Research shows that red and yellow colours wake up the taste buds and make people feel hungry. These vibrant colours attract attention and trigger appetite. They are also associated with the colours of ripe fruits and they match well with the brown colour of wooden furniture and fixtures. Hence this paint colour shades combination of dining room walls is widely appreciated.
ShinHan Professional Designers Gouache Review Color Chart + Compare to PASS
ShinHan Professional Designers Gouache paints are an affordable, matte (not shiny, even when painted thickly), opaque watercolor. They are available in sets or individual tubes, ranging from about $3 to $10 per color. There are only a couple pigments that are on the expensive side (Cadmium Reds) and otherwise this brand is extremely competitively priced – definitely worth the cost! This is a good quality beginner, student or designer gouache (for scanned web illustrations or prints). There are some lightfast colors in this range which would be suitable for art to sell or long term display. I’ve edited their chart (further down this page) to include helpful notes regarding which colors will fade.
How does it compare to other brands? ShinHan gouache is available in 72 colors, many of which are single pigment or dye. It lacks some of the lightfast options found in other brands (no PR122, PV19, PG18, PY154, PBk31 or other Perylenes). Similarly to Daler Rowney designers gouache, the selection is all over the place (fugitive, lightfast, single and multi pigment). Winsor & Newton or Holbein also offer a large selection of colors, but they have an increased number of helpful lightfast options for those who want to display original paintings. Brands that specialize in UV stable gouache for fine art have much smaller color selections (M.Graham, Da Vinci, Horadam). The paint performance is an upgrade from brands like Miya HIMI, Arrtx, Arteza, Daler Rowney or Royal Talens gouache. It’s not quite as smooth as Winsor & Newton, but it does dry easier to re-wet. ShinHan offers a lot more color options than Schmincke’s Designer line (mostly fugitive) or Akademie gouache (lower pigment load). ShinHan offers Cobalt Turquoise which is missing from most brands like Horadam (Schmincke’s lightfast gouache line) and is about a third of the cost of W&N/Holbein’s versions. Unfortunately ShinHan is a step down in quality (but also price) compared to top pro grade gouache brands. M.Graham, Schmincke Horadam, Maimeri or Holbein all have higher pigment loads and smoother streak free flow.
As with most “designer” paint lines, it includes both fugitive and lightfast pigments with the main goal of offering a wide spectrum of color options. This includes your choice of bright vibrant colors including fluorescent pinks and purples, or the most stable of earth, cobalts and cadmiums. The Cadmium Red and Cobalt Turquoise are lightfast but nearly as bright as neon colors. The Cobalt Turquoise did seem slightly weak in pigment load and opacity compared to brands like Holbein or Winsor & Newton. Every single color was rated as opaque (solid square icon on chart) despite varying degrees of covering power by color. In general every brand has some less opaque colors based on pigment properties, but they are often labeled as semi-opaque. Cadmium Red seems more like a “light” or “vermilion” shade, as it was very orange leaning for a PR108. If you’re in the USA, Utrecht brand gouache through Blick is very similar and you may be able to score a PR108 Cadmium Red for about half the price (Flame Red was around $5 when I bought ShinHan for $10). Opera pink was also less opaque than expected. Even after a thick second layer was applied after the first had dried (above the lift line, bottom right square of swatch card). I am still able to see a hint of the black background marker stripe. They are sufficiently opaque on lighter papers or on top of other colors instead of black surfaces:
Other than offering two versions of PR108 (the other should be a darker cadmium red) ShinHan has PR254 (another warm red) as the only other lightfast red in this line. There are many fugitive reds like PR112, PR17, Alizarin Crimson PR83 and Rhodamine dye based reds that are prone to fading within several months (more quickly when diluted or mixed in small amounts/tints). There is NO lightfast magenta/cool red primary mixing color (PV19 or PR122). This line has some mixing limitations for those who wish to create lightfast art for long term wall display. It has a lot of options for those wanting to do print reproductions/personal art/sketchbooks etc.
