Holbein Artists Gouache Set of 12, 5ml tubes

This is by far my favorite gouache paint. The colors are vibrant, a small amount goes a long way, and has great transparency and texture. It dries quickly, which I appreciate as I like to add several layers to my paintings. It is a small set but perfect if you are investing in a new professional set of gouache paints.

Easy to use and vibrant colors. Just finished my first gouache painting and enjoyed trying this new medium.

Excellent quality!

Just a beginner but I wanted to start with good quality so gave these a try. I can’t give an educated review but they do seem highly pigmented - a little goes a long way.

This gouache is exactly what I was looking for. The 5ml tubes are small, but I knew what to expect from having used the same size of tubes in watercolor. I wanted sample sizes to use as I decide how much I will actually use gouache. It applies smoothly, dries to a matte finish, but not rough as I have had happen with a budget brand gouache. Pleased with this purchase.

This is a great set. The only downside is the tubes are very tiny. There is not much paint in these teeny tiny tubes. Best to purchase larger tubes.

This is a good set of very small (5 ml) tubes of Holbein artist's gouache--a nice way to see how the colors paint out and mix, before buying bigger tubes of the colors you like or use a lot. Amazon.com review questions ask users to rate the "sheerness" of this paint, but gouache is generally opaque. The pigment is finely-ground into this smooth paint, which can be thinned with water for light applications. But if you want sheer (transparent) layers of color, watercolors might serve you better. I wouldn't think an absolute beginner would need to invest in artist quality gouache until they know if they like using an opaque, matte paint? Maybe beginners would like to try designer gouache or any student brand of gouache first, before paying for the better quality paint? But if you can afford the splurge, this is really good paint.

This is a great array of gouache if you're looking to make the jump from beginner's quality to artist's quality paints. Holbein is better than Himi and Maya gouache in my opinion; the consistency is thicker and blends better than the other brands. You can also use Holbein in a dry gouache palette so you don't waste anything, which is especially helpful since the tubes in this set are 5ml instead of 15ml. I included a picture of one of my full-sized Holbein gouaches for comparison. If you end up using all of a certain color, then you know it's worth buying it in the larger size next time!