The 9 Best Cold Press Watercolor Papers (2023 reviews)

The arches cold press watercolor paper's material feels more premium than its price would suggest. This is gorgeous, thick smooth paper, perfect for drawing with pen and ink and then adding color. It comes with long fibers, this thick, stable sheet is beautiful, durable, and resillient. It is cotton fiber so it makes painting on it much more successful.

All arches paper is acid-free and made from 100% cotton, ensuring it valiantly stands the test of time and allows you to make the most out of every sheet. It is available in several formats and sizes including blocks, pads, sheets and rolls, and 3 luxurious textures. The Tape comes off easily without ripping and masking fluid also comes off easily without pulling at the paper. The watercolor moves better on the paper and the colors are brighter. It is also allows for blending edges, layers excellently and does not damage easily when lifting color for highlights.

Why We Like This:

Very thick and absorbent paper for a beginner artist, good quality
Takes water well with minimal pilling and holds its shape fairly well
Beautiful, high quality hot press watercolor paper

Best For Water Color Paint: Arteza Cold Press Watercolor Paper

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Even though you are a beginner, it does not hurt to have a paper like this to feel what you paint. This watercolor paper is tbick, and surprisingly, doesn't dry rapidly, which allows you to blend and shade easily. It absorbs water slowly.

This paper is excellent quality paper. It can give your some vibrant colors but doesn’t lift well at all. The entire package is curved and the paper will notay flat. Any artist can use this but it’s a great watercolor paper for serious artists as it is 100% cotton This is a very good paper. These are designed for maximum comfortability and reliability for sketching, watercolor painting, and mixed media.

Why We Like This:

Pretty thick and really made for water colors
Paper weight is enough for watercolor
Wonderful watercolor paper for blending, layering and shading

Best For keeping An Art Journal OF zentangle drawings: Strathmore Cold Press Watercolor Paper

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The strathmore cold press watercolor paper is capable of outshining several other paper featured in this list in overall features for the price point. These are heavy duty books that hold up exceptionally well to most media and even the elements. The heavy duty design of this journal makes watercolors, acrylics, and your heaviest designs stay in tact and handy. The pages are thick enough to withstand abuses in watercolor painting as well as some Sharpie drawings.

These are truly great books to use for a visual journal. It's small, so it's easy to bring along with you anywhere, and the paper is a good quality. The paper is thick and perfect for watercolors. It's perfect for any wet media as well as pencils and pastels.

Why We Like This:

Takes watercolor, pencil and pen well, as well as collage
Good for travel or trips outdoors
Perfect for mixed media art journals
Designed to be carried around in the bottom of your art supply travel case

Best For beginning And intermediate Watercolor Artists: Misulove Cold Press 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 misulove cold press watercolor paper and it's widely considered as paper that has the most suitable features. These are really wonderful and high quality watercolor pads. You can use this paper for your watercolors, oil, and acrylic paints. It is strong enough for all types of artistic projects, such as drawing, pastels, inks, painting or sketch book with markers, pencils or brushes. The cover of the pad folds all the way back leaving the rest of the glue-bound sheets easy to mask and use.

This heavyweight, absorbent paper is suitable for watercolor techniques as well as most dry media, making this pad as versatile as your creativity. It is great for all levels of creativity. The sheet pad is medium weight with a linen-like textured surface on the front and a smoother surface on the back.

Why We Like This:

Compactly sized, great for mixed media pieces
Good brand reputation

Best For Water coloring: Strathmore Watercolor Paper

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If you are searching for a satisfactory paper for your daily usage, you cannot go wrong with the strathmore watercolor paper. Strathmore Watercolor pads are top-of-the line for any art project. It is necessary to have at least a 140 pound density paper to use. This spiral bound pad is easy to flip over or tear out a new page to use. It allows for plein air settings, working on new techniques. This paper is great for watercolors. It takes water and the colors well, and also allows colors to be pulled up easily. This is a great way to try all of the different patterns. This paper is fine for the beginner who has no experience.

Why We Like This:

Works well for projects but also use as backing for other dry mediums also
Excellent paper that responds to water well
Works wonders with tombow dual brush pens
Holds watercolors well without running or curling

Best For illustration: Stonehenge Aqua Cold Press Watercolor Paper

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The stonehenge aqua cold press watercolor paper is capable of outshining several other paper featured in this list in overall features in its price range. It is a more affordable block of amazing 100% cotton watercolor paper. It's like it has an inner layer of cellulose fiber. The texture is somewhere between cold press and hot press with the best attributes of both. It buckles and the surface pills. It’s strong, absorbent, but really soft. The cover opens up from the side to reveal the pages.

It's made of 100 percent white cotton paper. The quality is fantastic and it can hold quite a bit of water before it warps. It tends to get a bit pulpy when it's too wet, and very easy to overwork at that point, but if you allow it to dry fully, that solves itself.

Why We Like This:

Affordable cotton rag that's great for students and illustrators
Dries completely flat after using very wet washes
Affordable but great quality, just the right amount of texture
Fantastic watercolor paper for a fraction of the cost of arches

Best With gouache: Canson Cold Press Watercolor Paper

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The canson cold press watercolor paper is suitable and reliable and fits well with your regular usage. This water color paper is simply the greatest. It comes with long fibers, this thick, stable sheet is beautiful, durable, and resilient. It is painstakingly crafted from 100percent cotton fibers, so it doesn't bleed or warp. It has a great texture and lets you blend easily. It is great for wet-on-wet technique and holds up to multiple washes & glazes. If you like smooth surfaces this is an excellent paper.

This paper has just the right amount of tooth and absorbs a lot of water. It comes with natural gelatin used to size it, these one-pound sheets won't tear when scratched.

Why We Like This:

High quality for your finished products
New and hot release

Best For higher end Watercolor Painting: Speedball Cold Press Watercolor Paper

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This paper holds up to multiple layers of watercolor washes without pilling, unlike some of the other budget brands of identical specs. It is produced at slow speeds by European mill masters with over 400 years of paper making experience that creates a stronger, premium quality paper. It is heavy and does not cause the inks to feather. It is great for higher end watercolor painting.

It is great for inking and ok as long as you dont saturate the paper. It is nice for inking and ok as long as you dont saturate the paper.

Why We Like This:

Great no water bend in paper great quality
Nice size and well sealed on edges
Stays flat with washes and lots of water

Best With Acrylic Paint: new York Central Cold Press Watercolor Paper

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The new york central cold press watercolor paper should be able to handle its purpose and duties with ease. This cold pressed watercolor block is great quality. It allows some exciting possibilities for art creation or when you want to create a finished art piece and have limited time and/or space. It works well on it without the paper wrinkling or warping up. The individual pieces of paper are thick and substantial. It can withstand a multitude of techniques, including wet color blending, paper scratching, and scrubbing.

The remnants of the black edges can be tedious to remove but this clear doesn’t show nearly as much. It’s a great size for small landscape work or when you want to create a finished art piece and have limited time and/or space. Its unique size makes it very portable and perfect for plein air painting.

Why We Like This:

Great quality paper with a unique size
Very nice quality cotton paper, in block form
Great high quality paper for artists of all levels