The 11 Best Cotton Watercolour Papers (2023 reviews)

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

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Our Top Picks:

Best Overall: Buy: Arches Hot Press READ REVIEW

Best For Heavy washes: Buy: Arches Cotton Watercolour Paper READ REVIEW

Best For Water Colors: Buy: Arteza Cotton Watercolour Paper READ REVIEW

Best For Really responsive Paper: Buy: Strathmore Cotton Watercolour Paper READ REVIEW

Best For recording ideas: Buy: Lear Village Cotton Watercolour Paper READ REVIEW

Best For Fine detail: Buy: Paul Rubens Cotton Watercolour Paper READ REVIEW

Best For Professional: Buy: Winsor Newton Cotton Paper READ REVIEW

Best For Cyanotype: Buy: Lear Village vintage Paper READ REVIEW

Best For Watercolor pencil: Buy: Winsor Newton Cotton Watercolour Paper READ REVIEW

Best Cotton Paper: Buy: Hahnemuhle Cotton Watercolour Paper READ REVIEW

Best For Acrylic: Buy: Fabriano Cotton Watercolour Paper READ REVIEW

Best Overall: Arches Hot Press

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The arches hot press is long-lasting, rigid and fits well with your daily purpose like a dream. This 140 lb, hot-pressed, Arches paper is exactly what it is supposed to be. It is made with natural cotton fibers on a cylinder-mold machine. Because of the smoother surface this paper is great for "cleaner" more detailed paintings or times when you might want to layer colored pencil on top. It has one glued edge like a normal pad of paper so the pages are easy to remove. It's nice and heavy as well as smooth, making shading easy and effective.

This paper is excellent for watercolour and coloured pencil.

• Absorbs watercolor faster than cold press paper
• Great flat surface paper, due to the hot press
• Water flows nicely for watercolor paint

Best For Heavy washes: Arches Cotton Watercolour Paper

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Next on the list, we've got yet another paper that manages to win our hearts. It's the arches cotton watercolour paper and it's widely considered as paper that has the most suitable features. This paper is wonderful for watercolors. It holds the water if you want to pre-wet, it holds bright, brilliant colors or soft, muted colors to perfection. It takes even some scrubbing with a stiffer brush nicely. The block helps the paper resist warping and buckling.

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 comes in a block and you separate the sheets. This paper can take the punishment of scrubbing, release of masking fluid left on for weeks without tearing, multiple washes.

• Stays flat when you are painting with it
• Neutral paper with a harmonious natural grain and no optical brightening agents
• Excellent paper, doesn’t have to be stretched, can use immediately

Best For Water Colors: Arteza Cotton Watercolour Paper

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Arteza makes beautiful and great paper with classic and smartly choosen materials. It is used to paint water color paintings. On the bright side, the paper's texture is really nice, takes painting really good and has a beautiful ivory color. It works fine enough with acrylic style gouache techniques, which is when you use less water and more paint, and you use it like it is acrylics. The paint flow and ability to handle water is pretty decent. It can stand up to multiple washes and no buckle.

The paper quality is great, very textured. It is excellent quality and this pack is enough for many hours of painting.

• Serrated tear offs for easy removal from sketchbook
• Perfect size for small frames, holiday cards, etc
• Great size and paper quality for a beginner
• Endurable and thick enough to scrape off and remove paint

Best For Really responsive Paper: Strathmore Cotton Watercolour Paper

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The features department is where strathmore cotton watercolour paper truly manages to shine. This is absolutely the greatest watercolor paper for printing digital images and coloring with zig clean color markers. It stands up very well for laying down many layers of wax, and burnishing. It has the texture of soft leather and is perfect for water color renderings. This is fine paper for trying out projects or making hand painted cards.

It is easy to handlebudget friendly for beginners. These eliminate the need to hand-cut each thing and it's so convenient. It stands up very well for laying down many layers of wax, and a lot of paint lifting. It is convenient to carry with you for painting away from home.

• Nice heavy paper perfect for small art projects
• Great size and works well with water colors
• A heavy-weight paper with a hot press finish for mastering watercolor techniques
• Great for making water color cards and economical for teaching

Best For recording ideas: Lear Village Cotton Watercolour Paper

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The lear village cotton watercolour paper is the best convenient paper on the market today. Acid free sheets in these watercolor mix media sketchbook help keep your art work vibrant and long lasting. It can be used for dry and wet medium and unlike other sketchbooks they are suitable for watercolor, oil pastel, pencil color, charcoal, pen and ink drawings.

This makes beautiful journals, it's soft, the color is evenly distributed and nice to work with. White erasers also lift paper color while erasing sketch marks from 2h or hb pencil. It remains flat throughout the painting process and dries flat too. The paper comes in a durable box so you can store your wonderful artwork for decades. It has a rough texture.

