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Author: Murray_Cholowsky, Contributing Editor
| Introduction:
I hope this article will give you some insight on choosing the right paper for you. Sometimes, selecting the right paper will depend on what your drawing subject is and the overall look you want to achieve in your drawing. I will try to explain the different types of papers and also try to mention the mediums and subjects which best suit each paper. There are MANY different types and brands of papers out there and I probably won't touch on all of them. In the end, the paper you choose is totally up to you. The best advice I can give is to try them yourself and see if they are to your liking. The one thing I hope to accomplish is to help you discern the difference between types of papers and brand names of paper. I didn't know the difference when I first started, and went into the art supply store looking for "vellum paper", not realizing that while Vellum used to be a parchment-type 'paper' made from calfskin, now vellum can be a translucent paper or a type of finish on many different brands and types of paper. Tips on choosing papers: Paper is made from fibers pressed into sheets. The more expensive paper will be 100% rag fibers, cotton or linen; less expensive are only part rag, and part chemically treated wood pulp. There are three common types of pressed paper, hot-press, cold-press and rough. Hot press paper has a smoother finish and comes in various weights. Smooth paper will allow fine detail work as well as softer blending, but doesn't have enough grain or 'tooth' to hold pastels, colored chalks or charcoal. Cold-press/rough paper has a coarser finish (as implied by the name). Papers with more grain, or "tooth" will give you darker values because they will hold more graphite, and are ideal for pastel and charcoal drawings. The paper's weight will generally determine its thickness and density. Using a heavier 90lb weight or more will usually allow more tolerance for repeated erasing and will accept some wash work without buckling the paper, depending on the weight. Using an acid-free archival paper will ensure your drawings will withstand the test of time. Do not use your good paper for sketching out your ideas. Use newsprint or lesser grade drawing pads for this. Reserve your good paper for your final drawings. |
| PAPER TYPES/BRANDS
#1 Smooth Papers: Often called hot-pressed paper. Great for ink and graphite drawings. Provides good surface for contrasts, light and shade effects. Great paper for drawing portraits. #2 Fine Grain Paper: Good paper for graphite, wax and colored pencils. Works well for smoothness of shading and tonal blending. #3 Medium Grain Paper: Suitable for pastels, colored chalk, crayon and washes such as watercolor and inks. #4 Course Grain Paper: Is pretty much used for watercolor work. #5 Ingres Paper: Ingres paper has a ribbed or woven laid finish and has been around for over a 100 years. A medium weight paper, with some tooth, excellent for charcoal, conte and pastels, good for ink and graphite. The texture can create an interesting, consistent effect to your graphite drawings. Heavier weight Ingres was one of Van Gogh's favourite papers for watercolors. Available in many colors and weights, Ingres is made by many manufacturers. #6 Canson Colored Papers (Mi-Tientes): A brand-name paper. Mi-Tientes has a 65% rag content, a 98 lb. weight and is gelatine-sized, making it very strong and allowing repeated reworking in a variety of media. The Mi-Teintes sheet has two distinct surface textures, one side smooth and the other grainy, providing a good texture for charcoal, pastels, colored pencil and conte'. Because the color goes all the way through the paper, you don't have to worry about rubbing it off. The color is also lightfast, to ensure the test of time. #7 Bristol Board: Multipurpose paper with medium or plate finish. Plate is great for ink work and will also take wash work. Ideal for fine detail work. Vellum-finish (medium or kid finish bristol) is smooth enough for ink work but has enough tooth to accept graphite, colored pencil, pastel and charcoal. #8 Illustration Boards: Come in both archival and non-archival and also available in smooth (hot-pressed plate) and medium (cold-pressed). Strathmore 500 is more durable than most illustration boards and holds up to excessive erasing. Examples of Illustration Boards: Bainbridge: high quality paper, excellent for illustrations Crescent: available in wide range of styles & surfaces Strathmore 500 series Bristol: (created in 1893)100% rag paper. Available in lightweight (Series 500 Charcoal paper) and heavyweight; and 'regular' (cold press) and 'plate' (hot-press) finishes. #9 Arches 140lb hot press paper. A brand name paper. An all round good paper that has a smooth and rough side. Using the smooth side will give you the ability to create fine detail work as well as holding a moderate amount of graphite to render some darker values. The coarser side is suitable for watercolour, pastel, charcoal and conte. Will accept a wash without excessive buckling. #10 Strathmore 400 series: This is a brand name paper. On this non-rag paper, you can use crayon, pencil, pen & ink, charcoal, washes, paints & markers. Its non-reflective & uniform surface is particularly suited to line drawings & technical artwork. This paper has some random tooth to it but will not last the test of time, although it has been recently modified to "acid-free". It is a good paper to do your sketching on. #11 - Yupo: This is a brand name paper, not really suitable for 'drawing' per se, but you might hear about it and be curious, as I was. Machine-made in the USA of 100% polypropylene, neutral pH, no deckles, smooth surface. Yupo is waterproof, stain resistant and incredibly strong. Ideal for offset printing, silkscreen and debossing. Watercolor professionals have also found it to be very receptive for various aqueous techniques. #12 - Stonehenge: A brand name paper, this machine made, 100% rag, neutral pH paper is ideal for etching, silkscreen and drawing, with graphite to colored pencil. Has a fine, even grain and two deckle edges. Comparable to 140 lb paper. #11 Common brands of Drawing paper: Strathmore, Arches, Canson & Montgolfier, Daler, Fabriano, Grumbacher, Guarro, Schoeller Parole and Whatman. CLICK HERE for a Glossary of Paper Related Terms |
