Comparison of Watercolor Papers Texture - Watercolor Art by Dong Li

Watercolor paper texture differs among different brands. Here I will compare the texture of the watercolor papers I have used, making some reference for choosing watercolor paper. The brands to be compared includes French Arches Aquarelle, British Suanders Waterford, German Hahnemuhle, Italian Fabriano Artistico and Baohong Artist from China.

Factors that affect the performance of watercolor painting include painter’s ability, watercolor paper, paint, and brush. Among the three factors other than painter’s skill, watercolor people may have disputes about whether the brush or the paint is more important, but they seem having the common idea that the chosen paper has the greatest impact on painting performance.

The performance of watercolor paper mainly depends on water absorption, paper thickness, consistency, texture, and gelatin sizing. In terms of water penetration, watercolor paper made from wood is never compatible to that of cotton, therefore cotton paper is the first choice for watercolor painting. The watercolor papers to be compared here are all 100% cotton products.

According to the texture, watercolor paper is typically classified into three basic types: fine grain (Hot press), medium rough (Cold Press, NOT) and rough grain (Cold Press Rough). These textures are usually formed by the texture of the material on the surface of the rollers during pressing the drying pulp. The texture formed on the surface of the finished watercolor papers have direct impact on the appearance of brush strokes and the water retention.

Due to the differences in manufacture’s concepts and techniques applied among the mentioned papers, the surface textures are quite different. The texture of one of the cold pressed paper may be equivalent to rough paper of other brands, or might be similar to hot pressed paper of another brand. Therefore, when purchasing watercolor paper, it may be annoying if just following its texture classification. For example, the cold pressed paper of Fabriano Artistico is almost the same to the hot pressed Baohong, while rough Fabriano’s texture is awfully heavy. Following are the details of the comparison of the 5 chosen papers which are all 300 grams (140lb) and 100% cotton:

1. Arches Aquarelle

Arches is handmade paper with irregular texture with reasonable grain magnitude that perfectly dimpled. The pigment granulation is relatively even during the painting process, and the dry stroke presents appropriate grain size. The feeling of painting on Arches is enjoyable so that it is the most desirable watercolor paper in watercolor community.

watercolor paper texture — Arches cold pressed and rough paper

2. Baohong Artist

The appearance of Baohong Artist looks very similar to that of Arches, so that it should be handmade paper as well. While the texture of Baohong is much heavier than the same category of Arches paper and other papers. Dry stroke performance with Baohong cold pressed paper likes other rough papers, so Baohong rough paper is more likely prepared for bold and expressive watercolor painting.

3. Suanders Waterford

The texture of Waterford is moderate, but its texture is more regularly arranged, and the dimple is also light than that of Arches and Baohong artists, which means to achieve the same dry stroke effect as Arches and Baohong, the painter’s brush must be drier.

4. Fabriano Artistico

Fabriano watercolor paper is kind of special. Its cold pressed paper has very gentle texture, which is almost the same to hot pressed paper of other brands. Therefore, the effect of dry stroke is hardly achieved on Fabriano cold pressed paper unless very dry brush applied. The specialty of Fabriano is also noticeable on its rough paper, which has very large dimples textured. Though its dimple size big, but the dimples are very shallow, and very unevenly scattered, that the paper surface between the dimples is kind of flat like hot pressed paper. If you paint dry brush, the stroke is very rough, the pigment deposited in the dimple is very noticeable, and the effect of the dry brush is not very ideal. However, with this characteristic, Fabiano rough paper is more appropriate for painting of large paper size.

5. Hahnemuhle Artist

The cold pressed paper of Hahnemuhle is similar to that of Fabiano, and the texture is relatively smooth, but its rough paper is similar to that of Arches.