The 11 Best Bristol Papers For Watercolor (2023 reviews)

There are several advantages of having a bristol paper for watercolor. Let’s take you step by step, type by type, and find the best bristol paper for watercolor for you.

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Our Top Picks:

Best Overall: Buy: Arches Bristol Paper For Watercolor READ REVIEW

Best With Very Wet Watercolors: Buy: Ucreate Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

Best For portrait: Buy: Canson Wonderful Paper READ REVIEW

Best For charcoal: Buy: Lear Village Bristol Paper For Watercolor READ REVIEW

Best With alcohol ink: Buy: Ucreate Bristol Paper For Watercolor READ REVIEW

Best For studio Use: Buy: Strathmore Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

Best With gouache: Buy: Winsor Newton Bristol Paper For Watercolor READ REVIEW

Best For pen: Buy: Canson Bristol Paper For Watercolor READ REVIEW

Best For recording ideas: Buy: Lear Village Egyptian Cotton READ REVIEW

Best For ink drawings: Buy: Strathmore Bristol Paper For Watercolor READ REVIEW

Best For beginners: Buy: artbeek Bristol Paper For Watercolor READ REVIEW

Best Overall: Arches Bristol Paper For Watercolor

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We are personally inclined towards arches bristol paper for watercolor, it is not so pricy, but it overachieves its purpose and outstanding in important aspects. For regular watercolor, it is just a bit more abrasive of a surface than the more common cold press and is interesting to paint on. It contains ink dots that ruin your painting. It is made for the watercolor artist. The hot press is flatter and is best if you are using pen and ink with a watercolor wash. It provides extra protection from light and elements, meaning this paper is made to last for years to come.

This paper has good water absorption and is not easy to bend after painting. It is available in several formats and sizes including blocks, pads, sheets and rolls, and 3 luxurious textures. It is made of 100%cotton and never warps.

• Perfect watercolor paper, can sustain lots of water, doesn't buckle and easy to use
• Cotton rag and uniform surface texture
• You can lift when wet with a dry brush, tissue, or a sponge

Best With Very Wet Watercolors: Ucreate Watercolor Paper

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Next on the list, we've got yet another paper that manages to win our hearts. It's the ucreate watercolor paper and it's widely considered as paper that has the most suitable features. This paper is great for serious painting or for beginners. It is good for kids crafts and basic water coloring. It is good for watercolor card making. It’s the perfect texture for use with watercolor pencils. It is great for cutting various materials for any paper craft.

This paper does not allow the movement of the pigment in the pens and pencils, but you remain with hard lines. It is the perfect for cutting various materials for any paper craft.

• Sturdy and perfect for water painting
• Great for teaching lessons and for practice
• Lot of satisfied buyers

Best For portrait: Canson Wonderful Paper

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Compared with other paper in this category, the canson wonderful paper has a convenient design. This is a great quality paper for myself and the kids. It is constructed of a cold press textured paper for a variety of techniques. It can handle lots of water for making full page watercolor backgrounds. It's big and really takes the paint well. It is great for water coloring and using for other heavier card making needs.

This paper is good for small pieces like tags. It works good for half fold cards, so you have to cut it down slightly. It is really great for watercolor and tombow markers. It is good for kids, beginners or to practice.

• Great quality for not letting markers bleed, great for watercolor markers too
• Great paper holds onto water well
• Curls slightly when damp but good paper over all

Best For charcoal: Lear Village Bristol Paper For Watercolor

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We know from years of feedback from readers, customers and amazon sellers, what most people want in a convenient and appropriate paper. The lear village bristol paper for watercolor is exactly that - it's a simple paper that hits all the right notes. This 100% cotton watercolor paper has neutra ph to keep your artwork safe for centuries. It's a thicker paper but can be cut with scissors or a paper cutter or torn. Acid free sheets in these watercolor mix media sketchbook help keep your art work vibrant and long lasting. It is perfect for wet as well as dry medium. It has a great look about it and very sturdy. It is perfect gift for someone who loves to pain or draw. It is perfect for recording ideas, anecdotes, lessons learned, daily events of fond memories. They are definitely hand made.

• Suitable for all dry & wet mediums
• Made from 100% pure virgin cotton pulp
• Sketch paper for all your drawing and craft needs

Best With alcohol ink: Ucreate Bristol Paper For Watercolor

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This paper is pretty much like painting on poster board. It is great for most mediums but will warp easily with a lot of moisture. It is great for chalk pastels and drawing too. It is a nice thick paper and is smooth on one side and has a nice water absorbing textured side.

This paper does have additive sizing to be used with watercolors, paints, markers, etc. It is great value for the amount of paper as well as the quality. The paper is okay for a beginner and younger artist.

