The 10 Best textured Watercolour Papers (2023 reviews)

We consider a textured watercolour 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.

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Our Top Picks:

Best Overall: Buy: Canson textured Watercolour Paper READ REVIEW

Best With gouache: Buy: Arches textured Watercolour Paper READ REVIEW

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

Best For beginners: Buy: Strathmore textured Watercolour Paper READ REVIEW

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

Best For craft projects: Buy: Wanderings textured Watercolour Paper READ REVIEW

Best For durability: Buy: Mujinhua textured Watercolour Paper READ REVIEW

Best For Professional: Buy: Fabriano textured Watercolour Paper READ REVIEW

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

Best heavyweight Paper: Buy: Seawhite OF Brighton textured Watercolour Paper READ REVIEW

Best Overall: Canson textured Watercolour Paper

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These are really nice quality papers. It's possible to have paper thick with a little, ore transparency. It's perfect for testing out different techniques or how colors look when you're mixing. The paper really holds up to the water and dries quickly. It will last even this family of 5 watercolorists longer than most watercolor tablets.

The paper is sturdy and holds up well to plenty of waterpaint layering. It does warp quite a bit, so tape it down. This paper is good for small pieces like tags or tags.

• Curls slightly when damp but good paper over all
• Definitely works well for heavy use of water
• Good size and weight for watercolors and brush pens
• You can cut it without a problem and water absorption amount is perfect

Best With gouache: Arches textured Watercolour Paper

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If you often find yourself scrambling for convenient and suitable paper, arches textured watercolour paper is your end point. Even though this is considered Arches lesser quality paper, it is still leaps and bounds above most other 100% cotton papers. It is made from cotton. It takes water beautifully, with only slight buckling that flattens as it dries. It is easily removed from the edge-glued pad. It provides timeless beauty and an inimitable touch.

This pad is ideal for watercolor or gouache in the studio or in the wild. It is made from 100% natural cotton fiber with no optical brightening agents, the arches paper has an archival, natural white color and an exquisite texture unlike other papers on the market. It is made from cotton so it doesn't disintegrate like cheaper brands.

• Cotton paper makes blending watercolors easier
• Texture is great and nice thick paper to work with
• Good brand reputation

Best For Water Colors: Arteza textured Watercolour Paper

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If you often find yourself scrambling for convenient and suitable paper, arteza textured watercolour paper should be your first option for buying. These are separate sheets of watercolor paper that you can use any type of watercolor with. The texture on the watercolor paper makes the artwork pop and express more. It can stand up to multiple washes and no buckle. It is great for water colors and scetching. The pages are preferated on the edges so it makes it easy to tear a page out of the book.

The paint flow and ability to handle water is pretty decent. It is good for wet on dry, or small painting. The paper quality is great, very textured. It is suitable for large, even washes and for finer detail, too.

• Good quality paper,holds the paint well and takes a lot of water
• Perfect size for small frames, holiday cards, etc
• Endurable and thick enough to scrape off and remove paint
• Good quality watercolor paper for painting

Best For beginners: Strathmore textured Watercolour 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's a sturdy, well-textured paper, with predictable and even saturation. It's best quality art paper for anything including, pastels, watercolors, sketch drawings, and charcoal + paint drawings if you're carful enough.

It's easy to use and high quality for a beginner that's dabbling in watercoloring. The paper is strong and easy to draw and paint. It allows for plein air settings, working on new techniques. It is necessary to have at least a 140 pound density paper to use.

• Great paper, very thick and sturdy
• Very thick and heavy so it doesn't crinkle with a lot of water
• Paint dries fairly quickly, and paper does not tear or peel
• Wonderful paper, stands up to watercolors beautifully and oil pastels

Best For recording ideas: Lear Village textured Watercolour Paper

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If you often find yourself scrambling for appropriate and satisfactory paper, lear village textured watercolour paper is your end point. This paper is magic for marbling with acrylics. It provides 100% pure cotton handmade paper suitable for all dry and wet mediums. White erasers also lift paper color while erasing sketch marks from 2h or hb pencil. It’s packaged in a cellophane bag inside of a smallish box.

The paper is somewhat textured. It remains flat throughout the painting process and dries flat too.

• Lifting with a paper towel is easy and works well
• Nice quality rag paper, good texture, very good
• Great for watercolor and gouache no bleeding
• Kneaded eraser is best option to soften pencil lines

Best For craft projects: Wanderings textured Watercolour Paper

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These one-of-a-kind raw edge handmade paper sheets are a great alternative to traditional watercolor paper or writing paper. It feels so much more “real” than regular store-bought watercolor paper. It is made using traditional practices passed through generations dating back to 14th century india.

The paper is both soft to the touch but holds up strongly against heavy use with a fountain pen, watercolour, and pencil drawing. The deckled edges are beautiful and the paper texture is soft to touch, but pages well and lends itself to aging for a vintage appearance. They take the fountain pen in perfectly and do not feather. These papers are Beautiful, delivered in timely manner as well.

• Great for junk journals, watercolor and more
• Very nice handmade cotton rag paper
• Beautiful hand made 100% cotton paper
• Makes you feel like you are writing a treatise to a king

Best For durability: Mujinhua textured Watercolour Paper

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Mujinhua has been making great paper for years, thanks to a combination of clever design and appropriate materials. This MUJINHUA acid-free, cold-pressed textured watercolor paper is very nice quality. It measures 6.1x 8.7 inches, acid-free (ph neutral) paper –140lb. It is perfect for taking on the road. This heavyweight, absorbent paper is suitable for watercolor techniques as well as most dry media, making this pad as versatile as your creativity.

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. It gives it an artistic, professional look. It is perfect for traveling or using outdoors for smaller paintings. They are perfect for small paintings, drawing or even homemade cards.

• Perforated edges of each sheet, resulting in a clean, seamless look every time
• Sturdy paper, perfect for water color
• A nice heavy duty all-purpose paper for multiple mediums
• Acid free is definitely a bonus for preserving labor intensive creations

Best For Professional: Fabriano textured Watercolour Paper

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The bound blocks are convenient because a person doesn't have to tape paper down to prevent buckling/warping that otherwise happens to wet paper. It has a great textured surface, not to rough or in a uniformed pattern as some papers have. The extra-white is only slightly whiter than the traditional white. The binding around the block prevents the paper from buckling.

The paper is a good Yupo and the fact that it's precut is a plus. It is much more affordable to buy full sheets when they are on sale and tear or cut them down to size. It is easy to remove mistakes made while painting.

• Very sturdy paper and can be worked into many times
• Holds the colour right, not much fading
• One of the new comers and featured product

Best For Watercolor pencil: Winsor Newton textured Watercolour Paper

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The winsor newton textured watercolour paper's material feels more premium than its price would suggest. 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.

The smooth and rougher side allow for different effects to be created with the paint. 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.

• 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
• A regular source of reliable colours and brushes

Best heavyweight Paper: Seawhite OF Brighton textured Watercolour Paper

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If you often find yourself scrambling for convenient and suitable paper, seawhite of brighton textured watercolour paper should be your first option for buying. It is not finished, as it has a slight texture, between hot pressed smooth and cold pressed rough.

• Superb acid-free paper, suitable for watercolour and all wet media
• One of the new comers and featured product