The 10 Best Smooth Watercolor Papers (2023 reviews)

We consider a smooth watercolor paper to be a worthy investment in the long run. We are here to help you choose the right one for your needs from all the best available products in market today.

Our review process: Show/Hide

Our Top Picks:

Best Overall: Buy: Arches Smooth Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

Best For portrait: Buy: Canson Smooth Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

Best For Really responsive Paper: Buy: Strathmore Smooth Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

Best For Media: Buy: Amazon basics Smooth Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

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

Best With Acrylic Paint: Buy: Wanderings Smooth Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

Best For handcrafted cards: Buy: Nomadcraftsco Smooth Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

Best For Professional: Buy: Leda Art supply Smooth Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

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

Best For practice: Buy: Shizen design Smooth Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

Best Overall: Arches Smooth Watercolor Paper

Buy on Amazon

It's the best watercolour paper. It is made with natural cotton fibers on a cylinder-mold machine. The watercolor pads are sealed around the edge of the paper so that you don’t have to stretch the paper. It is also very easy to sketch on.

The hot press is smooth, the cold press has a nice texture, and rough texture for special projects. It is easy to recommend this brand in all of the textures. They are packaged well, and handled quickly. The paint sets to the paper well. It is best fine detail with this smooth paper.

• Great for serious students and professional level artists
• Absorbs watercolor faster than cold press paper
• New and hot release

Best For portrait: Canson Smooth Watercolor Paper

Buy on Amazon

Canson line of paper come in a pretty wide variety of styles, so you can definitely find one that suits your individual preferences and needs. This paper is good for small pieces like tags. It is perfect for kids and adults to get started with watercolor, the paper holds up to quite a bit of water, doesn't work too fast, and handles color pretty well. It's very heavy-duty but it does bow a little if you use wet on wet. The paper really holds up to the water and dries quickly.

The paper does not permit alot of scrubbing, no need to scrub very much, and paint will lift so well. It doesn't warp very much either which is very good. It is ideal for watercolor and suitable for use with pencil, colored pencil, pen, ink, charcoal, pastel, and acrylic. It is great for testing, not so much for finished work.

• Good quality, fit to draw with both normal pencil and water color
• Definitely works well for heavy use of water
• Curls slightly when damp but good paper over all

Best For Really responsive Paper: Strathmore Smooth Watercolor Paper

Buy on Amazon

If you often find yourself scrambling for appropriate and satisfactory paper, strathmore smooth watercolor paper should be your first option for buying. The strathmore 500 series ready cut watercolor hot press papers are standard sized sheets for ready-made frames and mats perfect for your watercolor creations. This is absolutely the greatest watercolor paper for printing digital images and coloring with zig clean color markers. The high quality of the material inspires more intense and beautiful paintings, and the paintings start to take on a more integrated look.

This paper will hold up to virtually anything the artist can 'throw at it' while still keeping its fine texture and smooth, reflective surface. It is perfect for learning to paint with watercolors. 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. 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.

• Great for making water color cards and economical for teaching
• Colors lift extremely well, blending is smooth
• A very smooth watercolor paper that stands up to intense spray pigments
• Works great with marker, gouache, and color pencils

Best For Media: Amazon basics Smooth Watercolor Paper

Buy on Amazon

Next on the list, we've got yet another paper that manages to win our hearts. It's the amazon basics smooth watercolor paper and it's widely considered as one of the best convenient paper you can buy. This quality watercolor paper is ideal for amateurs, professionals, and students, with a surface that works beautifully with a variety of mediums. It has very thick smooth pages with a nice texture of paper. The paper is sturdy and really well-suited to watercolors indeed. It’s pulls back to allow you to carefully pull out each page, minimizing the chance of tearing it up before you even get to use it.

This is a great drawing pad with really nice-quality paper that does not bleed almost at all. They fold up when drying. If you enjoy watercolors, this is a good quality pad.

• Very thick and the colors do not leak through to the other side
• High quality watercolor pad for artists, students, anyone who wants to paint
• Smooth surface but has a slight toothy texture

Best For Artist: Ucreate Smooth Watercolor Paper

Buy on Amazon

We would, of course, be remiss if we didn't mention ucreate smooth watercolor paper for daily purpose. This pack of paper measures 9 " x 12 ", has a smooth uniform finish on the front and the back, and includes 250 sheets, making it great for large groups or classrooms. It is good for both wet on wet and wet method and direct painting. It does tend to bend up a bit when it is drying. This paper is pretty much like painting on poster board. It is perfect for pre-k and student grade artwork. This paper is okay for a beginner and younger artist.

• Very economical and great for experimenting
• Using with kids, great with multimedia including water color and acrylic paint
• Cost effective and great for beginners

Best With Acrylic Paint: Wanderings Smooth Watercolor Paper

Buy on Amazon

This is nice paper if you like the look and feel of loose sheets that look like torn edges. Like most cotton brands the paint drys evenly on this paper,no blotchiness, just smooth colour. It goes nice and straight when it is dried. It is made using traditional practices passed through generations dating back to 14th century india.

This paper is thick and has beautiful texture. The quality of the paper is amazing. It is pretty good handmade paper, however, it is quite thin. The paper is absorbent and works well with the ink that is in the jane davenport ink brushes.

• Supports most media including watercolor, acrylic, gouache, ink, gel pen, marker, pencil and charcoal
• Beautiful deckle edge and clean white
• Lovely, luxurious texture and deckled edges

Best For handcrafted cards: Nomadcraftsco Smooth Watercolor Paper

Buy on Amazon

The nomadcraftsco smooth watercolor paper's material feels more premium than its price would suggest. This paper holds ink very well, and it looks, and feels really nice. It is good for handcrafted cards, etc. It is made of handmade cotton so there is a slight texture but it’s smooth. The interior is significantly lighter in color but it’s definitely worth it.

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’s definitely worth it. This handmade paper can not wash which absorbs water almost completely.

• Holds ink well without annoying bleeding
• , beautiful paper with unique charachteristics
• Easily used for tight wound scrolls

Best For Professional: Leda Art supply Smooth Watercolor Paper

Buy on Amazon

It's made in Italy and is 140 pound 25% cotton paper. It can handle a good amount of water on it without damage to the paper. The smooth surface is a joy to paint on. 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.

The texture of the paper is a larger cold press texture rather than a tiny, uniform grainy one. This would also work well for making cards with watercolor if you want to. It comes with any watercolor paper, it's important to be careful on applying too much watercolor at once while wet. The watercolor paper is 140 pounds and it is great.

• Smooth finish works well with many media
• Good investment for long term

Best For charcoal: Lear Village Smooth Watercolor Paper

Buy on Amazon

Not everyone likes to purchase paper for their daily purpose, but the lear village smooth watercolor paper would be an anomoly. Acid free sheets in these watercolor mix media sketchbook help keep your art work vibrant and long lasting. It works well for watercolor. 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
• Thick 150 gsm handmade acid free paper
• Add a vintage touch to your creation with thick, textured and durable paper
• Sketch paper for all your drawing and craft needs

Best For practice: Shizen design Smooth Watercolor Paper

Buy on Amazon

Compared with other paper in this category, the shizen design smooth watercolor paper has a convenient design. All Shizen papers are handmade in India from 100% recycled materials using a pollution-free process. The white watercolor paper is 100 % cotton and internally sized, with a rough surface.

• Good brand reputation
• One of the new comers and featured product