The 12 Best Good Quality Watercolor Papers (2023 reviews)

The arches good quality watercolor paper has good features for the price point. It is perfect for rugged landscapes and any project where added texture is desired. It is cotton fiber so it makes painting on it much more successful. It is perfect for watercolor artists who enjoy granulated colors. It comes with long fibers, this thick, stable sheet is beautiful, durable, and resillient. The texture is rough, and it is excellent for amature to professional artists alike.

This paper is so easy to layer with and you can tape it down without the tape tearing your paper and design/paintings/drawings. The Tape comes off easily without ripping and masking fluid also comes off easily without pulling at the paper. The surface is smooth and velvety.

Why We Like This:

Good quality and very absorbent paper for a watercolors
Compact and easy to take plein air
Great paper, can break up into smaller pieces for smaller paintings
Rough texture makes for interesting paintings

Best For Water Color Paint: Arteza Good Quality 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 arteza good quality watercolor paper and it's widely considered as paper that has the most suitable features. It’s nice to be able to save a little money on art supplies. This watercolor paper is tbick, and surprisingly, doesn't dry rapidly, which allows you to blend and shade easily. This paper allows for watercolors to disperse beautifully and not lay on top of the paper like other inexpensive options. It absorbs water slowly.

These pages quickly absorb water to maximize blending capabilities and clean lines with no bleed through. It has to be wet,weighed down flat,and allowed to get before it will remain flat. It is really tough so it can handle a lot of water and scrubbing. It is a good option for a beginner who is seriously wanting to learn and improve.

Why We Like This:

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

Best For beginning And intermediate Watercolor Artists: Misulove Good Quality Watercolor Paper

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You can use this paper for your watercolors, oil, and acrylic paints. It comes with 20 sheets of thick paper that is easy to remove from the pad without ripping. This paper holds the pigments quite well and allows a bit of working before the water dries.

The sheet pad is medium weight with a linen-like textured surface on the front and a smoother surface on the back. It quickly absorbs the paint so there is no run-off. The paper quality of the coloring pages is thick and good. It is perfect for beginners as well as seasoned artists. These large pads come on a VERY sturdy back cardboard to hold them straight, although it is better to tape any paper down.

Why We Like This:

Perfect for sketching, painting, or almost any other art work you'd like to do
Great for beginners, curious artists, and those looking for something portable
Compactly sized, great for mixed media pieces

Best For Water coloring: Strathmore Good Quality Watercolor Paper

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The 300 series watercolor paper pad contains 12 sheets of heavyweight, student grade, watercolor paper with a cold press surface. It is best quality art paper for anything including, pastels, watercolors, sketch drawings, and charcoal + paint drawings if you're carful enough. The paper is thick enough to not have to worry about soaking through the paper. The colors blend beautifully on it while still being able to maintain sharp edges without bleeding like some.

This spiral bound pad is easy to flip over or tear out a new page to use. It is suitable for experimenting and practicing techniques when heavier washes and reworking are required.

Why We Like This:

Works wonders with tombow dual brush pens
Lifting is easy, providing you do not use staining watercolors
Very thick and heavy so it doesn't crinkle with a lot of water
Holds watercolors well without running or curling

Best For portrait: Speedball Good Quality Watercolor Paper

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Not everyone likes to purchase paper for their regular usage, but the speedball good quality watercolor paper would be an anomoly. These watercolor books are ideal for the artists looking for a portable watercolor sketch book. It is a perfect size and the paper does well with all sorts of mediums. It has a slight tooth and is sturdy enough to hold up to any watercolor application. It is perfect for small outdoor paintings as well or colored pencil. The binding is nice and sturdy and it lays nice and flat.

The watercolors look great on it, and there's only bad buckling if you dump water onto it. Its hard cover feels strudy and well made.

Why We Like This:

Good size for traveling and has an attractive cover
Really good watercolor book and nice to travel with
Light and small so you can fit it anywhere

Best With alcohol ink: Ucreate Good Quality Watercolor Paper

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This paper does have additive sizing to be used with watercolors, paints, markers, etc. It is great for an art teacher willing to use a paper cutter. The Wax paper makes a great tracing paper for doing that along with a paper that will transfer the copy to the paper. It's perfect for watercolors.

These sturdy sheets are perfect for use with wet and mixed media. The paper is a nice, thick, absorbable material. It is perfect for pre-k and student grade artwork. It is great to buy on paper or to use for yardstick or card dies.

Why We Like This:

Very economical and great for experimenting
Cost effective and great for beginners
Great for practice or for kids

Best For colored pencils: Paul Rubens Good Quality Watercolor Paper

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The paul rubens good quality watercolor paper should be able to handle its purpose and duties with ease. These little watercolor journals are great and very good for the thick quality of paper. This paul rubens watercolor paper block is good for layering and glacing. It has a wonderful feel, it is very thick and takes a lot of washes without buckling. The down size of this is getting smooth or subtle changes as well as details. It is good for traveling and sketching, not the best quality.

