How to draw starry sky in gouache painting

There are many ways to paint the starry sky with gouache:

1. Oil-water separation method: draw the stars with light-colored (white, yellow, light green, light red) oil pastels, and then adjust the dark colors (dark blue, dark purple, black) to make the water slightly larger and flat.

2. Dry painting: Tile the picture with dark colors (dark blue, deep purple and black) with a little more moisture. After drying, use thick light colors (white, yellow, light green, light red) to point the stars.

3. Splash method: Tile the picture with dark colors (dark blue, deep purple, black) with a little more moisture. When it is dry, dip a few drops of water into the light-colored (white and yellow) waste toothbrush, and then touch the toothbrush with your hand, and the stars will appear.

Gouache painting takes water as the medium, just like watercolor painting. Therefore, gouache painting can also draw the same hearty effect as watercolor painting. But not as transparent as watercolor painting. It has something in common with oil painting, that is, it also has certain covering ability. Oil painting is different from oil painting. Oil painting is based on oil, and the dry and wet colors have hardly changed.

But gouache painting is not, because gouache painting appears in the form of water and powder, and the wet and dry changes greatly. So its expressive force is between oil painting and watercolor painting. Watercolor painting is characterized by transparent colors, and objects are represented by the superposition of dark and light colors. But gouache is opaque and translucent.

If it is covered or superimposed on the colored base layer, then this process is actually an addition, and the color of the bottom layer will affect the color of the surface layer to a certain extent, which is why it is difficult to master. But experienced painters often use this feature to express the unique artistic charm of gouache color itself.