水粉画是以水调和不透明的粉质颜料绘成的画。也就是用不透明水彩所画的画。颜色过多混合会使颜色变得肮脏，因此水粉画和水彩画一样，不适合制作大幅作品，但水粉画比水彩画颜色显得厚重，可以表现一些更有内容的题材，比起油画色彩更鲜亮，虽然没有油画真实，但更浪漫，所以多用水粉画的形式制作宣传画和电影海报、招贴、商品包装、广告、书籍封面设计等。

Gouache (/ɡuːˈɑːʃ, ɡwɑːʃ/; French: [ɡwaʃ]), body color, opaque watercolor, or guache, is one type of watermedia, paint consisting of pigment, water, a binding agent (usually dextrin or gum arabic), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be used with opaque methods of painting. The term, derived from the Italian guazzo, also refers to paintings using this opaque method.