Surely everyone remembers the situation from childhood, when you draw with felt-tip pens on ordinary paper, but it does not hold up and imprints on the table, and maybe on the tablecloth, which is worse. Fortunately, now we have at our disposal a huge number of manufacturers and types of paper and it is important for your work not to get confused in this variety. Let’s figure it out together.
In this article we will talk about watercolor paper. It has the most questions, as watercolor is primarily water and pigment and much depends on how the paper “make friends” with them.
The texture of paper for painting with watercolor is divided into three main groups:
- Fine grain (satin) – a fairly smooth texture obtained by hot pressing the paper. Suitable for fine detailing and flattering, botanical painting. In fact, will also be good for portraits and watercolor sketches of the figure, as the grain will not be distracting and create additional “noise”.
- Medium grain (fin) – can be called a universal paper, as it is suitable for different techniques and tasks: on it will look good and landscapes, and large format, and beautiful fills with granulating watercolor. This paper is produced by cold pressing. It is ideal for beginners, as it is not capricious in work and it is easy to get a spectacular result with minimal effort.
- Coarse grain (torchon/rough) – most often obtained by drying without squeezing. In this way the paper acquires large bumps and hollows resembling the skin of an elephant. This kind of paper is not quite suitable for detailing and portraits, but it will be comfortable for expressive techniques and dry brush work. On such paper it is easy to get beautiful divorces and interesting effects, but realistic stylistics with this paper is extremely problematic.
In addition to these three varieties, we can also mention the paper with non-standard embossing-linen, shell, leather. All these papers are most often of low density and are more suitable for stretching on a tablet. Plus, at its core, this paper is similar to good old-fashioned absorbent cotton. Which means it’s cellulose. The low density prevents watercolor from making even a few layers and shows lint extremely quickly. Hemp and linen are pleasant enough in texture on their own, but leather has too large creases to allow portraits, anything jewelry or fabric to be painted on it. Rather, such paper can be used for dense colors-acrylic, gouache, tempera.
Among the paper’s compositions, two ingredients are worth noting first: cotton and cellulose.
It’s hard to pick favorites between them, as everyone may have different goals and skills. Yes, and elementary, the habit of working with this or that amount of water. But still for practicing skills it is better to start with cellulose – firstly, it is more budget-friendly. And at the beginning of your creative journey you must and will make mistakes, to make out, it will take quite a lot of paper, so the ideal option is cellulose. It’s predictable, dries quickly, and lays down more evenly than cotton. In essence, pulp is wood.
In principle, wood will not absorb the paint deeply, and as a consequence, it is convenient to work on it for flattering. But it is also possible to master on it, if you work in a single layer. The paper will bear corrections on a quick hand, but old layers will not be washed out.
Rather quickly lint can appear, be careful. However, despite the disadvantages, the cellulose has a weighty pluses – it does not “eat” the color. This is very important for the beginning of work with watercolor, as you get after drying the result that was in the process.