How Do You Choose the Right Paper for Drawing?

Drawing has been a kind of art since the beginning of time when man first began to doodle on cave walls. Notably, drawing and sketching are more than just artistic pursuits. They lay the foundation for all artistic endeavors.

However, starting takes more effort than picking up a pencil and some paper. The right drawing paper is necessary to achieve the desired results.

Fortunately, we can help if you are new to drawing or want to know what factors to consider while purchasing your artistic needs. Learn more about choosing quality paper for your drawings.

Factors To Consider While Choosing the Right Paper for Drawing

Material

Wood pulp is used to make recycled drawing paper. Significantly, lignin, a polymer found in plant cell walls, is in wood pulp. The lignin in the paper will cause it to fade and yellow over time. One example of this type of paper is the newsprint.

However, cotton is used to make the best quality paper, also known as a rag or cotton rag. Cotton is inherently lignin-free and will not degrade like wood pulp paper. 

Cotton papers are long-lasting and resilient, making them an excellent choice for artists who want to produce lasting work.

Cold Pressed vs. Hot Pressed

These words are commonly used to describe watercolor paper.

The cold-pressed paper has some roughness and a harsher feel to it. However, hot-pressed paper is smoother and provides more detail.

When purchasing paper, it is essential to use high-quality paper. For drawing, many experienced painters like to use good hot-pressed watercolor paper, such as Arches hot-pressed watercolor paper.

The sort of pencil you use should also be considered. A softer pencil works well on a smooth paper surface, such as hot-pressed watercolor paper.

Ensure It’s Acid-Free

It is essential to ensure that the sketching paper you purchase is acid-free. If it isn’t, what you’ve worked on may eventually be destroyed by deterioration. The drawing paper and your work may be impacted years from now, even though it has typically been treated with calcium carbonate to make it acid-free.

Rag papers, on the other hand, are naturally acid-free and are, therefore, less likely to degrade. If you want your artwork to last, archival papers—which are what they’re called—are your greatest option.

Finding the Right Weight and Tooth

Of course, a paper’s weight and tooth can reveal a lot about its toughness and usefulness.

The term “weight” describes how thick and heavy the paper is. It goes without saying that the more the paper can handle, the thicker it is. In essence, choosing a thicker sheet will increase the likelihood that it will resist curling or tearing when exposed to various paints and even water. 

If you’re seeking heavy-weight drawing paper, several options are also available in the 90-110 lb range. Drawing papers should preferably be between 70 and 80 lb.

The term “tooth” describes the paper’s texture or how smooth or rough it is. Generally, rougher papers work well for soft charcoal and pastels, while those with less bite are best for finer details, pen and ink, harder graphite, and other media.

For My Artwork, What Kind of Paper Should I Choose?

Newsprint

This paper is often used to assist students learning to sketch or artists who want to sketch their ideas. It is not usually acid-free and yellows over time. Markers, graphite, charcoal, carbon, drawing chalks, monochrome chalk, and oil pencils perform well on this paper. 

Bristol

This fairly common and adaptable paper is utilized in many industries and colleges. Bristol refers to papers in which two or more sheets are pasted together to produce 2-ply, 3-ply, and so on to achieve stiffness and strength and form a sheet with two identical usable felt or top sides. 

Bristol paper has two surfaces: smooth and vellum. Bristol is perfect for pen and ink, airbrushing, and precise work with colored pencils or graphite. The vellum surface is suitable for graphite, charcoal, airbrush, pastel, crayon, colored pencils, and pen & ink.

Sketch

Drawing paper is a lighter form of Sketching paper. It is commonly used for drawing practice, experimenting with dry mediums, and short studies for finished drawings on heavier, higher-quality paper. 

Many painters retain sketchbooks with this type of paper to serve as references in future compositions. Colored pencils, graphite, charcoal drawing chalks, monochrome chalks, and oil pencils function best on sketching paper. 

Drawing

Drawing paper is heavier and of higher quality than sketching paper. It is frequently used for both sketching and final work. Graphite,  dry monochromes, soft pastels, oil pastels, charcoal, and ink are the best mediums for drawing paper. Rembrandt created numerous drawings with pen and brown ink that are fascinating to study.

Pastel

Pastel paper features a unique smooth surface on one side and a pebbled appearance on one side. It works well with pastels, charcoal, drawing chalks, monochromes, and colored pencils. Some artists even utilize light watercolor washes as an underpainting. 

Mary Cassatt and her great friend Edgar Degas were well-known artists who worked on this material. For much of her work, Mary Cassatt favored blue-toned pastel paper.

Bottomline 

Your approach and aesthetic vision are critical in selecting the best surface texture.

Even if you appreciate drawing detail, you may want to avoid smoother sheets if your sketching style requires many layers. Find a paper with enough bite to take many layers while remaining smooth enough to draw detail.

Conversely, smoothing paper is usually preferable if only applying color in a few layers. And, if you want to lay down a lot of colors quickly and are okay with details, consider rough paper.

Finally, for those who enjoy experimenting, try different types of sheets for different subjects or effects. No law says you must always draw the same way—or on the same paper!