How do these compare to PASS (ShinHan’s watercolor gouache hybrid paints)? The gouache line overall contains more fully opaque colors and they have a chalkier matte (no binder gloss) finish. The gouache seems slightly less suited for work as a watercolor regarding particle size and smooth transitions from thick to watered down paint. PASS seemed to make smoother gradients and flow very little (predictably) in wet washes. The gouache flow varied by color and because of gouache’s thicker viscosity had a tendency to puddle/streak/be splotchy when doing watered down washes. Water management is an important skill to learn in watercolor and gouache painting, but it is critical with this and lesser quality gouache, as it can dry uneven/streaky/with bubbles or otherwise unattractively if not carefully applied.
Some pigment ingredients are not the same between ShinHan’s gouache, PASS and PWC watercolor lines, even between colors of the same name. PASS and their PWC watercolor range have Sepia made with PBk11 and PR101, but the gouache is PBr8. PWC watercolor Raw Sienna is PR101, but their “Korean Color” (a glue based gansai type paint) as well as this gouache use an uncommon PY119 instead. The gouache line offers a darker shade of PY119 than the Korean version. PR17 is a rare pigment found in several ShinHan paint lines (fugitive and I already owned it in PASS, but mentioning it in case you collect rare pigments). BV11 the dye in Red Violet is by itself in this and PWC, but is mixed with PR81 in PASS. The Opera Pink is a different dye in each range and I prefer the PASS one for brightness, black light glow and smooth laydown. Shadow Green is not the typical perylene green PBk31, the gouache line offers a mixture made with PBk11, PG17 and PW18 (chalk) instead.
The binder separated in half the gouache tubes I bought (4 of 8, despite being newly acquired stock, which does not bode well for long term shelf life). I had to do a lot of stirring with a long needle tool/toothpick inside the tube, followed by more stirring in the pan since there were still runny clear binder liquids and more solid chunks coming out. Not a good first impression. In comparison, after well over a year in storage most of my PASS tubes remained a well mixed creamy consistency, ready to paint with the exception of Burnt, Raw Umber and Titanium White. I suspect that heavier pigments, such as granulating cobalts, cadmiums, earth browns and titanium tend to sink and settle away from their binder fluid more than other colors. Overall my PASS paints appear to suffer from less binder separation when brand new (as well as after 1 year of shelf storage) compared to the new ShinHan gouache paints. Just 3 of 48 PASS gave me trouble, while 4 of 8 gouache did (Cadmium Red, Raw Sienna, Cobalt Turquoise & Cobalt Green Pale). This could be due to hot/cold shipping temperatures, but could also be related to the fact that the PASS line does not have any cobalt or cadmiums. Regardless of which ShinHan paint line you choose, I advise being prepared with a long skewer/needle tool for stirring as this time consuming task can really disrupt your painting time.
Both lines will crack in the pan when dried, but can be easily re-wet from dry or reconstituted if dry shards were in a pile on a palette. It is overall best to use these paints straight from the tube. You can take the time to mix a drop of honey or glycerin into each pan if you want to experiment with reducing cracking. M.Graham gouache already has honey in the binder and performs really well in a pan, so I’m not inclined to try using cheaper brands this way – but many artists tell me adding it themselves works well. Because M.Graham and Maimeri gouache both have higher pigment loads and better flow characteristics, I did not personally choose to dilute ShinHan gouache further with added binders. If your goal is working on dark papers and maximum opacity is required, using gouache from the tube may be better.
Excess scrubbing of dry paint to hydrate it will cause bubbles on your brush. They will make little hole marks on your painting when they pop, so it’s good to avoid having to work at re-wetting from the start. The tendency to crack in the pan also means that it would crack on the painting surface if applied too thickly (as with most gouache). A flat brush may be helpful for smooth filling of large areas. Both PASS and gouache perform well as watercolors when used on wet. They can be diluted to nearly transparent and even provide some granulation and salt reaction textures. They can be prone to streakiness and fast drying (similar to chalky student paints or Derwent’s Inktense) when applied on dry. These paints can feel like you need to work harder at smoothing them out (brush drag).
Colors in both ranges are matte and opaque enough for dark to light layering effects (such as painting a dark brown background and going over it with light brown fur strokes and later white highlights). There is something different about the binders between these lines past their consistency issues. The gouache had a minor chemical smell, similar to acrylic paint when wet, but not as bad as Talens brand gouache. Based on the scent I suspect there are other additives in this paint not present in most other brands (in addition to pigment + gum arabic, this can include dextrin, glues, preservatives, opacity additives etc.). Both PASS and gouache have mostly opaque, heavy, low flow/stagnant disperse colors compared to lower viscosity transparent watercolor lines. Flow improves with excess water, but the results are more chaotic (randomly fast or stagnant) than with traditional watercolors.
