What paper should I use for watercolour?

What watercolour paper have you heard of?

When you walk into an art shop or type watercolour into the search bar of any online shop, you get presented with so many options.

You might see some of the following terms:

• hot pressed
• cold pressed
• NOT
• rough
• cotton
• cellulose
• mixed media
• gsm
• lbs

So let me break some of them down for you.

Are all papers the same?

The short answer is "no".

The cheapest paper to buy is "printer paper" or "copy paper". It comes in big packs and if you've got a printer in your home, you've probably got some in the cupboard somewhere.

It's great for sketching with pencil, or practising your drawing or tracing but when you add watercolour paint, it usually just goes grey and bubbly, just like it does when you spill your coffee on it!

So, if you are going to be painting with watercolour paints, you need to make sure you are using watercolour paper.

The first thing you will notice about watercolour paper is the texture and the thickness.

Typically, the thicker the better so you need to check the weight of the paper and make sure it is 300gsm or 140lbs.

Paper will buckle when you add water, even the top quality professional grade papers do. But a good quality paper will enable you to use different techniques such as wet-on-wet, blending and all the layers you need to make a detailed painting.

What are the different textures?

Watercolour paper typically comes in three textures:

• Smooth
• Bumpy
• Very bumpy

Or as the paper manufacturers call them: Hot Pressed, Cold Pressed (NOT) or Rough.

What texture is best for me?

The short answer is.... it depends!

Most artists will start with Cold Pressed paper. It has a bumpy texture that works well with watercolour. If you get a good quality paper, you can usually add lots of layers, blend on the page, lift off, and more.

However, if you are combining watercolour with journaling and want to add text to your page, hot pressed paper will work better for you.

This is because the smooth texture is easier to write on with pen.

There are drawbacks, as the "working time" of the paper may be less than a cold pressed paper.

Hot pressed paper is also perfect for portraits and botanical artwork, especially if you are going to be adding fine details with a tiny paint brush.

Rough paper is less common and is just a bumpier version. Some artists want a rougher texture for the base of their artwork and so will opt for this type of paper over the cold pressed.

If you are just starting out, it is always a good idea to experiment and play to discover what kind of paper works best for you.

What's it made from?

Watercolour paper is made by compressing fibres, either cotton, tree or plant (cellulose) or a mixture of both.

Cotton is seen as the highest quality as it is more pliable and able to take more water. It also takes longer to dry when painting and is higher cost.

Cellulose papers are considered "mid range" or "student grade" but are still used by many professional artists!

As a beginner, it is often beneficial to have lots of paper to practise your skills and techniques and the lower cost of cellulose papers makes watercolour accessible to beginners.

Cellulose papers are the most common to appear in search results online at Amazon and with online art shops like Jacksons and HobbyCraft.

Do remember that not all papers are created equally and the lower the cost per sheet, the lower quality paper you are likely to get.

With a lower quality paper, it may buckle more and be harder to blend your colours. It may also dry quickly reducing your working time and not be able to handle more than 1 or 2 layers of paint leaving you with a muddy mess on your page.

Some brands papers, like Winsor & Newton, use a combination of cotton and cellulose materials to manufacture their paper.

How can I choose?

There are several brands that sell reliable quality beginner friendly watercolour paper:

• Dailer Rowney - Aquafine and Langton
• Winsor & Newton
• Bockingford

They will commonly be gummed on one edge and be available in a range of standard sizes. You can work on the paper in its pad or remove it.

If the paper doesn't specify a texture, is under 300gsm or says mixed media, we typically advise beginners to avoid them.

We recommend experimenting with different paper brands to see what paper you enjoy the most. Then when you pick a brand and paper type, use it for your practising as well as your full paintings because the effects you can achieve vary depending on the quality of the products.

One last thing... if the paper works out at less then 50p per sheet, be aware that you may not be able to achieve the results you see in online tutorials because sometimes, it really is your materials, not your skill that are robbing your joy!