The 11 Best colored Watercolor Papers (2023 reviews)

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

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Our Top Picks:

Best Overall: Buy: Canson colored Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

Best For Watercolour Painting: Buy: Funto colored Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

Best For Artist: Buy: Ucreate colored Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

Best With Acrylic Paint: Buy: Tecunite colored Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

Best For handcrafted cards: Buy: Nomadcraftsco Great Paper READ REVIEW

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

Best For Professional: Buy: Arteza colored Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

Best With gouache: Buy: Nomadcraftsco colored Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

Best For different Media: Buy: Tecunite Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

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

Best For small pieces: Buy: Stonehenge Aqua colored Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

Best Overall: Canson colored Watercolor Paper

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The canson colored watercolor paper is capable of outshining several other paper featured in this list in overall features. They are "real" watercolor paper and quite affordable. It is great for water coloring and using for other heavier card making needs. It is constructed of a cold press textured paper for a variety of techniques.

These are really nice quality papers. It is ideal for watercolor and suitable for use with pencil, colored pencil, pen, ink, charcoal, pastel, and acrylic. The paper really holds up to the water and dries quickly. It is good for kids, beginners or to practice.

• Nice thick water color paper that doesn't get soggy like other papers
• Curls slightly when damp but good paper over all
• Great paper holds onto water well

Best For Watercolour Painting: Funto colored Watercolor Paper

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The watercolor cards are a good paper. They are made of heavy weight paper. This makes this paper, which apparently has a fair amount of cotton, but not 100 %, absorb the paint easier. The quality of the paper is top notch, beautiful for water color cards.

These are good quality and can take enough water without the paper buckling. It is perfect for a 7 year old learning to paint. Super high quality, unique rounded corners make these look super professional.

• Great cards for watercolor or acrylic
• Lots of blending colors together and working with mineral spirits
• Thick watercolor paper for young artists
• Excellent cards, great for personal watercolor notes

Best For Artist: Ucreate colored Watercolor Paper

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This paper is made of wood pulp (cellulose) and not cotton. It is great for an art teacher willing to use a paper cutter. It is good for both wet on wet method and direct painting. This paper does have additive sizing to be used with watercolors, paints, markers, etc.

The paper is a nice, thick, absorbable material. The paper is okay for a beginner and younger artist.

• Works great for watercolors and school paint
• Cost effective and great for beginners
• Great for practice or for kids

Best With Acrylic Paint: Tecunite colored 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 tecunite colored watercolor paper and it's widely considered as paper that has the most suitable features. It is great value for student grade watercolor paper. It is used to cut in half and make christmas cards. It is suitable for beginners, amateur, educational arts and crafts, school supplies, art exams, watercolorist and more. It is perfect for color swatches or wash tests. It’s a little large for the palette but easy to trim and the paper is nice. It is good for classroom projects. They work well and hold up with 4-year-olds sopping the color on them.

• Perfect size and nice quality paper
• Perfect size for kids or a small painting
• Lot of satisfied buyers

Best For handcrafted cards: Nomadcraftsco Great Paper

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If you are searching for a satisfactory paper for your daily usage, you cannot go wrong with the nomadcraftsco great paper. This handmade paper can not wash which absorbs water almost completely. It is good for handcrafted cards, etc. This paper holds ink very well, and it looks, and feels really nice. It has a texture like a slightly stiff fabric. The thickness is like a standard watercolor paper, with a slightly rough texture that could be difficult to get super clean lines on. The interior is significantly lighter in color.

These papers are made from 100% recycled and acid-free materials, with 150 gsm thick, strong, slick-smooth & durable features. The cotton makes it drag a bit but it is definitely worth it.

• Sturdy paper with an almost linen texture to it
• Holds ink well without annoying bleeding
• , beautiful paper with unique charachteristics

Best For recording ideas: Lear Village Egyptian Cotton

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This 100% cotton watercolor paper has neutra ph to keep your artwork safe for centuries. It provides 100% pure cotton handmade paper suitable for all dry and wet mediums. It is perfect for lighter washes. The painting needs to be started with a wash otherwise the color won't soak in well. It is perfect for recording ideas, anecdotes, lessons learned, and daily events of fond memories.