• Issues with tearing, weight was just perfect
• Very economical and great for experimenting
• Good investment for long term

Best For studio Use: Strathmore Watercolor Paper

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Not everyone likes to purchase paper for their regular usage, but the strathmore watercolor paper would be an anomoly. The size of the paper is wonderful for a large project, and reasonably priced. It is good for watercolor, but the texture presents a few obstacles for calligraphy. The paper is durable and has a nice torn edge look. It doesn’t hold up to watercolor and easily grumbles. There is also a very slight amount of bleed that takes place.

The size is perfect, nice and large. It is relatively lightweight, but if it warps while using watercolors just spray the back with a little water and place something flat on top while it dries. It can be done with enough folding and an edge.

• Heavyweight paper, good quality with good watercolors
• Lot of satisfied buyers

Best With gouache: Winsor Newton Bristol Paper For Watercolor

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The winsor newton bristol paper for watercolor should be able to handle its purpose and duties with ease. This paper often produces the brightest water colour paintings because its increased surface area holds more colour and therefore reflects more light. It's workable though and its a very impressive quality paper if you are creating watercolor and pen and ink designs. The 5x7 wire bound is the only one which is 100% cotton. It has a less textured finish and is the most widely used paper surface.

This 100% cotton paper is lovely. It can be used by graphic designers. There are 15 sheets and you can paint on both sides. It's strong enough to rough up and you can lift paint easily.

• Nice watercolor surface without being linty or too smooth and slippery
• Nice of quick sketches with brush, pen, or pencil
• A nice toothy texture while not being overly toothy
• A brighter white without being beige, cream, or yellowish

Best For pen: Canson Bristol Paper For Watercolor

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Not everyone likes to purchase paper for their daily purpose, but the canson bristol paper for watercolor would be an anomoly. This paper is perfect for beginning watercolor and rudimentary art classes. It provides excellent color stability, color representation, and surface strength. It's great for hand lettering and doing rather light washes. It is grate for modern calligraphy. It is great for studies, not a'masterpiece.

This way of selling and having the paper, in seperate sheets in a good box, is wonderful. It is great for modern calligraphy. It is not very textured but also not super smooth.

• Decent quality paper for student use
• High quality, durable, heavy duty paper
• Delivers what they promise

Best For recording ideas: Lear Village Egyptian Cotton

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This paper is its own kind of siren song, luring the artist in with its faint pearl sheen, variegated texture, and old-world charm. Even without the antique effect, this paper is thick, lovely, deckle-edged, and PERFECT for watercolor, whether it's the more budget-friendly varieties or higher-end products such as Daniel Smith and Schminke. It's good for loose work and allows for excellent blending and shading.

This cotton paper is rough and has a lot of texture, more than cold-pressed paper does. The fact that it's egyptian cotton with the rough feel makes it good for art and stays real. It is perfect for wet as well as dry medium. The paper comes in a durable box so you can store your wonderful artwork for decades.

• Made from virgin egyptian cotton the color is off-white and made by leather village
• Ph neutral so your work will last for centuries
• New and hot release

Best For ink drawings: Strathmore Bristol Paper For Watercolor

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The strathmore bristol paper for watercolor's superior materials makes sure that it ages well with use. The strathmore 500 series ready cut watercolor cold press papers are standard sized sheets for ready-made frames and mats perfect for your watercolor creations. It is 100% cotton, acid free, and archival. It allows your pigment to show up brightly. It tolerates scrubbing and erasing with no pilling. It fits standard, inexpensive off the shelf frames.

It is a reasonably priced option to introduce the joys of using cotton paper. The cold press is still pretty smooth. Holds ink very well and the texture makes it feel as though it's a high-end, professionally printed card. These are great for little projects, especially if you're looking for professional product.

• Great for art journals, plain air, etc
• Nice thick card quality with textured side
• Good paper in a convenient pre-cut format
• Decent quality paper, ready cut for watercolor sketches

Best For beginners: artbeek Bristol Paper For Watercolor

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This paper is a fantastic value especially for 100% cotton, cold press paper. It is good quality of paper and also very good construction of the spiral. It absorbs the watercolor pretty quickly so there is not much time for blending but there IS a bit of time. It is thicker & heavier (140 lb/300gsm), so it can stand up to multiple washes without warping or bleeding through.

This paper is decent for watercolor practice as it does work somewhat similar to other cotton papers but it is not 9x12 so when it comes to matting or framing it is not a standard size. It is optimized for both wet and dry media, so you can create with any medium of your choice. It quickly absorbs water, keeping your paints looking as vibrant as ever with no bleed through. It is pretty textured which is a nice look, but sketching or tracing on it isn't smooth.

• Excellent watercolor paper, great for beginners or pros
• Definitely recommend for beginners that want to practice wet on wet
• Excellent for the beginner watercolor artist