How To choose Papers for watercolor painting

I started taking art seriously last year. I started with watercolor and I must say, choosing a watercolor paper was quite easy for me only because I had my art teacher (Debashish Deb Roy) guiding me. As a beginner, choosing the best paper for yourself is no less than a Herculean task, given so many options to choose from. Here in this article, I am explaining How to choose papers for watercolor. No Matter what’s your style, you will get the answer for sure. Just keep reading till the end.

Types of watercolor paper

Before jumping into, How to choose papers for watercolor, let’s first understand our choices.

So typically we have three types of papers

Hot Pressed Papers: This paper has a very smooth surface. If you are the kind of artist who has good control of the brush and wants to work in detail, then this should be your choice. The Problem with this paper is that it’s very slippery, But at the same time, it’s quite good for detailing as your brush won’t find hurdles in painting.

Rough Textured Paper: As the name suggests this is just the opposite of hot-pressed paper. This paper has texture on its surface. If you love to work with multiple washes, then you should go with this. The problem with this paper is that it’s very tough to do detailing with this paper.

Cold Pressed Paper: Cold-pressed paper are in mid of hot-pressed and cold-pressed paper. It’s neither as smooth as hot-pressed nor very textured like rough. Sometimes it is also referred to as NOT (not hot pressed) paper. If you are a beginner like me then, I suggest cold pressed paper. On this paper, with little practice, you can work on both details as well as washes.

So, So far the matrix that we have achieved says as below

Now since the above matrix offers you options based on your work style, it doesn’t say anything about the quality of the paper.

All of the above-mentioned papers are good and suit a different style of art. So how would you say which paper is better?

What is GSM in the watercolor paper?

The next thing that we need to discuss in How to choose Paper for watercolor is the quality index GSM.

GSM stands for Grams per square meter. This is a quality index of paper which says what’s the weight of the paper in 1 sq Meter. The heavier the paper the better its quality. Watercolor papers are available in 200+ GSM and can go up to 600+ GSM.

Ideally, I recommend going for 300 GSM paper if you are a beginner, As it’s cheap compared to 600+ GSM papers.

For practice, you can even go for 200+ GSM papers. I started with 200+ GSM papers. Paper’s up to 300 GSM may require stretching if you want to apply lots of water. The Below video shows how to stretch paper.

There are many Vendors in the market like Brusto, Canson, Chitrapat, etc, They all have released their own variant of papers. So from the above matrix, we can derive the below matrix.

You may take a look at some of the work done on Brusto paper by creative squad member of Creativehand.com, Anupam Pathak

Matrix for choosing watercolor paper

Now Since we have covered the Type of paper and quality of paper, let’s know a bit about the packaging they come in. This is important because few packaging are made for specific purposes.

• Loose Sheets: You can purchase watercolor papers in loose sheets. They are well cut out of various sizes. You can choose according to your need.

• Art Books: These are drawing books with spiral bind. These are very handy if you want to carry them with you.

• Glued Pad: If you like to paint while you are traveling, you should consider a glued pad. In Glued pad papers are glued over each other and can easily be taken out. Since it’s glued, you won’t have to worry while applying washes. it won’t buckle. It’s amazingly handy.

Another factor while choosing watercolor paper is the amount of cotton. Cotton absorbers the water and do not let your paper buckle. So the higher the cotton amount, the better is the paper.

Conclusion:

I strongly suggest using 100% cotton paper with 300 GSM for beginner and intermediate artists. For practice purposes, you may use 240 GSM paper.

Although I personally prefer using Handmade paper, Vendors like Brusto, Canson, and chitrapat also offer good quality paper.

You can get a Good deal on watercolor paper and other art supplies as well.