Color chart with pigment codes and my notes regarding lightfastness: Some ratings on this color chart just don’t make sense. I’d be VERY surprised if Phthalo Blue PB15:3, a highly lightfast pigment, was just as mediocre as Alizarin Crimson PR83. Same with Phthalo Green PG7 (which they called Viridian and should have been labeled as “hue” since it’s a look-alike for PG18). It is also very unlikely that an ultramarine purple PV15 or Yellow Ochre PY42, even mixed with white, would be ** (as bad as the LFIV-V PO13 and pink dyes like those in Opera or Rose). Any time ShinHan surprised me with a low rating for a normally good pigment I’ve put a “?” in the middle of the color. If you choose to purchase it and LF is important to you, I recommend running your own test to verify their poor rating. I’ve added fugitive notes for the pigments well known to have fading issues. Otherwise the only thing that threw me off a bit was how orange leaning the Cadmium Red was compared to the color chart and any others I own. Hope this is helpful:
Summary: In general ShinHan gouache is not overwhelmingly awesome or terrible, just a solid budget option. A bit of a mixed bag depending on your needs. Some colors are bound to be mediocre but usable (fugitive, runny/ binder separated, less opaque) while others might be perfectly creamy and lightfast. A pick and choose brand that may be of interest for a few tubes more than entire sets. As expected due to the low price tag, this gouache has a higher pigment load than student grade, but less than other professional grade gouaches. I have a feeling that there will be varying opinions on this brand based on the other gouache lines each artist has tried, It’s a step up from some, and down from others. Particularly suitable for matte art on white/lightly colored papers or when layered in thin to thick (watery layers first to thicker/solid strokes later to avoid reactivating this easy to re-wet paint). ShinHan is more expensive than MIYA HIMI/Arrtx gouache sets, but gives you the freedom to pick and choose individual colors with overall more lightfastness than those bargain sets. ShinHan gouache is not as nice as M.Graham, Maimeri or Schmincke regarding pigment load, ultra-matte streak-free lay down, but these are cheaper and do have some color options not available in those brands. The Cadmium Lemon PY35 and Cobalt Turquoise (a teal/sky blue version of PB28) are very low priced and fairly uncommon, making ShinHan gouache a good choice if others are too expensive. Considering the mixing limitations of so many fugitive reds/pinks/purples, I would not fully rely on this brand if selling original art.
Swatch scans – Direct light computer scanner bed images of my hand painted rubber stamped Arches watercolor paper swatch cards:
Jackson’s online art store has a great price on the gouache line here , and I recommend checking out the PASS hybrid line too, particularly if you like to use watercolor techniques with opaque paints.
These swatch card images have been added to the pigment database , where you can compare each color side by side with the same pigment from other brands. Happy painting 🙂
Note: this page contains affiliate links. All product opinions are my own. I am committed to honest reviews showcasing both the pros and cons of each product. I have not received payment from any brand for a review. I earn a commission from sales made through this web page’s clickable banners or links to Amazon, Arteza, Scrapbook, Jackson’s or Blick Art Materials websites.
Table of Content:
- How to Use the Colour Wheel to Pick the Right Palette for Any Room
- Tips to choose the right paint colour for any room
- Tips to choose the best colour according to ventilation and light
- Tips to choose the best paint colour according to room static and movable assets furniture curtain
- Dining room wall paint colour
- Living room wall paint colour
- Paint colour suggestions according to the person
Confused about choosing the right colour combination for any room of the house, don’t worry, here is the step-by-step complete guide to help you to select the appropriate colour combination with the help of a colour wheel like a professional home painter.
How to Use the Colour Wheel to Pick the Right Palette for Any Room
The basic colour theory of creating perfect colour combinations is to follow the colour categorizing into three groups primary, secondary, and tertiary colour schemes.
The primary colours are Red, Blue, and Yellow. These colours are not produced by mixing any of the colour shades together which means all the other colour shades are produced by mixing them.
Secondary colours are produced by mixing the primary colours that are Green, Violet, and Orange for example while mixing the primary colours blue + yellow we get Green colour and all primary colours Red+Blue+Yellow mixed together produce a Brown colour shade.
