It's arts and crafts time, either for you or your kids. Watercolor painting is a great past time for any adult and also a great way to invoke your children's creativity... and occupy them for a good period of time. The watercolors offer vibrant, bright colors and a unique style of painting. If you have your brush, your watercolors, and your art smock, all you need to get is the right kind of paper. Because watercolors are much thinner and more liquid than most paint, it's important to get paper that's specifically made for watercolor painting. There has to be a proper thickness to prevent the paper from becoming deformed. Also, the texture must be appropriate to capture the colors and prevent bleeding and dripping. We've compiled a list of the top five watercolor papers for you and your child's creative outlet.

ZENACOLOR WATERCOLOR BOOK

2 packs in 1

Zenacolor has been a trusted brand in the art industry. So trusted, that "color" is in their name.

Best Overall

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You’ll recognize the Zenacolor name and logo if you’ve ever bought art supplies before. This particular product is a set of two 9×12 inch watercolor paper pads. They each have 32 sheets of thick, 300gsm grain, high quality watercolor paper. The paper is acid-free and will work for acrylic paint or watercolor paint and keep your colors vibrant for a longer time. It can be used for other things than watercolors as well like drawing, pastels, paints, or sketches and works well will brushes, pencils, markers, and more. It’s perfect for any artist, younger or older. When you’re done with your artwork, you can easily detach the page from the book. Zenacolor offers a satisfaction guarantee for thirty days or you get your money back.

Pros:

Money back guarantee for thirty days
Works with dry or wet paint
Pages are easily detachable for when you’re done

Cons:

Only cold-pressed pages are in the books

ARTEZA Watercolor Paper

64 sheets in total

The ARTEZA watercolor paper sketchbook has a total of 64 sheets and each one has been cold-pressed for your watercolors.

Best Cold-Pressed

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The ARTEZA watercolor paper is the best cold-pressed art sketchbook pad. The paper is 9×12 inches and offers 32 sheets per pad, which means this deal includes 64 pages. The pages can go through multiple washes without bleeding through or warping. It’s very thick and heavy, weighing 300 gsm. The texture is great for artwork. It’s not too smooth and not too rough. It’s great for large, even washes and finer detail because it’s slightly textured, or “toothy.” The paper is acid-free so your artwork will last a long time and works on most wet and dry media. They have a satisfaction guarantee so if you have problems with your product, they will send you a replacement for free.

Pros:

Acid-free paper will save your artwork for a long time
Includes 64 pages of paper in total
Has a texture that’s not too smooth or too rough

Cons:

Satisfaction guarantee won’t get your money back, but you will get a replacement

Canson XL Watercolor Textured Paper Pad

When you need to save a buck

The Canson watercolor pad is the best inexpensive option on the market and you won't be disappointed with the product.

Best Deal

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The Canson textured paper pad for watercolors comes at an extra large size of 11×15 inches with an extra small price tag. It works great for watercolors, paints, pencils, charcoal, inks, pastels, and acrylic paint. So if your passion for watercolors turns into a desire to make charcoal portraits, then this paper will work for both. The durable surface will power through repeated washes without warping. There are thirty sheets of cold pressed paper in the pad that are extremely thick with 300 gsm. Each page is completely acid-free to protect your artwork for a long time. This is the perfect pad if you’re just starting out and don’t want to spend a whole lot of money to find out that it’s not something you’re interested in. The cover folds over to make it easier to work on.

Pros:

Fold-over cover makes it easier to paint
Has a 300 gsm thickness
Will go through repeated washes without warping

Cons:

Doesn’t offer a money back guarantee

Arches Watercolor Paper Pad

Too hot to handle

The Arches watercolor paper has been hot-pressed which makes it perfect for portraits and other specific subjects.

Best Hot-Pressed

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The Arches watercolor paper pad is the best hot-pressed option we reviewed The pages are ten inches by fourteen inches and the paper pad includes 12 sheets of paper. The hot-pressed paper is great for portraits and focuses the viewer’s attention on the subject of the artwork, which emphasizes the drawing. Each sheet is made of long fibers that create a thick, durable, and resilient piece of paper. Every sheet is dunked in a bath of natural gelatin and air dried to add even more durability and strength to the paper. The quality control of Arches is unmatched as they inspect, test, and monitor each sheet to make sure that you’re getting the finest quality paper.

Pros:

Our favorite hot-pressed paper pad
Dunked in a bath of gelatin for extra protection
Arches offers the excellent quality control

Cons:

The pack only contains twelve sheets of paper, so you’ll have to buy multiple pads for more paper

Bellofy Watercolor Paper Pad

Great for kids

The Bellofy watercolor paper is the most durable, so if you're worried about kids making a mess, then this is the paper for you.

Best Durability

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The Bellofy watercolor paper pad includes 50 sheets of acid free paper. It’s extremely durable and promises not to bleed through. Each sheet is 9 inches by 12 inches in size and comes cold-pressed. They each have a weight and thickness of 190 gsm. The pages are bound to the pad by glue that makes them very easily detachable to use whenever the mood strikes you. The sheets are high quality and come with a thin design to make it comfortable to paint on. The paper works with markers and paints if you want to venture into sketching, drawing, and painting things without watercolors. Bellofy offers a money back guarantee if you’re not completely satisfied with their product.

Pros:

The pad has fifty sheets of paper, more than any other pad
Bellofy offers a money back guarantee
The glue bond make the pages easily detachable

Cons:

With 190 gsm, these pages aren’t as thick and heavy as the other paper pads

Frequently Asked Questions

What is GSM?

GSM stands for grams per square meter and is a measurement of the weight of paper. The higher GSM, the heavier and thicker the paper will be.

What’s the difference between hot pressed and cold pressed paper?

Basically, the difference between hot and cold pressed paper is the texture of the paper. Hot pressed paper will have a very smooth finish while cold pressed paper will be rougher, slightly bumpy, and have more texture.

Will this paper warp?

Any paper will warp if you use too much water, but these paper pads are designed not to warp if the proper amount of water is used. You can also stretch the sheet to prevent warping.