The 9 Best Hot Press Watercolor Papers (2023 reviews)

The latest arches hot press is an absolute beast in terms of its features, and rightfully takes the top spot with ease. This item is "hot press" which means it is smooth, and cold press has a nice texture, and rough more texture for special projects. It's the best watercolour paper. It handles color washes very nicely and allows for great color blending. It has a finer tooth than cold-pressed, so you can achieve more detail.

They offer a wide variety of textures and sizes in pads or large sheets. It's nice and heavy as well as smooth, making shading easy and effective. It's ideal for detailed watercolor work.

Why We Like This:

Incredible for calligraphy, authentic gold gilding, sketching, and any paint
Water flows nicely for watercolor paint
Good brand reputation

Best For Really responsive Paper: Strathmore Hot Press Watercolor Paper

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It feels thinner than their 300 series watercolor paper. It is good, heavy, 140 lb, cotton watercolor paper. It has the texture of soft leather. It provides greater water hold-out, improved color lifting, and blending. 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 paper withstands multiple layers of wax from pencil, holds up to erasures, and of course watercolor applications. This paper holds up well to masking fluid applications and common watercolor techniques. 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.

Why We Like This:

Nice heavy paper perfect for small art projects
Great size and works well with water colors
A very smooth watercolor paper that stands up to intense spray pigments
Great for high quality gouache and watercolors

Best For portrait: Arches Hot Press Watercolor Paper

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The arches hot press watercolor paper is satisfactory and appropriate and fits well with your daily purpose. This is a great surface for watercolor painting. It is used for backgrounds for cards using distress oxide inks, spraying with water and diluted bleach for special effects. It won't pill up easily, it doesn't keep everything floating on top, and it gives plenty of time for wet-in-wet techniques.

This paper holds up well to all commonly used eraser types. It is best for not only watercolors but mixed media as well. The hot press finish is very smooth, which enables very detailed drawing.

Why We Like This:

Recommended for serious hobbyist and artists for final projects due to the cost
Lot of satisfied buyers

Best With envelope: Fabriano Hot Press Watercolor Paper

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If you're doing a serious drawing, that you plan on selling, their Artistico 100% cotton, Hot Press paper is the best paper in the world. It is great as white card stock and oil pastel paper. It's really good if you want to apply a lot of water and then drop in the paint, as you get really nice flow.

The watercolor paper is only 25% cotton, so the absorbency isn't on par with other brands. It does buckle a bit with watercolors. The paints will behave differently and the paper absorbs water differently. It's smooth and bristle.

Why We Like This:

Excellent watercolor paper for botanical studies
Very smooth texture and solid weight to work with oil-based colored pencils
Sketch pad good for young artist
Doesn't absorb very well and the colors become dull after drying

Best For Wet On Wet Watercolors: Paul Rubens Hot Press Watercolor Paper

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This watercolor paper is different from other ordinary paper, they shine due to the added sparkling materials, adding chic beauty to your artworks, perfect for a lot of painting scenes such as starry skies and sea, beach, etc. It falls somewhere between high-end sketchbook "practice" and professional-quality paper, far surpassing any advanced level 140lb/300gsm cold pressed wood pulp paper. It is made of 100% cotton pulp and the thickness reaches 0.5 mm, which means these papers can better absorb water, and reduce the possibility of warping and curling while using.

The watercolor paper processes a good water absorbency, and color blends are more smooth. Embedded in the paper, it stays put, so no worries about it clinging to your brushes, water, paint, etc. The paper is acid-free and ph neutral, which means it will help to maintain the details and vivid colors of your paints, and your artistic works will hardly become yellow and brittle over time.

Why We Like This:

Perfect for a variety of water-coloring techniques
Love the embedded sparkle for holiday cards
Good investment for long term

Best For illustration: Legion Paper Hot Press Watercolor Paper

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The legion paper hot press watercolor paper is satisfactory and appropriate and fits well with your daily usage. The white artist tapes from both proart and art alternatives work well, as long as you remove the tape slowly and with care. It is suitable for detailed illustration work. The hot pressed watercolor paper is white, no other colors. It has 15 sheets in the pack. It has a wonderful crispness that anchors beautiful work across every task and technique.

It is designed specifically for use on paper, which causes a bit of the surface to tear off when removed. It is a very delicate surface.

Why We Like This:

Minimal warping, absorbs paint well, great texture
A fantastic paper for any watercolor artist
Great quality and the best priced hot pressed paper out there
Colors hold their vibrancy fairly well, even when working with many layers

Best For frame: Leda Art supply Hot Press Watercolor Paper

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The leda art supply hot press watercolor paper should be able to handle its purpose and duties with ease. It is ideal for plein air painting, urban sketching, or travel sketching. It is set up for stiffer paper than regular copy paper. It is versatile as it can be used for various watercolor techniques such as pen and ink, graphite, and colored pencil, in addition to watercolor painting. It does not wrinkle as much as if it were on a pad. It makes a big difference in how a painting looks once dry.

It is ideal for artists who prefer to work quickly or layer their paintings.

Why We Like This:

Doesn't warp so much, looks great
Smooth finish works well with many media
Lot of satisfied buyers

Best For practice: new York Central Good Paper

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This paper works wonderfully for capturing the various colors and shading textures. It can withstand a multitude of techniques, including wet color blending, paper scratching, and scrubbing. It takes a lot of water without buckling, and can take scrubbing as well. The blocks are great at keeping your paper flat, but you have to be careful when you go to peel off the top page.

This is a block of paper, glued on all four sides. The paper is thick and holds the paint well. If you use really wet washes, the buckling during painting could possibly create pooling of the paint. It's not quite as toothy as cold pressed, but it's not extremely smooth either.

Why We Like This:

Lovely, hot pressed surface, clear glue sided watercolor block
Not too absorbent, tough enough to deal with repeated scrubbing and reworking
Great variety of sizes, too, and reasonably priced
Really nice block of watercolor paper

Best For your money: new York Central Hot Press Watercolor Paper

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All four sides of the New York central watercolor blocks are glued to prevent the top sheet from curling and buckling as you paint. It has a balanced grain that softens as a unit when wet. It can withstand a multitude of techniques, including wet color blending, paper scratching, and scrubbing. It is held on all 4 sides which you can release once it's dry. It will serve you well and is reasonably priced for the quality you are getting.

The rigid backing board supports the paper and makes plein air painting simple. It is no need to stretch the paper before using it. It is a very nice quality paper, and actually higher than most.

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