As soon as you walk into an art store, you can easily get confused by the different types, brands, textures, and weights of art paper. Why are there so many different types of art paper? How should you choose perfect wholesale art suppliers for your project? Well, to know the answer to these questions, you need to be intimately familiar with the terms and types of art paper. By the end of this article, you will know which art paper you should choose for your project.
So, without further ado, let’s start with some of the basic terms of art paper below:
Ø Acid-Free
Acid-free paper is buffered with calcium carbonate to neutralize the acid absorbed from the air. If the paper is not acid-free, then it can turn yellow or deteriorate over time.
Ø Surface Texture
If you plan to work in many layers, then you need to consider the surface texture of the art paper. You should choose:
- Rough paper tooth for watercolor laydown
- Semi-Tooth for pencil laydown
- Smooth paper tooth for fine marker laydown
- Ultra-Smooth for mechanical pencil laydown
Ø Weight
A heavier-weight art paper can handle more layers, techniques, and water. You should know that the individual sheets do not determine the paperweight. A ream of 500 sheets determines it weighed together at the factory.
Ø Size
The size of the art paper also matters when you are working. You should select the size according to the project you plan to work on.
Types of Art Paper
Art paper comprises plant fibers like wood and cotton and other fibers like straw, rice, hemp, and flax. Now that you know the primary terms, let’s discuss below the types of art paper so you can learn how to properly use them for your projects:
Newsprint
This art paper is best for beginners and for those who are learning to sketch. It is mostly used for temporary purposes as it is not acid-free and tends to yellow over time.
Sketch
This lightweight art paper is used to practice drawing and experimenting with dry media. Many artists use this paper in sketchbooks for references in future compositions.
Charcoal
It is 100% cotton with a unique laid finish. Charcoal art paper is mostly used to gain precise shading control. It works best with monochromes, pastels, graphite, and drawing chalks.
Bristol
Bristol is most commonly used in colleges and industries. It refers to papers in which two or more sheets are pasted together to form 2 ply, 3ply. It comes in two different types of surfaces:
- Smooth (plate)
- Vellum (with tooth)
Layout Bond
This semi-opaque paper is typically used by designers, artists, and calligraphers. It responds well to colored pencils, graphite, chalk, charcoal, and monochrome pencils.
Oil Painting
Oil painting paper is linen textured paper. It comes in a perfect size to accept oil as a medium.
Canvas Paper
This paper is perfectly designed to accept acrylic and oil on paper without gesso. The canvas paper is an excellent choice if you want to practice painting techniques.
Acrylic Paper
This one is heavyweight fine linen textured paper. It is mostly used for acrylics with graphite medium.
Water Color
There is a wide range of watercolor art papers with several different textures and weights. It has three basic surface textures:
- Hot-press
- Cold press
- Rough
Print Making
This heavy-weight paper is sized correctly to take a tremendous amount of printing inks. This versatile paper is used for printing and drawing techniques like relief, lithography, woodblock, and intaglio.
Palette Paper
Palette paper is poly-coated, and artists mostly use it as a disposable paint-mixing palette. You can use it for acrylic, oil, watercolor, and gauche.
Tracing
This art paper is very lightweight and transparent. It is mostly used to transfer an image from one paper to another.
Vellum
Vellum is a translucent paper, and it is considered best for fine arts and crafts projects. You can use it with cards and letters to add decorative elements.
In A Nutshell
It is suggested that you should never fear to experiment when it comes to art. However, experiments without guidance and research may not bring out fruitful results. It will be easier for you to choose a perfect art paper for your project when you know the types and purposes. We hope that the guidelines mentioned above will help you decide about purchasing the right type of art paper.