| WC Member Statements on Drawing Papers/Surfaces: GRAPHITE (pencil)
Mike Sibley (WC name: Mike Sibley) I tried a variety of papers in the early days - cartridge paper, for example - but I found that Ivorex best suited my emerging style. From then on, my style grew in line with the possibilities that Ivorex presented. I use Ivorex (recently rebranded Mellotex). About 350gsm weight - (grams per square metre) - I've no idea what that is in pounds. It has a very fine fibre with a flat and almost smooth surface. This makes it ideal for very fine, light, delicate work, while at the same time having sufficient tooth to hold 2B (or 6B burnished with 2B). It also allows incising as the tight structure gives almost-perfect clean edges to any incised line. I do like a hard surface on which to draw and Ivorex on a melamine or plastic laminate covered board works well for me. From this you can see that I dislike using illustration boards or any "soft" support - there is nothing worse than having my drawing surface sink beneath my pencil. Although I erase with Blu Tack almost all of the time, if I need to finish with a soft art eraser I know that Ivorex can withstand severe erasing without damage to its structure. It's very rare for fibres to lift in these situations. The smooth nature of Ivorex is also probably the main reason why I don't add underlying tones, as some artists do, because this merely partially fills the tooth. I protect the tooth as much as possible - so I prefer to tackle and complete one small area at a time. This often involves working from dark to light as I can easily remove or tone down dark areas but I cannot successfully apply, for instance, 2B over an area of 4H. Once the tooth is filled it becomes unavailable. Although I can use this to my advantage by drawing in highlights first in 2H or 4H in the sure knowledge that later application of 2B or 6B will not adhere to these areas. Finally, because I draw to produce prints it is essential that my support be flexible enough to bend around the drum of a laser scanner. I know it's possible to roll the top surface off supports like illustration board in order to drum scan them but I'd rather not subject my work to this treatment. It's strong and stays flat. It can be curved around the drum on a laser drum scanner It can take an enormous amount of punishment before a single fibre lifts It's very smooth with just enough tooth to take 6B - although I prefer to use 2B for most purposes. It will turn cream if exposed to sunlight. The newer stock is better - years ago it used to turn cream while I was working on it! Printers use it extensively if they want to use non-coated stock. It's a UK product. Although DALER use it to produce a sketchpad so it may be available in that form abroad. To be perfectly honest I've no idea if it's acid free. All I can say is that I have original drawings from 25 years ago on my studio wall that still look good. I would hope that it's at least pH neutral. Actually (correct me if I'm wrong) it seems that many people call a paper "acid free" if it's pH neutral but I think the term only really belongs to rag paper. Surely any paper with a wood-pulp content has to contain lignin and therefore cannot be acid free? Linda (WC name: imaginee) I have been using Bienfang Smooth Surface Bristol for over a year, it's acid free, 148lb and I think it's great! I love that it is heavy paper and can take a beating. I draw graphite pencil portraits, with the Smooth Bristol I can place many layers of Graphite down and blend/or erase repeatedly without any problems, the paper has not torn or buckled, ever. Before using the Bristol for my work, I used lightweight sketching/drawing paper and I found it was very poor looking; the paper never held up and I could never press as hard and work in so many layers as I do now. Paul (WC name:ArtMusicFilm) I have tried many types of paper/board with varying degrees of success and in my humble opinion the more expensive paper isn't necessarily the best, depending on your style and what you're trying to achieve. I have been using Bienfang PH Neutral/Acid Free 70lb drawing paper from an inexpensive pad I purchased for $4.00! It soaks up the graphite and leaves a nice even sheen. I am extremely demanding when it comes to my art and I like to have no visible blemishes if possible. The Bienfang paper does what I need it to. Armin (WC name: Eclipse) I don’t use “normal” drawing paper or board, I use acid free mat board. I found that the texture of this substrate mimics skin textures of older models. Since it is not produced with drawing in mind, you have to inspect each piece for abnormalities in the surface and that’s rather hard to detect. The kind I use is just slightly off-white, I like the warmth of the color. I don’t necessary recommend this because it was rather hard to get used to but once I did it worked out great. Cathy Sheeter (WC name: Crias) My preferred paper for graphite drawings is smooth bristol made by Strathmore. There are a number of things I like about this paper. In the United States it is very easy to find and comes in many different sizes. The paper is heavy weight and doesn't rip or bend too easily. It is not inexpensive, but also not overly pricey either. In my graphite work I use primarily HB lead for the majority of the drawing. I find that the paper takes the lightest pencil strokes but also holds up well to multiple layers. I have heard some people complain that the smooth bristol does not take enough layers, but I have never had a