Chalky, opaque, unmistakably gouache. On your iPad.
Four episodes and one finished piece: a portrait framed by flowers, with a toucan looking out beside her. I paint each element on its own layer, in order, and I never smooth away the texture that makes gouache look like gouache.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Format
- Online video
- Narration
- English
- Subtitles
- English
- Contents
- 4 Episodes, 3h 9m
Gouache goes muddy when you fight the texture
Real gouache is flat, opaque and a little rough. The instinct on an iPad is to smooth all of that away, and then it stops looking like gouache at all.
So I work the other way round. The brush darkens as you repeat a stroke, so the shadows come from the same colour instead of a new swatch. The messy stage in the middle is expected. You blend it, you don't avoid it.
Thin brushes and thick brushes do different jobs
The set splits into Thin, Thick, Tip, Blender and Stamp. Knowing which does what is most of the technique.
Thin for skin and build-up
The Thin brushes let a little of the layer below show through, and they darken where you paint over yourself. That is how the face gets its shadows without a second swatch.
Thick for solid, ridged colour
The Thick brushes lay down chunky opaque colour with a visible ridge at the edge. I paint the flowers solid with them, so the brush marks stay in the finished piece.
Alpha Lock instead of erasing
Lock the layer and the dark colour inside a petal can't spill past its own edge. No masking, no cleaning up.
A ground that isn't white
The piece starts on a wall texture set to Linear Burn, so everything you paint after it sits on a surface instead of floating on a blank canvas.
From sketch to finished piece
Episode 1
The face and hair: skin built up with the Thin brushes, then lips, sea-green eyes and grey hair.
Episode 3
The flowers: solid Thick-brush bases, darker petals under Alpha Lock, then the light.
The sketch
A transparent line layer over a wall texture, so you never draw the portrait from scratch.
Episode 2
The toucan: a beak from yellow to orange to red, an eye, and feathers in light lines.
Episode 4
Leaves, branches and stamped colour in the background, until it reads as gouache.
The sketch
A transparent line layer over a wall texture, so you never draw the portrait from scratch.
Episode 1
The face and hair: skin built up with the Thin brushes, then lips, sea-green eyes and grey hair.
Episode 2
The toucan: a beak from yellow to orange to red, an eye, and feathers in light lines.
Episode 3
The flowers: solid Thick-brush bases, darker petals under Alpha Lock, then the light.
Episode 4
Leaves, branches and stamped colour in the background, until it reads as gouache.
What you will paint
One botanical portrait, built across four episodes.
The portrait
Skin built up with the Thin brushes, sea-green eyes, and grey hair from a few strokes, all on a wall texture.
The flowers
Chunky Thick-brush bases, darker petals kept inside their edges with Alpha Lock, and stamps in the background.
Your teacher
I made these brushes, and I paint with them here
I'm Freya Kotchakorn. I've taught Procreate to more than 80,000 students, and Apple has brought me in to teach it at its events.
I designed every brush in the set this workshop uses, so I can show you exactly what each one was made to do: which to repeat, which to lay down thick, which to blend.
Teaching Procreate at an Apple Store event
Finish the workshop, take the certificate 🎓
Lifetime access to all four episodes: 3 hours and 9 minutes of real-time painting, on desktop, tablet or phone.
Watch every episode and post your painting, and you receive a Certificate of Completion. The sketch downloads with the workshop.
Lesson list
Four real-time episodes, narrated in English. One element of the painting each.
Wall texture, the sketch on Multiply, then the skin: overall tone, darker areas repeated in the same colour, blending, and the makeup on the cheeks and lips.
The beak from yellow through orange to red, the texture brushes that leave a streak, the eye, and greens borrowed from the background so the bird belongs in the picture.
Two flower layers, one in front and one behind. Solid Thick-brush bases, darker petal interiors under Alpha Lock, then light on the folded edges.
Leaves and branches with a pointed Tip brush, light along the ends, pink pushed into the stems, and stamp brushes gradated into the background.
30-day full refund
Paint along with the workshop. If it isn't for you, email support@freya.courses within 30 days and you get a full refund.
Gouache Painting Workshop
4 Episodes, 3 hours 9 minutes of real-time painting
- ✓Lifetime access to all four episodes
- ✓The sketch used in the class
- ✓Certificate of Completion when you finish and post your piece
You'll need the brushes
My Gouache Brush Set (130 brushes), sold separately
🔒 Secure payment·PayPal · Mastercard · Visa · Apple Pay
FAQs
Answers to the questions people ask before they start
No. This workshop teaches my Gouache Brush Set, which is a separate product. Buy the set as well if you don't already own it: I name a specific brush at nearly every step.
One piece: a portrait framed by flowers, with a toucan beside her. It is built element by element across the four episodes, each on its own named layer.
Four episodes, 3 hours and 9 minutes of video, painted in real time. You keep lifetime access, so you can work through it in sittings.
Some. You should be comfortable with Procreate layers, blend modes, Alpha Lock and the smudge tool. I explain what I'm doing, but I don't stop to teach the app itself.
An iPad with Procreate and a pressure-sensitive stylus. The sketch is included as a download with the workshop.
Yes. Watch all four episodes and post your painting, and you receive a Certificate of Completion.
No. It's a one-time purchase with lifetime access.
Yes. If the workshop isn't for you, email support@freya.courses within 30 days for a full refund.
Still have questions?
Ask me about the brushes, the workshop or anything technical. Write anytime.
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