Gouache, a classic painting and drawing technique used by Turner, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Gris, Braque, Matisse and Miró, among many others, acquires in this volume a new dimension by offering a bolder approach for contemporary artists, illustrators, graphic designers and amateurs. Award-winning illustrator and art teacher Aljoscha Blau shares his many years of experience, offers material recommendations, tips for swift success, suggestions on composition, use of colour, tools and processes. And he spices it all up with his own illustrations, which are both an incentive and a feast for the eyes. By means of entertaining texts and step-by-step illustrations, Blau lays out a safe and fascinating road to success for anyone willing to improve their technique or for those who want to try it for the first time.

Aljoscha Blau is one of the most renowned illustrators in German-speaking countries. He was born in 1972 in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), USSR. Since earning his degree in illustration and graphic arts from HAW (Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany), Blau has worked as an illustrator and author for German and international publishers. He has been honoured with numerous international awards, such as the German Design Award, the Bologna Ragazzi Award, Prix Figure Future, Troisdorfer Bilderbuchpreis (Troisdof City Illustrated Book Award), and the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Award), and nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Blau teaches and conducts illustration and drawing workshops at various art academies in Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy and France. He currently lives in Berlin.