Gouache vs Watercolor: Which Paint Should You Use for Landscapes?
By Letsmakeart | Published: 2026-09-05
Category: Comparisons
Watercolor and gouache both create beautiful landscapes, but they behave differently. Learn the key differences, trade-offs, and which one suits your style.
Quick answer
For landscapes, choose watercolor if you love luminous, transparent washes and a delicate, light-filled look. Choose gouache if you prefer bold, opaque layers, easier corrections, and a more graphic, poster-like finish. Both are water-based and beginner-friendly, but they excel in different ways.
Landscape painting is a favorite subject for many artists, but the paint choice can dramatically change your results. Watercolor and gouache are both water-based and share similar techniques, yet their core difference—transparency versus opacity—shapes everything from layering to color mixing.
Understanding these differences helps you pick the right medium for your next scene, whether you're painting misty mountains, desert arches, or a snowy forest. Let's break down how each paint behaves and which one fits your landscape goals.
Transparency and Layering
Watercolor is prized for its transparency. Light passes through the paint and reflects off the white paper, creating a glowing, luminous effect. This makes watercolor ideal for skies, atmospheric haze, and soft reflections. You build depth by layering thin washes, letting each layer dry before adding the next.
Gouache is opaque, meaning it covers what's underneath. You can paint light colors over dark ones, making it forgiving for corrections and allowing you to work from dark to light. This opacity gives landscapes a more solid, graphic quality, perfect for bold shapes and dramatic contrasts.
Working Methods: Wet-on-Wet vs. Layering
Watercolor rewards a careful, planned approach. You often work from light to dark, preserving white paper for highlights. Techniques like wet-on-wet create soft, flowing blends that mimic mist or moving water. This can feel magical but requires patience and timing.
Gouache is more forgiving and spontaneous. You can paint over mistakes, adjust values, and add highlights at the end. This makes it a great choice for plein air or quick studies where you want to capture a scene fast without worrying about permanent marks.
Color Mixing and Finish
Watercolor mixes create airy, translucent colors that feel fresh and light. The finish is matte and delicate, with the paper texture often contributing to the look. This suits soft, romantic landscapes and botanical-style nature scenes.
Gouache dries to a velvety matte finish with rich, solid color. It can be reactivated with water, so you can rework areas even after drying. This makes it excellent for flat, modern illustrations and bold, simplified landscape designs.
Trade-offs at a glance
- Watercolor: transparency vs. control: You get luminous, light-filled washes, but mistakes are hard to fix. You must plan light-to-dark and preserve whites. Best for soft, atmospheric landscapes where you can embrace happy accidents.
- Gouache: opacity vs. drying time: You can paint over errors and add highlights later, but gouache dries darker and can reactivate, so layers may blend unintentionally. Great for bold, graphic scenes and working quickly, but allow layers to dry fully before adding new ones.
- Paper choice: both work, but texture matters: Cold press paper suits both mediums, but gouache can sit on the surface more, so a smoother paper may be preferable for fine detail. Try a 140lb cold press pad to start—it handles both techniques well.
Products to try
- Gouache Sequoia National Park - Digital Kit: In this project learn how textures, values, and hues can create richness and light! This kit includes a downloadable and printable outline, supply list, step-sheet, and reference photo, plus lifetime access to video and written instruction. If you're new to gouache, this kit walks you through a complete landscape project, teaching you how to use opacity and layering to build depth and light.
- Gouache Arches National Park - Digital Kit: Lean into the transparent quality of gouache and learn how to layer while keeping the opacity to achieve the scenic beauty of Arches National Park. This project shows you how to balance gouache's unique transparency with its opacity—perfect for capturing desert rock formations and dramatic skies.
- Let's Make Art Watercolor Paper Pad - 5x5": This exclusive 5x5" watercolor paper pad includes 20 sheets of 140lb. cold press paper designed for artists of all experience levels. It is natural white, acid free, lightfast and extremely age resistant. A small pad is ideal for quick gouache or watercolor studies. The cold press texture holds both transparent washes and opaque layers well.
- Let's Make Art Watercolor Paper Pad - 9x12": This exclusive 9x12" watercolor paper pad includes 20 sheets of 140lb. cold press paper designed for artists of all experience levels. It is natural white, acid free, lightfast and extremely age resistant. The larger format gives you room to explore detailed landscapes, and the sturdy paper handles multiple layers of watercolor or gouache without buckling.
Which should you choose?
Watercolor is best for
- Artists who love luminous, transparent washes and a delicate, light-filled aesthetic
- Those who enjoy a meditative, planned approach and don't mind working light-to-dark
Gouache is best for
- Artists who want to paint quickly and correct mistakes easily
- Those who prefer bold, opaque colors and a more graphic, poster-like finish
Both watercolor and gouache can create stunning landscapes—it's about matching the medium to your style. If you love soft, glowing washes, watercolor will feel like home. If you want bold, forgiving layers, gouache is your friend. Try a small project in each to see which one sparks more joy.
