The gouache pigment was originally invented by adding white powder to the watercolor pigment to make the color opaque. Because watercolor paint is transparent, it is difficult to modify it once the painting is wrong. The gouache pigment can be easily modified because of its opacity. Later, raw materials such as gum arabic were added to gouache pigment to further improve its performance. Arabic gum can make the surface of gouache paint have a layer of gloss after drying, but in special occasions where flat coating is required (such as painting effect pictures and coloring for animation), the gum will form irregular spots on the color surface, or make the color uneven, so there is a special degumming pigment.

Pigments differ from dyes in that general dyes can be dissolved in water (old distinction), while pigments are generally insoluble in water. Dyes are mainly used for dyeing textiles and other materials. However, this distinction is not very clear, because some dyes may also be insoluble in water, and pigments are also used for pigment printing and raw material coloring of textiles. The chemical structure of organic pigments is similar to that of organic dyes, so they are usually regarded as a branch of dyes.