This is actual, 100% cotton watercolor paper, in a solid block format. The pages are quite sturdy and are perforated for easy removal. This product is cute and portable.

Why We Like This:

Such high quality and very good for traveling
Lovely paper, excellent for botanical illustration
Uite adequate for traveling and outdoor sketching
High quality watercolor painting paper with smooth paper

Best For durability: Mujinhua Good Quality Watercolor Paper

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The mujinhua good quality watercolor paper is the best suitable paper on the market today. 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 perfect for taking on the road. The paper is good quality with the right texture, and the size makes it easy to tuck into a backpack or tote bag. It is perfect for a variety of applications from pencil and charcoal to marker and oil pastels.

This is a nice sized pad for plein-air work, the sheets are quite secure and while perhaps a little rough, still work well as a traditional sketch book. The heavy weight supports stitch intensive machine embroidery designs without perforation. The thickness of this is good, and the texture is nice to grab paint.

Why We Like This:

Acid free is definitely a bonus for preserving labor intensive creations
Nice sturdy paper for beginners very thick and easy to work with
Good brand reputation

Best With Acrylic Paint: Newbested Good Quality Watercolor Paper

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The newbested good quality watercolor paper gives the top-tier paper a run for their money by offering flagship specs at a much more affordable price. There are really decent, affordable cellulose paper out there. These watercolor paper enable to move color greatly to show a good vision experience. It's only 90 lbs and is super soft. The finish is too smooth and it has a lavender/bluish tint to it. The paper also wrinkles and buckles due to the thinness.

This is definitely NOT high quality paper, but it is 100% cotton and is okay for practice. It is easy to pick up pigment. It does buckle when wet but dries flat. It’s a good product for beginners.

Why We Like This:

Wrinkles and buckles due to the thinness
Great for drawing, not for watercolor
Good investment for long term

Best For Cyanotype: Lear Village Good Quality Watercolor Paper

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This paper is thick and easy to make a gradient effect on the paper. The edges like the Hand-made paper can give the painting a more tactile appeal. 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. The quality is great, it holds water very well and the colors look super vibrant.

The Handmade paper adds character and individuality to each sheet. Love the quality it absorbs gel pen, ink very well and it dries quickly. You can use watercolor, paint markers, or alcohol ink markers on this paper.

Why We Like This:

Great paper for small plein air
Ph neutral so your work will last for centuries
Very sturdy paper and really pretty
Beautiful paper, requires sizing for watercolor painting

Best For All skill levels: Hippie Crafter Good Quality 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 hippie crafter good quality watercolor paper and it's widely considered as one of the best convenient paper you can buy. It’s a good paper for watercolor. It works well for making note cards and small works. It can rework areas without surface wear and ruffing up. The product is actually 50% cotton and 50% pulp. They're nice and thick, have some good texture, and hold water well.

This paper is heavy, textured, and good size and economical. It is an ideal surface for artists, kids, and beginners. It can withstand the water associated with watercolor painting. It is a good choice for more serious artists who want a cheaper paper to experiment or sketch on.

Why We Like This:

A great student-grade paper that works well for making note cards and small works
, a great choice for beginners, students, and hobbyists
High quality and very thick paper
Holds up well and decent quality

Best With gouache: artbeek Good Quality Watercolor Paper

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ArtBeek cold pressed cotton watercolor paper is really a good watercolor paper, but it doesn't bead up when you have to correct or add layers of color. It is so much more enjoyable to learn to paint on 100% cotton than compared to even the top brands of wood pulp paper. Each thick, durable sheet of paper comes with a smooth side as well as a textured side, allowing for flexibility in your creation. It quickly absorbs water, keeping your paints looking as vibrant as ever with no bleed through.

This paper is perfect for your needs. 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. This paper is a fantastic value especially for 100% cotton, cold press paper.

Why We Like This:

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

The 12 Best Good Quality Watercolor Papers (2023 reviews)

Our Top Picks:

Best Overall: Arches Good Quality Watercolor Paper

Best For Water Color Paint: Arteza Good Quality Watercolor Paper

Best For beginning And intermediate Watercolor Artists: Misulove Good Quality Watercolor Paper

Best For Water coloring: Strathmore Good Quality Watercolor Paper

Best For portrait: Speedball Good Quality Watercolor Paper

Best With alcohol ink: Ucreate Good Quality Watercolor Paper

Best For colored pencils: Paul Rubens Good Quality Watercolor Paper

Best For durability: Mujinhua Good Quality Watercolor Paper

Best With Acrylic Paint: Newbested Good Quality Watercolor Paper

Best For Cyanotype: Lear Village Good Quality Watercolor Paper

Best For All skill levels: Hippie Crafter Good Quality Watercolor Paper

Best With gouache: artbeek Good Quality Watercolor Paper

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