Painting & drawing blog
WATERCOLOUR PAPERS COMPARISON
Whatever your budget, choosing the right watercolour paper can be a bit of a minefield! Even once you’ve worked out which criteria to look out for, paper manufacturers are not always forthcoming about their ingredients and methods. In this post I’ve assembled as much information as possible about well-known watercolour papers to help you to choose the best one for your work. This list focuses on papers which are readily available in the UK, but excludes some of the cheapest ‘student’ quality ranges.
For each paper range I’ve noted whether the paper is made from cotton fibre or wood pulp fibre, what type of mould it is made on and what kind of sizing is applied to it. If you have any corrections please let me know! Vegetarians or vegans will want avoid gelatin sizing, whilst some artists prefer and will seek out a gelatin-sized paper because they prefer the way that it takes paint washes. You can read this post on watercolour paper to learn more about this.
ARCHES: AQUARELLE
100% Cotton fibre paper, cylindrical mould made
Internal and external sizing (gelatin)
Available in loose sheets, blocks or pads
No Optical Brightening Agents
FABRIANO: ARTISTICO
100% Cotton fibre paper, cylindrical mould made
Internal and external sizing (not animal derived)
Available in loose sheets, blocks or pads
No Optical Brightening Agents
ST CUTHBERTS MILL: SANDERS WATERFORD
100% Cotton fibre paper, cylindrical mould made
Internal and external sizing (not animal derived)
Available in loose sheets or blocks
No Optical Brightening Agents
ST CUTHBERTS MILL: MILLFORD
100% Cotton fibre paper, cylindrical mould made
Internal sizing (not animal derived)
Available in loose sheets or blocks
No Optical Brightening Agents
DALER-ROWNEY: LANGTON PRESTIGE
100% Cotton fibre paper, cylindrical mould made
External sizing (gelatin)
Available in loose sheets, blocks or pads
OBAs: no information provided
CANSON: MOULIN DU ROY
100% Cotton fibre paper, cylindrical mould made
Internal and external sizing (not animal derived)
Available in loose sheets, blocks or pads
No Optical Brightening Agents
CANSON: HERITAGE L’AQUARELLE
100% Cotton fibre paper, cylindrical mould made
External sizing (not animal derived)
Available in loose sheets, blocks or pads
No Optical Brightening Agents
WINSOR & NEWTON: PROFESSIONAL WATERCOLOUR PAPER
100% Cotton fibre paper, cylindrical mould made
Internal and external sizing (gelatin)
Available in loose sheets, blocks or pads
No Optical Brightening Agents
LEGION: STONEHENGE AQUA
100% Cotton fibre paper, cylindrical mould made
Internal and external sizing (not animal derived)
Available in loose sheets or blocks
No Optical Brightening Agents
FABRIANO: 5
50% Cotton fibre, 50% Wood pulp paper, cylindrical mould made
External sizing (not animal derived)
Available in loose sheets, blocks or pads
Optical Brightening Agents added
ST CUTHBERTS MILL: BOCKINGFORD
100% Wood pulp paper, cylindrical mould made
Internal sizing (not animal derived)
Available in loose sheets, blocks or pads
No Optical Brightening Agents
ST CUTHBERTS MILL: BOTANICAL ULTRA SMOOTH
50% Cotton fibre, 50% Wood pulp paper, cylindrical mould made
External sizing (not animal derived)
Available in loose sheets or pads
Optical Brightening Agents added
FABRIANO: WATERCOLOUR STUDIO
25% Cotton fibre, 75% Wood pulp paper
Internal and external sizing (not animal derived)
Available in loose sheets or pads
OBAs: no information provided
WINSOR & NEWTON: CLASSIC WATERCOLOUR PAPER
100% Wood pulp paper, cylindrical mould made
Internal and external sizing (gelatin)
Available in loose sheets or pads
No Optical Brightening Agents
DALER-ROWNEY: LANGTON
100% Wood pulp paper, cylindrical mould made
External sizing (not animal derived)
Available in loose sheets, blocks or pads
OBAs: no information provided
DALER-ROWNEY: AQUAFINE
100% Wood pulp paper, Fourdrinier machine made
Internal and external sizing, type not known
Available in loose sheets, blocks or pads
No Optical Brightening Agents
DALER-ROWNEY: SIMPLY WATERCOLOUR PAPER
100% Wood pulp paper, Fourdrinier machine made
Sizing: no information provided
Available in pads
OBAs: no information provided
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