Painting Mesh Fursuit Eyes with Acrylic vs. Gouache
Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2026 3:23 pm
I've posted versions of this a few times over social media, but have been wanting to archive it somewhere less fast-paced and transient. A few years back, I did an experiment on making fursuit eyes different kinds of mesh and paint to see how the material qualities would vary!
Most tutorials I've seen suggest acrylic paint for fursuit eyes. I had never seen anyone suggest acryla-gouache paint, but with its vivid colors and thinner consistency, I thought I'd experiment with it.
I also tried two different base materials: buckram ordered from FursuitSupplies, and 18 ct Aida cloth from a craft store.
One disclaimer is: the base colors available to me weren't exactly the same. The gouache set had a lemon yellow, while my acrylic set had more of a golden yellow. So merely in terms of hues on the final result, I attribute the difference to that, rather than the type of paint itself.
On to the comparison!
Paint types:
The two paints act a little differently in how you apply them, regardless of the substrate. Acrylic is pretty much immovable after it dries. Acryla-gouache doesn't reactivate like gouache does (please do not use full-on gouache for your fursuit eyes), but I still had to wait in between the base coat, and the second coat where I added more contrast. So time is a bit of a factor on the painting part.
However, the acryla-gouache ended up saving me time in terms of refining my work afterward. Its thinner consistency I can spend less time poking the holes back into the mesh after the paint dries... which is probably my least favorite part of making eyes. And I want to move on to the fun stuff!
Mesh types:
On the Aida cloth, it was easier to get bright colors and crisp lines. On the buckram, it all blended together a bit for both types of paint.
One disadvantage of the Aida cloth was that it buckled and warped a lot more as I painted it than the buckram did. Re-flattening it during and after the painting process took some extra effort, but not enough that I would consider it a deal-breaker.
Vision-wise, the Aida cloth won out. I could see details and even read somewhat through it. Meanwhile, through the buckram, everything was super blurry.
Overall, the Aida cloth and acryla-gouache combo won me over. Acrylic paint is probably more popular, easily accessible and affordable with the majority of fursuit makers. But being a painting nerd, I had to try out a more niche brand of paint, and I'm glad I did. Similarly, buckram is easier to buy in bulk and seems to come to mind more readily, but after seeing how much more effort the buckram took for less desirable results, I don't think I would go back to using it.
Would be curious to know if any other makers have tried comparisons like this, or have thought to use acryla-gouache for their eyes!
Most tutorials I've seen suggest acrylic paint for fursuit eyes. I had never seen anyone suggest acryla-gouache paint, but with its vivid colors and thinner consistency, I thought I'd experiment with it.
I also tried two different base materials: buckram ordered from FursuitSupplies, and 18 ct Aida cloth from a craft store.
One disclaimer is: the base colors available to me weren't exactly the same. The gouache set had a lemon yellow, while my acrylic set had more of a golden yellow. So merely in terms of hues on the final result, I attribute the difference to that, rather than the type of paint itself.
On to the comparison!
Paint types:
The two paints act a little differently in how you apply them, regardless of the substrate. Acrylic is pretty much immovable after it dries. Acryla-gouache doesn't reactivate like gouache does (please do not use full-on gouache for your fursuit eyes), but I still had to wait in between the base coat, and the second coat where I added more contrast. So time is a bit of a factor on the painting part.
However, the acryla-gouache ended up saving me time in terms of refining my work afterward. Its thinner consistency I can spend less time poking the holes back into the mesh after the paint dries... which is probably my least favorite part of making eyes. And I want to move on to the fun stuff!
Mesh types:
On the Aida cloth, it was easier to get bright colors and crisp lines. On the buckram, it all blended together a bit for both types of paint.
One disadvantage of the Aida cloth was that it buckled and warped a lot more as I painted it than the buckram did. Re-flattening it during and after the painting process took some extra effort, but not enough that I would consider it a deal-breaker.
Vision-wise, the Aida cloth won out. I could see details and even read somewhat through it. Meanwhile, through the buckram, everything was super blurry.
Overall, the Aida cloth and acryla-gouache combo won me over. Acrylic paint is probably more popular, easily accessible and affordable with the majority of fursuit makers. But being a painting nerd, I had to try out a more niche brand of paint, and I'm glad I did. Similarly, buckram is easier to buy in bulk and seems to come to mind more readily, but after seeing how much more effort the buckram took for less desirable results, I don't think I would go back to using it.
Would be curious to know if any other makers have tried comparisons like this, or have thought to use acryla-gouache for their eyes!
