The 10 Best Watercolor Papers For beginner (2023 reviews)

We consider a watercolor paper for beginner 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: Ucreate Watercolor Paper READ REVIEW

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

Best For Watercolour Painting: Buy: Arteza Watercolor Paper For beginner READ REVIEW

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

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

Best For durability: Buy: Mujinhua Watercolor Paper For beginner READ REVIEW

Best For classroom projects: Buy: Tecunite Watercolor Paper For beginner READ REVIEW

Best For Professional: Buy: Newbested Watercolor Paper For beginner READ REVIEW

Best With gouache: Buy: Sax Watercolor Paper For beginner READ REVIEW

Best For Cyanotype: Buy: Sax Natural White Paper READ REVIEW

Best Overall: Ucreate Watercolor Paper

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If you often find yourself confused about good paper, ucreate watercolor paper is your solution. It is a must have for your watercolor painting fun. It includes 50 sheets and is perfect for groups or classroom activities. It holds it shape better, less buckling or wonky, and warp bending after painting on it. It is great for kids crafts and basic water coloring.

The three standard watercolor paper weights are 90, 140 and 300 pounds. It is quite thick for such low cost paper. It is ideal for experimenting with various techniques. It is great for large groups or classrooms at the beginner to intermediate levels.

• Sturdy and perfect for water painting
• Great for teaching lessons and for practice
• Excellent stock quality for water paints

Best For portrait: Canson Watercolor Paper For beginner

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The canson watercolor paper for beginner is the best reliable paper on the market today. 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. The paper really holds up to the water and dries quickly. It's big and really takes the paint well.

The paper has great texture and it is fun and flexible to paint on. It works good for half fold cards, you have to cut it down slightly, and the paint will lift so well. It doesn't wrinkle from too much water and it blends colors so well.

• Good size and weight for watercolors and brush pens
• Curls slightly when damp but good paper over all
• Great quality for not letting markers bleed, great for watercolor markers too

Best For Watercolour Painting: Arteza Watercolor Paper For beginner

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This paper is the type of paper that kasey golden uses. Your Arteza watercolor paper is thicker & heavier (140 lb./300gsm), so it can stand up to multiple washes without warping or bleeding through. The quality is actually decent, and you can put a few washes down without having the paper fibers peel up. It allows more control over paint placement.

This paper is fine for one or two strokes over the surface, but once the surface absorbs water any more working tends to form pills. It would be great paper for kids.

• Great sturdy paper, perfect for working wet
• Fantastic for watercolor pens and paint
• Good brand reputation

Best For Media: Amazon basics Watercolor Paper For beginner

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The amazon basics watercolor paper for beginner should be able to handle its purpose and duties with ease. This quality watercolor paper is ideal for amateurs, professionals, and students, with a surface that works beautifully with a variety of mediums. It features a heavy chipboard backing and fold-over cardstock cover. It’s also like a hot press so very smooth. It's easy to take pages out of the book to hang up, give as a present etc.

This is a great drawing pad with really nice-quality paper that does not bleed almost at all. The paper is 140 lbs so it's perfect for watercolor. If you enjoy watercolors, this is a good quality pad. It's perfect for practicing or for a class.

• 140 lb thickness has a nice weight to handle the absorption of ink
• High quality watercolor pad for artists, students, anyone who wants to paint
• Press textural surface that tolerates repeated washes and reworking
• Very thick and the colors do not leak through to the other side

Best For Artist: Ucreate Watercolor Paper For beginner

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This paper is made of wood pulp (cellulose) and not cotton. It is great for an art teacher willing to use a paper cutter. It is ideal for experimenting with various techniques. The Wax paper makes a great tracing paper for doing that along with a paper that will transfer the copy to the paper. It works great for chalk pastels and drawing too. It is great for most mediums but will warp easily with a lot of moisture.

This product is valuable for families. It is great value for the amount of paper as well as the quality.

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

Best For durability: Mujinhua Watercolor Paper For beginner

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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 mujinhua watercolor paper for beginner is exactly that - it's a simple paper that hits all the right notes. This watercolor pad is ready to house your next creative environment. It measures 6.1x 8.7 inches, acid-free (ph neutral) paper –140lb. It offers the perfect solution for beginning to intermediate artists. The heavy weight supports stitch intensive machine embroidery designs without perforation. 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 taking on the road.

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.

• Acid free is definitely a bonus for preserving labor intensive creations
• Nice sturdy paper for beginners very thick and easy to work with
• A nice heavy duty all-purpose paper for multiple mediums

Best For classroom projects: Tecunite Watercolor Paper For beginner

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This is great value for student grade watercolor paper. They work well and hold up with 4-year-olds sopping the color on them. It is used to cut in half and make christmas cards. For kids and beginners it's a fun, inexpensive paper to just play around with.

These watercolor papers enable to move color nicely to show a good vision experience. It takes longer to dry, it definitely ripples/curles as you paint, even if you tape it down. It is made of heavy paper, sufficient quantity is enough for you to share with others. It is good for classroom projects. It’s a little large for the palette but easy to trim and the paper is nice.

• Perfect size and nice quality paper
• Perfect size for kids or a small painting
• Good investment for long term

Best For Professional: Newbested Watercolor Paper For beginner

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The newbested watercolor paper for beginner should be able to handle its purpose and duties with ease. There are really decent, affordable cellulose paper out there. It works well in any printer and has a slightly rougher texture than conventional printer paper. It does buckle some when wet but dries flat. The finish is too smooth and it has a lavender/bluish tint to it. It is easy to pick up pigment. It’s more on the grey/blue tinted side. It is definitely grayish in color.

• Great for drawing, not for watercolor
• One of the new comers and featured product

Best With gouache: Sax Watercolor Paper For beginner

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If you are currently in the market looking for a suitable paper for your daily usage, sax watercolor paper for beginner is the natural choice. This finely textured paper is perfect for a variety of wet application techniques including gouache, acrylics, and of course, watercolors. It would make a rich drawing surface. It easily tears, holds little water, has no texture, and ripples the second watercolor and paint is added to it. The paint and color pulls away.

It builds confidence, encourages creativity and teaches the importance of working as a team. It would be good for it-it's thicker to handle watercolor so it's got some texture to it. It is acid-free for durability and longevity.

• Inspire students to work toward a common creative goal with a group art project
• French-made natural white paper with no added optical brighteners
• Sturdy and stiff enough to use for printing purposes, too
• Stands up to rubbing and repeated washings with low risk or crinkling or tears

Best For Cyanotype: Sax Natural White Paper

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Not everyone likes to purchase paper for their regular usage, but the sax natural white paper would be an anomoly. The additional avenues of communication opened by collaborative art may make it easier for educators to understand and develop individualized strategies for their students with special needs. This finely textured paper is perfect for a variety of wet application techniques including gouache, acrylics, and of course, watercolors. It has the proper amount of sizing.

The Sax Watercolor Paper measuring 12 x 18 inches is ideal for all wet techniques with watercolor, gouache&acrylic. It comes with 90 lb basis weight is acid-free and extremely resistant to repeated washings. It is acid-free for durability and longevity. The Fine-grain texture is smooth, holds mixed media andwatercolor well, dries quickly, ensures very little pigment penetrates beyond the paper's top surface. It is excellent for 19th century photographic processes.

• Hot press with proper amount of sizing added to help with lifts
• Uniform whiteness throughout lends a crisp clean look
• French-made natural white paper with no added optical brighteners