Wizardry and Gouache

My birthday was last month and I was surprised with art supplies. Art supplies are always on my wish list, as you may have suspected, but I received two things that I never put on my actual wish list even though I really wanted them. What were they? Gouache and colored pencils!

New to gouache, I borrowed one of my son's LEGO characters as a model and gave it a try. Despite being an "opaque watercolor," I quickly learned that it is nothing like regular watercolors. The paint is thick and fast-drying. Too much water also seemed to break the paint up after it dried, leaving plenty of cracks and flaking paint. I'm not sure if I put too much paint, but using colored pencils on top scraped some of the paint off.

I've got a lot to learn, but I love using the new materials and getting to know them!

Are you a gouache user? I would love to hear any tips or tricks you may have to share.