problem. It also cleans up well with various types of erasers. I like the smooth tooth of the paper, as my preference is to work in fine detail and with this paper there is no texture to get in the way. Matti Kataja (WC member name: Matti Kataja) Lately I have exclusively used Arches 300g/m2 hot press watercolor paper. It provides durable and thick surface which takes all tones in easily, the entire tonal range. With previous paper brands I used this wasnt so, so a correct layering was the greatest issue. Because of the Arches ability to suck in the graphite so well my style has eventually moved more toward high contrasty drawings, total black backgrounds (with no glare) are usually preferred. The downside with this specific paper is that it might get a dirty look if you don't use a careful approach. Too much blending breaks the surface and causes "canvas effect" which might make tones look messy. What can also be considered as a negative feature is that the paper isn't totally white, it's more like off-white with a brownish tint to it. Overall, Arches paper is a great and easy paper to live and work with. Basically you dont have to think about layering too much, just put in the graphite where it belongs. |
| WC Member Statements on Drawing Papers/Surfaces: COLORED PENCILS
Alida Saxon (WC member name: Seian) I use almost exclusively the Strathmore Artagain line of papers. It's from their 400 series, a 50% plus recycled, acid-free, 60 lb paper that comes in several colors and black. The colored papers have a fiber pattern which I find attractive, especially when you allow some of it to show with the finished piece. The black holds up very well to erasing, unlike other black papers I've tried, and it brings a very distinct mood to a piece. Night and low-light scenes can be expressed with greater ease and drama. Some colors seem more brilliant and the use of many colors had to be relearned because on dark papers opacity becomes more important. Yellows can tend to look green, requiring some experimentation and careful application. It's advertised to be ideal for soft pastels and charcoal, but I haven't found a paper I like better for CP. I could only wish that they produced a heavier weight paper for the larger, loose sheets. Angela (WC member name: cathexis) What you will find most CP artists will tell you is that Rising Stonehenge is the primo paper for CP work. It is heavyweight enough to take many layers, which is one of the primary concerns with CP. The problem that I have with Stonehenge is that you can only purchase it in sheets and can no longer get it in tablet form. This is rather inconvenient for the artist with limited storage or the artist like me, who has a tendency to slice off bits of fingers when working with an exacto knife. Fabriano 140# Hot Press Watercolor blocks and Strathmore 500 series Bristol Board have also been reported to give good results. I recently have purchased a block of Lanaquerelle Hot Press on the advice of someone else in the CP channel; but haven't worked on it as of yet. It is almost easier to tell you what doesn't work with CP... I recently had a disastrous encounter with Staples brand Inkjet cardstock. See my thread entitled Learned what paper NOT to use! Have also had bad results with Canson drawing paper. Nicole (WC name: CAULFIELD) I use Art Spectrum Colourfix lightly sanded pastel paper for my colored pencil drawings and I love it! You can achieve vibrant colors and depth much quicker than with other papers I've tried. |
| WC Member Statements on Drawing Papers/Surfaces: Pen & Inks
Charissa (WC name: sassybird) One paper that I use for multiple mediums is Stonehenge, 300lb hot pressed. I use it for all of my ink drawings now, colored pencil, watercolor, pastels, monotypes, intaglio prints etc... It is the most versitile paper I have ever found, and I buy it by parent size sheets, 24x30", 20 sheets at a time. It is reasonably priced, compared to a lot of other papers, and will take a lot of abuse. Danny (WC name: drwells) I use Canson smooth bristol mostly with my ballpoint; it has a very smooth surface and the ink seems to go on it smoother tooth. (100lb) The other paper I use is Strathmore 300 series smooth bristol. It has a little more tooth and seems to be a little less bright white. I believe it is also 100lb. Both are acid free and archival. I use some handmade papers but the tooth on them really eats the micron tips. Still, it is fun if you want to draw on something with a lot of texture. Last, Canson brand pastel paper. The texture is fun, it comes in multiple colors, takes ink well, and you can put chalk on top of it. Vince (WC Name: VineeD) I first started drawing with ball point pens and some rapidograph pens on standard typing paper. I found that to be a problem because of the thinness of the paper. I switched to regular off the shelf drawing pads and found that the paper tended to fade or brown the ink. The problem was that the paper was not acid free. I then started to experiment with different types of acid free papers and found that I like the Bristol cold press papers but the cost was a bit higher. So, more experimenting was done. I now use a 100% acid-free Hammer Mill paper that is 80 lbs., Photo White (96) Cover Stock, made for Color Laser Copy Machines. It has a smoother finish but still enough surface to hold the ink. It drys quickly and doesn't smear. It holds a great depth of media and can take a lot of working without warping. Bottom line, heavier weight, 100% acid free, some surface (tooth) but not too rough. |
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| B i o g r a p h y | |
| Murray Cholowsky is a part-time, self-taught artist who resides in a small town from Alberta Canada. He is partially color-blind so his choice of mediums are, graphite, charcoal and pen & ink. | |
| He also has interests in music, guitar and woodworking/carving. | |
| E-Mail: artdude@email.com Web Site: http://www.pencil2pen.com | |
