watercolour paper

My watercolour paper preferences
My watercolour paper preferences

Good paper is the single biggest upgrade you can make

You can get away with a cheap brush. You can even get away with student-grade paint for a while. But the paper you paint on makes a difference from your very first stroke. The more you invest in paper, the less you'll fight the medium — and the more you'll enjoy it.

Cotton vs wood pulp

The best watercolour papers are 100% cotton. Cotton fibres give the paper wet strength, so it can handle repeated washes, lifting, and scrubbing without pilling or falling apart. It also holds pigment beautifully and keeps colours vibrant over time. Wood pulp papers are cheaper and can work fine for practice, but they behave differently — paint sits more on the surface rather than absorbing in, and the paper will deteriorate faster over the years.

Sizing — and why it matters for vegans

Sizing is a protective treatment applied to watercolour paper that controls how paint absorbs into the surface. Without it, paint would sink straight in and couldn't be moved or lifted.

Traditionally, sizing has been made from gelatine (derived from animal bones), which is why many well-known papers — including Arches — aren't vegan. Some manufacturers use synthetic or plant-based sizing instead, which performs slightly differently: paint tends to absorb a little faster, so you work at a slightly quicker pace, but the surface still handles wet-on-wet and glazing beautifully. All the papers I use are vegan.

Weight

Look for 300gsm (140lb) or heavier. Anything lighter will buckle badly when wet, even if you're taping it down. At 300gsm and above, you have much more control and the paper dries slower, so you can work a little slower. The Etchr blocks I use are 350gsm and are great for working when conditions are warm.

Having said that, thinner paper is good for working outside in winter time, because it will dry faster. So paper weight could also be considered a seasonal choice.

Texture

  • Cold pressed — a lightly textured surface, sometimes called "Not" (as in, not rough). This is what I use almost exclusively. Forgiving, versatile, great for wet-on-wet, and the slight tooth helps with granulation.
  • Rough — more pronounced texture with deeper dimples where paint pools. Lovely for expressive landscapes and the most forgiving paper to paint on (ie it's easier to paint on this paper than cold pressed paper, but whether you like the rough look or not is a personal preference).
  • Hot pressed — very smooth, almost no texture. Crisp edges, great for fine detail and ink work, but harder to control washes on.

Sheets vs blocks vs pads

Loose sheets are the best value for money and the best grade paper that manufacuters make (a double win!). I buy full sheets and tear them to whatever size I need — you get a beautiful deckled edge when you tear, which I love.

Blocks are sheets glued on all four sides so the paper can't buckle while you work. No taping, no board needed — brilliant for painting outdoors. When you're done, you slide a palette knife under the top sheet to release it. They are more expensive than loose sheets and watercolour pads.

Pads are glued along one edge only. The paper can still buckle, so you'd need to tape it down.

If you're painting on loose sheets, tape them down to a board before you start, or use a clip-frame system. A sheet that buckles while wet will pool paint in the hollows and dry unevenly.

Paper colour

Some papers come in traditional white and bright white. I mostly use traditional white — it has a warmer tone that suits my colour palette. Bright white gives slightly more contrast and makes colours pop, which can work well for botanical or illustration work. Generally I find the bright white papers a little stark and glary - but maybe that's just me ;-)

What I use

  • Fabriano Artistico 300gsm cold pressed, loose sheets, traditional white — my main studio paper. Vegan, 100% cotton, excellent value for a professional-grade paper. Very well known for it's lifting-out ability, so it's lovely for creating highlights or correcting little errors. I've been painting on this paper for nearly 20 years. I buy full sheets and tear them to size.
  • Fabriano Artistico watercolour block, 300gsm, cold presssed — for painting outdoors or if I want to paint edge to edge without taping.
  • Etchr 350gsm cold pressed watercolour block — vegan, 100% cotton, slightly heavier than the Fabriano. The extra weight means it dries very slowly and so painting is a little more tranquil (if you know what I mean!). Great for plein air.
  • Fabriano Artistico, 300gsm, hot pressed, traditional white or bright white - I use this occassionally for detailed botanical paintings, paintings that have a lot of drawing / pen work or when I'm doing mixed media pieces with collage. Pen and pencil just glide on this paper.

Happy painting!

For sketchbooks, see my sketchbooks page