This paper doesn't allow bleeds. They absorb into the paper super quickly and do not reactivate, so this is better for direct application of color without much reworking. This paper would be good to make your own watercolor journal and it doesn't bleed to the otherside.

• Most noticeably diffusion and flow of watercolors
• Ph neutral so your work will last for centuries
• Lot of satisfied buyers

Best For Professional: Arteza colored Watercolor Paper

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This tinted art paper works well not only with dry media like gel pens and colored pencils, but also metallic and iridescent watercolors really pop when applied to these sheets. It offers 5 shades of tinted paper including white, cream, white, light gray, gray, and black. The white paper is pretty standard, and the black sheet holds up wonderfully for a Pearlescent watercolor painting.

This paper is perfect for beginners or anyone. The few toned paper options online are mixed media-focused, and there are no real watercolor papers, and they still don't contain the whole range of colors. It is used for mixed media also.

• Amazing quality for beginners to professional
• Gift for grandchild who like to paint and sketch
• Texture to the paper and very thick

Best With gouache: Nomadcraftsco colored Watercolor Paper

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The nomadcraftsco colored watercolor paper is suitable and reliable and fits well with your regular usage. This paper is wonderful and the aged look is perfect for mixed media art. It is slightly slightly smaller than printer paper due to the deckled edges. The color is vibrant, the paper feels great and is easy to work with. It is suitable for ink pens, markers, colored pencils, or pastels.

These papers are made from 100% recycled and acid-free materials, with 200 gsm thick, strong, slick-smooth & durable features. The ink does not bleed or rub off when it comes out. It is great as a full sheet.

• Very nice for making journal pages and artwork
• New and hot release

Best For different Media: Tecunite Watercolor Paper

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These watercolor paper enable to move color greatly to show a good vision experience. It can be sent to someone who likes acrylic painting, watercolor painting, sketch, etc. It is made of 230 gsm/ 98 lb of heavy paper. The cotton watercolor paper can be used as paper folding or cutting paper to do some craft work.

The watercolor paper is loose leaf sheets which are convenient to be pasted on the drawing board via draft tape. The packaging makes it convenient to carry the entire stack easily. It is suitable for different media, such as wet and dry. This is a good candidate for watercolor as well.

• Good supply for painters to practice their painting skill
• Nice gifts to person who like sketch, watercolor painting, etc
• Portable size allow you to take around when travelling

Best For charcoal: Lear Village colored Watercolor Paper

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Acid free sheets in these watercolor mix media sketchbook help keep your art work vibrant and long lasting. It works well for watercolor. It’s a beautiful linen paper in white, almost beige. If you take the time to fill this up with nice drawings this will make a nice keepsake and something you will be able to hold on to for decades as the paper is made from 100% virgin cotton to last for generations.

The paper is really nice and thick. It can be used for dry and wet medium and unlike other sketchbook they are suitable for watercolor, oil pastel, pencil color, charcoal, pen and ink drawings. It does lack a bit of stiffness for card making purposes but otherwise it’s a very nice paper product.

• Great quality and paints dry great on it
• Perfect keepsake with the paper pulled from history
• Sketch paper for all your drawing and craft needs
• Add a vintage touch to your creation with thick, textured and durable paper

Best For small pieces: Stonehenge Aqua colored Watercolor Paper

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The stonehenge aqua colored watercolor paper is specially designed for your regular usage and has all useful features. It’s just an absolute joy to paint on. It is made of 100 percent white cotton paper. It absorbs all the paint or water right away then becomes heavy and soggy. The block helps prevent buckling and in most cases you won’t need to stretch the paper which makes painting a quicker process.

The paint flows, colors remain vibrant. It can really hold up to being worked. It is whiter than even the bright white Arches option. The paper buckles up a lot due to soaking up all the paint, stays wet a long time.

• Beautiful texture gives gorgeous pigment bleeds
• One of the new comers and featured product