The 4 Best budget Watercolor Papers (2023 reviews)

Are you planning to buy budget watercolor papers, and are you confused about the options ? You have landed on the right page.

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Our Top Picks:

Arches budget Watercolor Paper Buy: READ REVIEW

Canson budget Watercolor Paper Buy: READ REVIEW

Strathmore budget Watercolor Paper Buy: READ REVIEW

Strathmore Watercolor Paper Buy: READ REVIEW

Arches budget Watercolor Paper

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The arches budget watercolor paper is suitable and reliable and fits well with your daily purpose. This paper is beautiful, its incredibly smooth making it great for mixed media like pen and ink and is wonderful to work with when using waterrcolors. It is made from 100% natural cotton fiber with no optical brightening agents, the arches paper has an archival, natural white color and an exquisite texture unlike other papers on the market. It is thick and rigid, 140 lb (300 gsm), and is acid-free. The texture is rough, and it is excellent for amature to professional artists alike.

It is good for multiple layers of washes. It is perfect for watercolor artists who enjoy granulated colors. The paper has a great amount of absorbancy with no bleed through.

• Rough texture makes for interesting paintings
• Holds water well, warps less than all others, reliable always
• Beautiful, high quality hot press watercolor paper
• Very thick and absorbent paper for a beginner artist, good quality

Canson budget Watercolor Paper

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Canson makes great watercolor paper, at least for a beginner. This paper is very sturdy. It can handle lots of water for making full page watercolor backgrounds. It's very heavy-duty but it does bow a little if you use wet on wet.

This paper is good for small pieces like tags. This is a great quality paper for myself and the kids. The paper does not permit alot of scrubbing, no need to scrub very much, the paint will lift so well.

• Great quality for not letting markers bleed, great for watercolor markers too
• Great paper holds onto water well
• Doesn't warp with a lot of water
• You can cut it without a problem and water absorption amount is perfect

Strathmore budget Watercolor Paper

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Not everyone likes to purchase paper for their regular usage, but the strathmore budget watercolor paper would be an anomoly. The strathmore 500 series ready cut watercolor hot press papers are standard sized sheets for ready-made frames and mats perfect for your watercolor creations. It has the texture of soft leather. The cover is fairly soft and flexible but that makes it perfect to just open up flat so you can use every inch of the paper to paint on, just use some clips to hold it in place and flat. The high quality of the material inspires more intense and beautiful paintings, and the paintings start to take on a more integrated look.

They also work nicely for alcohol and water based marker art. It is small, thin and elegant. These would be great for sketches while traveling, though a journal/notebook/pad format would probably be easier to wrangle than the pre-cut sheets.

• Color blends beautifully, looks sharp (not dull at all) on the paper
• Works great with marker, gouache, and color pencils
• A heavy-weight paper with a hot press finish for mastering watercolor techniques
• Great for high quality gouache and watercolors

Strathmore Watercolor Paper

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Not everyone likes to purchase paper for their daily purpose, but the strathmore watercolor paper would be an anomoly. This paper is great for watercolors. It is easy to remove, and you can just trim the frills off, rather than risk tearing your paper. It is great for any kid to have their own pad for the watercolors. It's nice and thick with light texture on one side. The spiral helps work while not having to tear out a page. It allows for plein air settings, working on new techniques.

The quality of the paper is great to watercolor look sharp and dries fast and great. It is suitable for experimenting and practicing techniques when heavier washes and reworking are required.

• Great paper you will love the way it takes watercolors and also acrylic paints
• Works wonders with tombow dual brush pens
• Good quality for beginners on water color painting
• Great paper, very thick and sturdy