Tertiary colours are produced by mixing the primary and secondary colour shades together by mixing primary Red and the secondary colour Green we get a Yellow colour shade.
So according to the colour theory colour wheel is created. On the colour wheel Between the equal distance of primary colours spokes, there are secondary colours because they are formed by mixing equal quantities of two primary colors. Likewise, equal quantities of primary and secondary colours with a tint added of a white colour mixture produced lighter or brighter shades of any colours.
Tips to choose the right paint colour for any room
Choosing the right paint colour for any room is important in the sense of creating an appealing visual effect for interior decoration. For creating a connection between the paint colour and the existing objects in the room you have to remember some basic rules that are as follows:
- Select colours from any of the objects in your room that appeals to you most. It could be furnishing object colour, furniture of the room, or the background of the wall painting.
- Pick any of the three primaries (red, blue, and yellow) or secondary (green, violet, and orange) colours.
- Then use these shades for choosing the paint colour for your room.
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Color Guide
MAKE THE BEST DECISION WHEN SELECTING YOUR NEXT PROJECT’S PAINT COLOR.
The Amy Howard At Home Color Guide has been created by applying each One Step Paint color by hand to provide you with the truest color match for our One Step Paint and One Hour Miracle Paint colors.
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MAKE THE BEST DECISION WHEN SELECTING YOUR NEXT PROJECT’S PAINT COLOR. The Amy Howard At Home Color Guide has been created by applying each One Step Paint color by hand to provide you with the truest color match for our One Step Paint and One Hour Miracle Paint colors.
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Nancee P.
Key in helping us choose just the right color!
Gerrie B.
It is very helpful yo have the true colors in the room you are trying to match..
Angela A.
I rescued this monolithic coffee table from the neighbor’s trash and used Amy Howard at Home One Step paint to cover and restore years of abuse. It even had burns on it! I just cleaned it with One Step ( really dirty) and applied two coats of the matte black. It’ll be a great piece for the basement family room.
Michelle M.
This is one of the most essential items I can have in my studio to do custom work for clients. So happy Amy and her crew have brought this to us!
Marilyn M.
Love these paints. The demonstrations are sooo helpful and Amy and her hubby are so good and friendly that I stay so interested with them while they teach and I feel like they are right here in my home. They make things fun. So far I have purchased at least 10 paints and love so many more colors that I am dreaming of what I will paint next. The color guide really help my husband and me decide on a color for our bedroom furniture. I already painted our guest vanity in English Boxwood and we love it. You have made my favorite hobby so much fun and without sooo much work, my hands thank you two. Thank you.
Lori A.
So happy to have this! It really helps to know what to order! And so so many pretty colors!
Durnin M.
I wasn’t satisfied with the colors depicted in the catalogue called Amy Howard at Home. They always seemed a tad off! I called AH & was told a new brochure was becoming available with the true colors of One Step Paint only. After receiving this color chart I checked the various colors in the new brochure against One Step Paint colors I had already used on furniture I had in stock. They were almost identical. I understand colors shown in any brochure are not going to be absolutely exact as the paint itself as there are too many variables, but they are quite close. Unless they have an ‘eagle eye’ & have deeply studied color. The colors in this new brochure of One Step Paint will show a client a truer color of paint to be use on their piece of furniture, than the regular Amy Howard catalogue. This new brochure is a hellova lot better for color depiction rather than the color shown on the Amy Howard website. (Obviously, every monitor will depict a color differently. This new One Step Paint brochure takes the hoping & the guessing out of a color(s) chosen by a client for using on their pieces rather than seeing the color in Amy Howard catalogue. I am extremely pleased with this new brochure of AH’s colors. It is a welcome addition to the Amy Howard’s catalogues of information. It solves a great many problems or potential problems. Durnin
Barbara M.
I found this old table years ago and it has been sitting in storage for 10 years. I planned on using it to test paint colors and ended up painting the whole thing. It turned out great and SUPER easy. I’m a fan!
Kayla A.
Everything came packaged so nice and I loved the little gift.
Susan M.
Love seeing the real paint instead of a photo of the color. But, they are so small that it is still a bit difficult to judge what a larger amount will work. Still it is a vast improvement on the norm.
Cathy C.
I love that I have a visual of the ACTUAL color and not a printed version!
