I got some new Pelikan gouache paints for Christmas. The paint is in cake form, so it’s handy for travel.

Pros:

• Affordable, around $20 for 24 colors on Amazon.
• Wide range of colors.
• Portable, grab some water brushes and go. 

Cons:

• Streaky, unless you paint many layers, you aren’t going to get that smooth, even gouache look.
• Gritty, especially in colors that are mixed, not pure pigments.

Here are some blue color swatches of the different gouache brands. The Pelikan paint is in the far left. I feel like it performed worse than the cheaper brands of Reeve’s and Artist Loft.

I did a trial painting of a cat using the Pelikan’s, I had to do multiple layers of the blue and the grays.

These paints were meant to be student grade, so I can’t complain too much. I can’t really recommend these for artists, unless you already have a few higher quality paints, and you just want to supplement with some new colors. For small areas these would be fine, but when you start to cover large areas, you can see how streaky they become.