Ultimate Guide to Best Watercolour Paper

November 25, 2022

When people ask me what is the most important thing when it comes to painting, I’ll say its paper! Always paper.

The type of paper you use can make or break your painting experience, and good paper is always worth the investment. Your watercolor experience will be greatly enhanced by using good quality watercolour paper. Watecolour paper should be thick enough to withstand wet washes while allowing the color to look vibrant. Watercolor paper is typically heavyweight (about 300gsm/140lb), but student grade paper is usually lighter, which may cause some buckling when you lay a wet wash over it and lead to uneven colour pooling.

Meanwhile, read on to find out more about watercolour paper and how to choose the right type for you.

Texture

Hot-Pressed:

Smooth watercolour paper with almost no tooth. It is great for fine detail work and creating very smooth washes. This paper is popular with illustrators and designers as it gives a flat finish that is good for scanning and reproduction.

Cold-Pressed:

Medium textured surface that is in-between rough and hot-pressed paper, a versatile texture for various mediums. This is my preferred choice of paper, I find that the mild toothing texture allows for interesting texture to show up under the paint.

Rough:

The most textured watercolour paper, with a lot of tooth and is good for showing off paint granulation as the pigments will settle in the tooth of the paper and give it an extra layer of interest. As the paper texture gets increasingly rougher as you move on from smooth to rough, you get more tooth which means more texture to your paintings.

Type

Cotton Watercolour Paper/ Cotton Rags:

Also known as 100% cotton paper, this is the highest quality watercolour paper sheets made with cotton. It is acid-free and has archival properties. It also reacts to watercolour in a way that keeps the colour more vibrant than a wood/cellulose-based paper.

Wood/Cellulose Based Paper:

This type of paper is made from chemically treated wood fibres and is the more affordable paper option. However based on my experience, the colour vibrancy and overall painting experience with this type of paper does not match up to 100% cotton paper. It is however a good entry level paper choice for people just dipping their toes into painting.

Cotton & Cellulose Blend:

These are made from a combination of both cotton and wood pulp, which provides a compromise between quality and affordability. However I personally do not find that this option adds value for me, and given the choice will just pick an all cotton or all cellulose paper type.

Quality

Artist Grade VS Student Grade:

Artist grade papers are generally more expensive than student grade papers, but in my opinion SO WORTH IT. I started my practice with student grade papers because it was more pocket-friendly but once I moved on to artist grade papers, there was no turning back. Usually artist grade papers are made with 100% cotton, which is a more expensive option than cellulose based paper. But because watercolours appear more vibrantly on cotton papers, it really transforms the entire painting experience.

Paper Weight:

I recommend the base minimum paper weight of 300gsm for any watercolour piece, because the lighter the paper, the more it warps and buckles. 300gsm is a decently heavy piece of paper for watercolour painting, of course there are both heavier and lighter options but 300gsm is the most ideal weight to use. I mostly use 300gsm papers for all my work now because it gives me the best results.

Tint

Some papers are more tinted than others, but mainly white watercolour papers come in 3 tints - bright white, white, off-white. There are black watercolour papers too, which would be great for showing off shiny metallic colours. I prefer bright white and that is what I normally use.

Format

Blocks:

Watercolour paper comes in many formats, one of which is a block where all the sides of the paper are glued down so the paper does not buckle when you paint. When you’re done with the painting, just slide a ruler or a pen knife under the sheet and separate it from the rest of the block.

Pad:

Similar to the block, but only one side of the paper is glued down. So you can just flip the first sheet over and access the next sheet .

Large Sheets:

This is my preferred purchase. They are watercolour paper but in very large sheets that you measure and cut for yourself. It is cheaper than a block or a pad and depending on what sizes you need, can yield quite a stack after it’s cut.