Kathy T.
The color chart will help me decide on colors.
Angie S.
Love seeing all the colors before my eyes as opposed to online as it is misleading sometimes. My only suggestion would be to have bigger blocks of color to look at as the finger dot can be a little small to get the full picture like you can get on a paint color card. Love the AHAH color line.
Debbie G.
i need help getting in my coures 3 old world finshing class modal . i ask for a reset a i don’t get any email . please help me. i do like color cards they are great
Beth B.
I do love having the true color samples. However, some of the paint samples are cracked and it makes the color difficult to see given how small the samples are. Honestly a little bigger ring would be well worth the effort as I could see the colors better and would most likely entice me to buy more and be more confident of my decision. Some of the colors were so small they didn’t even fill out the entire circle. But it is wonderful to have the true colors!
Kathleen M.
A nice way to get an accurate sense of color one is considering.
Ann J.
The Color Samples are beautiful. I’m very glad one of them is the actual paint. Cust Service has been great and love all the Tutorials!
Stephanie F.
Love the fresh paint sample. Gives you more of an idea of what it looks like.
Kristen L.
Love that this has the actual paint painted on it so that the colors are very true.
Sharlene W.
I think the color chart is a nice thing to have when choosing the color of paint for your project, however I got my color charts (2) with wet paint so they were stuck together. Was a little disappointed with that .
catherine b.
My order arrived so quickly and it is so worth it to see all the beautiful colors in person. And they are so BEAUTIFUL! Can’t wait to pick a new color for another project.
Megan J.
This was so very helpful when picking out my colors!!
Julia S.
I was going just wing it on color choice but then read some of the reviews on this color chart. Now that i bought it, i realize i could not have made an accurate decision without the chart. For $6 and shipping i think it’s worth it.
Fran M.
The colors are actual dabs of paint. Unfortunately, some of the dabs were still wet. They mixed with other colors and cracked. It was a steep price for what I received.
Kathy M.
Love the color chart, so easy to the true colors
DoeDee R.
Waiting to choose a color and practise
Michelle B.
This is such a fun, artsy way to see the depth and undertones of the colors we love! I actually have two so I can match up samples that are on different pages. I wish I could volunteer on ‘color chart making day’!
Anne E.
While the sample card is certainly better for making color selection when compared to viewing colors online, I was a little disappointed in the quality of some of the color samples. Instead of a complete dab of color on some samples, there was merely a swipe or smear which has the effect of diluting the color.
Ruth H.
First paint chart I have ever seen with actual dabs of paint! Colors are much truer that way.
Michelle B.
Got the card so my mom can pick some colors easier for her projects.
Juliet B.
I ordered the color palette because it was difficult to identify the colors accurately on screen. The palette I receive had actual paint samples instead of computer generated color samples. This made all the difference. I can see the actual color of paint I will be ordering. I looked at many sites selling milk paint and did not see this option. This was definitely the deciding point for me to choose your brand of paint. Thank You
Carie W.
I’m painting my kitchen cabinets. Your paint card is such an awesome and accurate thing, helping me figure out what color to go with floor, countertops and backsplash and I will even paint my table too!
Rachel M.
Soo happy I ordered the Color Guide before I purchased a my paint color! The color I thought would look best , didn’t match as well as I thought it would .. but I found two other Color options that match perfectly. It was worth the price! Great for my future painting projects too! Thank you!!
Deborah H.
Color swaths are so much better to compare colors. I would have preferred a larger sample but recognize the costs may not support that.
Gay G.
I stamped a set of napkins with the A Maker’s Studio wreath stamp and acrylic paint that I had on hand. I made my own mix of dark green and gold. The wreaths were beautiful: however,I added a wide band around the edge of the napkin. I didn’t like it,it was too wide,and there were a few bloopers. So,rather than throwing them away,I used One-step to paint over the band. Then I mounted the beautiful wreaths on cradled panels with a matte medium. I’ll frame them in a carved gold frame. I only used three and decided to launder one as an experiment. That fully painted napkin is softer now and ready to use,not as a napkin,but as another project for a stencil to mount. It turned out to be a great project,even if it seemed like it wasn’t going to work. Even if you use gesso,then one-step,it works.
Bonnie W.
I am going to repaint this chair with Lime Lime. We recovered the seat last night and now waiting for the paint!
