I am curious about this Golden SoFlat. They have Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Primrose, Napthol Red Light, Permanent Green, Black Noir and Titanium White. They also have a very cool packaging. This is the abstract painting of Piet Modrian. It also say Pop! It means Pop Art movement back in the 70s. I also bought Red Oxide, Payne’s Gray and Burnt Sienna. These two are my favorite earth color scheme. The package also comes with a brochure where you can see all the available colors. The claim of Golden SoFlat is that they are not gouache but matte acrylics. Some tests explain that gouache when wet can be reactivated. But for the case of matte acrylic, they behave like the regular acrylic paints when dried can no longer be activated. I have no point of comparison because I haven’t used gouache yet.    

I bought Golden SoFlat Matte Acrylics because it is haunting me most of the time. There is always this what if and what’s in it questions at the back of my head. I am so attracted to matte style and one of the popular paints for this is gouache. But I don’t want to shift to other painting medium because I cannot master one. I also don’t like buying so many art materials because I wouldn’t be able to utilize them. In my experience with acrylics, it needs primer when applying to papers as well as in canvas. I also use Golden Clear Leveling Gel to make the paper or canvas smooth to paint. And Golden Matte Medium and Gamblin Matte Varnish to achieve matte effect. Despute the long process, I am still loyal to acrylic paints. When i found out about this Golden SoFlat Matte Acrylics, I decided to buy and feed my curiosity. 

For this video, I chose a Raven to test  Golden SoFlat Matte Acrylics as well as Canson Aquarelle paper. The texture of Canson Aquarelle paper is amazing. I think you call it “toothy” or the ability of the paper to grab paint. If the texture of the paper is so smooth, it may not absorb paint and may flow on the edge. Canvas on the other hand is made of fabric like  cotton or line and can absorb paint. 

For the paints, I used Payne’s Gray, Burnt Sienna and Titanium White. I know you expected me to swatch them but not yet because I want to test the texture Golden SoFlat Matte Acrylics. Also I’ll me applying some 90s grunge style using palette knife. Much like my attempt to draw a semi-mummified raven, I draw it feathers and skeleton. I chose the Raven in relation with my previous painting of pharaoh’s dream. It is when one of pharaoh’s servant conspired against him. As prophesied by Joseph, the servant will be hanged as punishment and the crows actually not ravens,  will eat his flesh. Also the raven reminds me of Edgar Allann Poe’s poem and movie the Crow based on the Native American folklore that crows are the soul’s guide to the land of the dead. 

As a result, although I am in the process of discovering it, the matte effect on Canson Aquarelle paper is pretty amazing. I will still figure out what brush to use and how it works on water. I tried dry brushing here. Most of the video I see is they do washed effects but I like dry brushing because of its wild and bold effect. I highly recommend Golden SoFlat Matte Acrylics for Illustration and for sure I will  have fun working on this.

I hope you like my video of grungy Raven using Golden SoFlat Matte Acrylics. BTW I’m a graphic designer. I also create websites, motion graphics and video editing. To know more of my services, please also visit my website Sandjackal.com to see also the gallery of my artworks. Thank you for watching.