Mijello Mission Titanium Class
My review of gouache paint from Korean company Mijello Mission
I have Mijello’s watercolors and like them pretty well and saw they had a gouache line now so I decided to give it a try and purchased this set.
Their lightfastness ratings seem higher than normal for some of the colors, which is great… but leaves me a bit skeptical. I decided to make my own lightfastness test to put my mind at ease (no results yet, I just started the test a week ago, I’ll give it a check in a few months and report on my findings). In my tests making swatches, I really enjoyed the flow of these paints. They spread very easily and evenly. They are very vibrant when dry, even in a wash. I tested them out a bit when it came to cracking when dry and re-wettability and they preformed excellently. So far out of all the gouaches I’ve tried (Holbein, M. Graham, Winsor & Newton, Lefranc & Bourgeois) this one seems the best when it comes to (not) cracking and easily re-wetting.
Overall I’m really liking this gouache, but there are a couple of downsides. The binder seems to separate a bit when it comes to some of the colors (not hugely unusual, but this brand seems to do that more than the other professional brands. Once the tubes are slightly less full, one can massage the tube to help recombine it before squeezing some out), also it seems to be a bit thinner constancy as well as shiner than other brands especially with thick application. This could certainly be a big downside for some people since gouache is usually very matte. I mainly purchased this gouache to add to casein since the casein paint that I use (Jack Richeson Shiva) doesn’t have a very big variety of colors but mixes well with gouache. With casein added, that helped reduce the shine of this gouache greatly, so for me it still works. Another downside is that you can only buy these paints in a set (at the moment) and not individually.
Binder/paint separation example.
Shininess in thick application example (top and bottom are thick applications, middle lines are more of a wash)
I think this brand would be particularly good if you want to make a gouache travel palette due to it’s super easy re-wettability and non-crumbling nature. It’s very vibrant, opaque and as far as I can tell it’s packed with pigment. M. Graham is probably still my favorite brand, but Mijello Mission Gouache seems like a really good value for the amount of paint you get assuming the price does not significantly increase (comes out to about $4 for a 15ml tube at the time I purchased the set was $145).
If you’re wondering anything else about it, please feel free to comment on this post and I will do my best to answer.
LIGHTFASTNESS UPDATE!
I’ve put the samples in a full sun area for one month. So far, these pigments did really well, I’m very pleased! The only one where I could definitely see some fading issues was the one with only a 2 star lightfastness rating (out of 5) G210 Bright Rose which was to be expected as it’s that classic bright “Opera Pink” color that is always vulnerable to fading, the pigments used in this Bright Rose/Opera Pink color are BV7, BV10 and PR122. I put the samples back in the sun and I’ll check back a few months.
