower price range of the gouache market. The set comes with 14 dried pans of color plus a small tube of white poster paint (gouache).

Caran D’Ache describes these pans as follows: ‘The tablets are slowly cooked and then cut and dried in the open air for even blocks of colour.’

I found them to be quite solid, and they don’t crumble or fall out even when dropped or shaken. I removed my pans from the metal tin because I found it was too bulky for my taste.

Once again, Caran D’Ache does not provide pigment numbers, therefore I class this as student grade paints.

Swatches

Years later, I’ve dusted them off and given them a good soak to test them in comparison to the tubes. I wanted to see if my memory served me well. Is it transparent? Difficult to use?

Performance

Don’t expect strong opacity. In fact, just think of them as ‘very opaque watercolor.’ There were only a few colors that felt very opaque, which were the brown, ultramarine and grey. The problem is, in order to get the paint to flow, you need to get it wet. That dilutes it. If you want full opacity, you have to mix with a tube of fresh white gouache. That desaturates it. So after my swatches, I confirmed what I initially thought all those years ago.

In addition, it has a slightly grainy texture. In order to get more pigment on my brush, I had to really scrub at the color. This is both annoying and eventually it would wear down brush hairs, so don’t use your favorite brushes.

Conclusion: This doesn’t act like gouache or even feel like gouache to me. It’s basically slightly opaque watercolor.