• Paper is not too thick, and is opaque when held up to the light
• Rich soft and strong all at the same time
• Holds medium well, watercolor and gouache
• Beautiful quality paper, easy to scribe on

Best For Fine detail: Paul Rubens Cotton Watercolour Paper

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The paul rubens cotton watercolour paper's high-end materials makes sure that it ages well with use. This item is a watercolor block of sheets. It is made of 100% cotton rag for dry or wet painting, can be used for watercolor paint, gouache paint, acrylics, pencils, etc. It is so nice, cotton and perforated on a block, but no cold press option. It looks great and travels well if you like hot press paper. It's watercolor paper on both sides, just stuck together tightly until you lift it off.

This hot press has some texture to it, you could also use the original hit press block for card making. It is a lovely surface to work on with pen & watercolour. It is made from recycled clothing. The edges are sealed it is a watercolor block of sheets.

• Works ok for light botanicals or light water use
• Beautiful leather cover, with lovely cotton paper, very good value for money
• Come in a spiral bound format with the perforation for ease of pairing
• Beautiful to look at and use and inexpensive

Best For Professional: Winsor Newton Cotton Paper

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The winsor newton cotton paper should be able to handle its purpose and duties with ease. This 100% cotton paper is lovely. It can be used by graphic designers. It has a nice texture. The 5x7 wire bound is the only one which is 100% cotton. It’s strong enough to rough up and you can lift paint easily.

This paper often produces the brightest water colour paintings because its increased surface area holds more colour and therefore reflects more light. It's also easy to add watercolor paint to water on the paper to achieve playful flow affects. There are 15 sheets and you can paint on both sides.

• A nice toothy texture while not being overly toothy
• Nice weight, nice texture, nice scrubbability, pricy
• Nice of quick sketches with brush, pen, or pencil
• Retains color brilliance, very smooth surface

Best For Cyanotype: Lear Village vintage Paper

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If you are currently in the market searching for a popular paper for your regular usage, lear village vintage paper is the best choice. If you are willing and able to do the sizing yourself, this paper is excellent value and the deckled edges are beautiful. It is good for greeting cards, better for dry media or drybrush watercolor. The rag edges are well done—just enough to give an authentic handmade paper look but not too uneven. The paper comes in a durable box so you can store your wonderful artwork for decades.

They are handmade, so they feature the characteristic deckle edge. Love the quality it absorbs gel pen, ink very well and it dries quickly. It is perfect for wet as well as dry medium.

• Ph neutral so your work will last for centuries
• Great paper for small plein air
• Held on beautifully without buckling or bleeding

Best For Watercolor pencil: Winsor Newton Cotton Watercolour Paper

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The winsor newton cotton watercolour paper's high-end materials makes sure that it ages well with use. This paper often produces the brightest water colour paintings because its increased surface area holds more colour and therefore reflects more light. It is made with 100% archival grade cellulose wood pulp and natural artesian spring water with neutral ph properties. It has a less textured finish and is the most widely used paper surface. It can be used by graphic designers.

If you like to sketch outdoors or on the go, cutting these up into quarters or long halves for quick sketches fits them into your painting kit, possibly in a fanny pack or small camera type bag. The smooth and rougher side allow for different effects to be created with the paint.

• A regular source of reliable colours and brushes
• Internally and externally sized for optimal water absorbency, pigment dispersion and lasting colour adherence
• Made on a traditional cylinder mold
• Allowed artists to enjoy oil colour without the use of hazardous solvents

Best Cotton Paper: Hahnemuhle Cotton Watercolour Paper

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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 hahnemuhle cotton watercolour paper is exactly that - it's a simple paper that hits all the right notes. This paper takes watercolor really well. It’s 100% cotton with a great surface. It allows pick-up with out damaging the paper, holds water well in wet washes. It offers extremely strong fibers and incomparable purity. It is easy to control the flow of paint and even water. It is 100% cotton rag so it should withstand stretching.

It has a proper amount of absorbency and holds up well with ample water. It is affordable and of good quality.

• Great paper quality, absorb water well, no problem with masking tape and liquid
• Nice 100% cotton watercolor paper, well-priced
• New and hot release

Best For Acrylic: Fabriano Cotton Watercolour Paper

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Fabriano is known for creating pragmatic and minimalist paper for people on the go, and its line of fabriano cotton watercolour paper definitely falls in line with that reputation. This fabriano artistico watercolor block is gluebound on all four sides, ideal for painting on the go, outside or without a surface to spread out on. It is made with 100% cotton. It has a cold press surface that is lightly textured. There's a small space on one side of the block that does not have any adhesive.

This block features fabriano artistico watercolor paper, which is ideal for watercolor, tempera, gouache, acrylic, ink, charcoal, graphite and drawing. It holds up well even with lots of wash. It is sized both internally and externally, making it both absorbent and resilient.

• Good brand reputation
• Delivers what they promise