Paper

The three primary bits of information that are necessary to understanding paper is knowing the composition, weight, and tooth of any paper.

Composition

Most of us understand that the paper we use on a daily basis - be it stationary or other miscellaneous paper products - are made from wood pulp. A lot of drawing papers are indeed derived from wood pulp and are great for drawing and inking techniques. If you are looking for drawing papers, look for those that are acid free as these papers last longer and are better suited for both art making and displaying.

There are other art papers which are made of cotton or a blend of cotton and wood pulp. Cotton papers tend to hold up better over time, and can be better suited for certain mediums that use a lot of layers and a lot of water, like watercolor. The papers comprised of both will provide a percentage which indicates how much of the composition is cotton.

Weight

The paper that most people are familiar with is computer paper and it is usually the first thing a new artist will use to draw on. The only issue is that this is thin and can get easily damaged by both writing utensils and erasers which can get very frustrating when it happens halfway through a drawing. This is because it is very light weight - weighing in at only 20 Lbs.

To better understand this, weight is derived from how heavy 500 sheets of a particular size of paper would weigh. So, 500 sheets of computer paper would weigh a total of 20 Lbs. With this logic the thicker a paper is, the heavier those 500 sheets would be. Drawing papers typically range between 60 lbs and 140 lbs and you should look to use papers within this range.

Tooth

The last quality of a paper that is worth considering is what is known as its tooth, or how smooth a piece of paper is. A paper with very little tooth is going to be very smooth, while a paper with a lot of tooth will have a lot more texture. An artist’s personal preference is completely up to them, but it is common for artists to use smoother papers especially when using pencil or pen. This is because when a paper has a particularly bumpy texture, it can be a lot harder to control your lines both in line thickness, and a lines trajectory.

Suggested Papers

Newsprint

Available from most brands, newsprint paper is an inexpensive wood-pulp paper great for quick studies and warm-up exercises. I suggest getting the largest size paper you can find.

Cardstock

Cardstock is an inexpensive wood pulp paper that is a good alternative to regular computer paper or a sketchbook - especially if you need individual sheets. It’s smooth texture and its weight - about 80 Lbs - means that it has a nice smooth surface and a thickness to it that makes it perfect to draw on. Because this paper is often used in printing and crafting you know that it will work well with inks as well as dry mediums.

Mixed-Media

Generally regarded as a “everything but the kitchen sink” kind of paper - it is important to note that not every mixed-media paper works well with all mediums. This does mean that you’ll have to spend some time finding the paper that has the right mix of qualities that are best for you; but luckily there are a lot of choices out there.

Bristol

Bristol is known as a professional paper for completed artworks. The difference between Bristol and other types of papers is that Bristol is designed to be a much sturdier paper made by pressing and gluing a number of layers together rather than being made of a a single sheet.

Bristol is generally available in two types; smooth and vellum. Although traditionally vellum papers are made of animal hide, in the modern era papers that use the term vellum are actually a specially formulated paper and are made of wood pulp or cotton. This word has come to denote quality and not the material it is made of.

Smooth, which has very little tooth, is great for pen and ink or marker, while vellum, with a slight tooth, is perfect for pencil, charcoal, pastel, and other similar mediums.