The 8 Best Watercolour Art Papers (2023 reviews)

Are you planning to buy watercolour art papers, and are you confused about the options ? Your search ends here.

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Our Top Picks:

Best Overall: Buy: Arteza Watercolour Art Paper READ REVIEW

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

Best For Artist: Buy: Ucreate Watercolour Art Paper READ REVIEW

Best With gouache: Buy: Winsor Newton Watercolour Art Paper READ REVIEW

Best For practice: Buy: Fabriano Watercolour Art Paper READ REVIEW

Best For Acrylic: Buy: unknown Watercolour Art Paper READ REVIEW

Best For ease: Buy: Messketeers Watercolour Art Paper READ REVIEW

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

Best Overall: Arteza Watercolour Art Paper

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The arteza watercolour art paper's high-end materials makes sure that it ages well with use. These are separate sheets of watercolor paper that you can use any type of watercolor with. It is used to paint water color paintings. On the bright side, the paper's texture is really nice, takes painting really good and has a beautiful ivory color. The paint flow and ability to handle water is pretty decent. It works fine enough with acrylic style gouache techniques, which is when you use less water and more paint, and you use it like it is acrylics.

The paper quality is great, very textured. It is great for water colors and scetching. It is easy to carry around and keep in one place or to remove the pages.

• Serrated tear offs for easy removal from sketchbook
• Endurable and thick enough to scrape off and remove paint
• Can hold a lot of water
• Great size and paper quality for a beginner

Best For beginners: Strathmore Watercolour Art Paper

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Strathmore Watercolor pads are top-of-the line for any art project. The 300 series watercolor paper pad contains 12 sheets of heavyweight, student grade, watercolor paper with a cold press surface. They are awesome for illustrations and heavy duty acrylic paintings and washes.

The quality of the paper is great for watercolor to look sharp and dries fast and great. This is a great way to try all of the different patterns. This paper is fine for the beginner who has no experience. It is good paper for water coloring. It is best quality art paper for anything including, pastels, watercolors, sketch drawings, and charcoal + paint drawings if you're carful enough.

• Lifting is easy, providing you do not use staining watercolors
• Holds watercolors well without running or curling
• Great paper, very thick and sturdy
• Excellent paper that responds to water well

Best For Artist: Ucreate Watercolour Art Paper

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Ucreate 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 pretty much like painting on poster board. It works great for chalk pastels and drawing too. It's a watercolor paper so it's not smooth as silk. It is able to light the box through multiple sheets for transferring art. It works well for pencil and acrylic practice too.

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 ideal for experimenting with various techniques. It is a great buy on paper or to use for yardstick or card dies.

• Great for practice or for kids
• Good investment for long term

Best With gouache: Winsor Newton Watercolour Art Paper

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Compared with other paper in this category, the winsor newton watercolour art paper has a convenient design. This 100% cotton paper is lovely. It is made with 100% archival grade cellulose wood pulp and natural artesian spring water with neutral ph properties. It has a nice texture. It’s strong enough to rough up and you can lift paint easily. The 5x7 wire bound is the only one which is 100% cotton.

This paper often produces the brightest water colour paintings because its increased surface area holds more colour and therefore reflects more light. There are 15 sheets and you can paint on both sides. It's workable though and its a very impressive quality paper if you are creating watercolor and pen and ink designs. This is just as good or better than Arches and other cotton papers.

• Nice watercolor surface without being linty or too smooth and slippery
• Cotton and a 25% cotton/cellulose combo
• A nice toothy texture while not being overly toothy
• Retains color brilliance, very smooth surface

Best For practice: Fabriano Watercolour Art Paper

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We would, of course, be remiss if we didn't mention fabriano watercolour art paper for regular usage. This is 100 % cotton paper, gummed on all sides. It works very well for wet brush on wet paper. The sheets are roughly post card sized. This block is glue-bound on all four sides, with a small open portion to insert a knife to cut off the top sheet after you complete a painting. It has a great textured surface, not to rough or in a uniformed pattern as some papers have.

The paper is good quality 100% cotton. It stays wet a good amount of time. It's 100 percent cotton and it's easy to remove mistakes made while painting.

• Holds the colour right, not much fading
• Very sturdy paper and can be worked into many times
• Lot of satisfied buyers

Best For Acrylic: unknown Watercolour Art Paper

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Unknown is known for creating pragmatic and minimalist paper for people on the go, and its line of unknown watercolour art paper definitely falls in line with that reputation. This hot pressed block of watercolor sheets is top for drawing and rendering true tone. It has a smooth texture (versus a little bumpy in standard watercolor paper like swarthmore) and is white versus eggshell. It is made of 100 percent cotton ribbons and has a two sided decked edge. This paper has a lovely smooth surface and takes paint as well as water glazes very well while drying absolutely flat.

This paper is really good and is awesome for beginners and many uses. The paper size is perfect for gouache, acrylic, ink and charcoal.

• 5 x7 perfect size for painting birds or other small scenes
• Non waxed edge for sliding knife to release from block
• Good brand reputation

Best For ease: Messketeers Watercolour Art Paper

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The messketeers watercolour art paper's material feels more premium than its price would suggest. These products are designed for professional artists, so that you can sell your work. It works with an array of mixed medias. It is perfect for wet media including watercolor, tempera, acrylic, gouache, and poster paint. It is designed for portability and ease to carry around.

• Dense texture of the natural fibres, very smooth and archival quality papers
• Chlorine and acid free ideal for all fine art techniques
• Wet and dry, internally and externally sized for ideal absorbance
• Hard cover with perforated edge for the perfect tear

Best heavyweight Paper: Seawhite OF Brighton Watercolour Art Paper

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Seawhite Of Brighton offers a variety of paper for personal choice and yet maintaining quality in all the variants. 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
• New and hot release