I definitely treat gouache more like watercolor as well. I tend to dilute them because I like the painterly watercolor feel with the richness of gouache.

There’s no real rules to art, unless you’re in school I guess, haha… the biggest difference between acrylic-gouache and regular acrylic paints, to me, is its smoothness and flexibility with being mixed, diluted, and its user-friendliness when it comes to experimentation.

It’s a good stepping stone until you feel confident with how gouache feels and will help you learn when to stick with deeper opacity vs diluting, but your mileage may vary 🎨