Which watercolor block is best?

Someone who loves to draw watercolor paintings he must have been wondering what was the best watercolor paper. Does weight matter and will the choice of paper determine the final result? In today's article I will write a little about watercolor blocks 210 g/m2, 250 g/m2 and 300 g/m2. My opinion will be based on the watercolors I made with RENESANS and Sonnet watercolors.

Watercolor blocks - what paper is best for watercolor?

Some time ago, I bought a 210 g/m2 A4 watercolor block from an online store. The block was a little attracted to the purchase by its price. It was as cheap as borscht and I suspect I spent no more than 10 zł on it. Inside 10 sheets.

I bought it a long time ago and a little blindly, because at the time of purchase I had no idea what weight to choose. Those who know a little about watercolor painting know that the best paper for drawing is 300 g/m2.

By the way, I'm curious why manufacturers put such poor watercolor paper on the market, since it is not suitable for painting with such paints at all. I think that most buyers of such a product are newbies and people who are ignorant, or those who only look at the price. On this paper I drew two or three pictures. One painting fell apart while I was painting.

I painted on this paper with RENAISSANCE paints and I remember that in the process of work the paper was erased. The paper has a strange structure, or it does not exist at all. It looks like very thin cardboard. When painting with watercolor, the paper curls, which is not surprising with such a low base density.

The use of large amounts of water is out of the question. When the masking tape was torn off, the paper stuck to the sheet as much as possible, so there was not even a fragment where the tape fell off beautifully. The watercolor block does not contain any information about what kind of paper it is, whether it is, for example, acid-free, durable, and so on. Only weight and purpose.

I think that if a beginner decided on such a product, he would quickly lose the motivation to continue creating.

Kanson is an ideal watercolor block for practicing various techniques.

Another watercolor block is the 250g/m2 CANSON block. I bought it in A5 format, but you can also find A4 format in art stores. The smaller format costs about 7-8 PLN. and contains 10 sheets. It has a fine-grained texture and is acid-free.

Also on the packaging there is information that, in addition to watercolor technique, it can be used when drawing with acrylic paints or ink. Also suitable for drawing, pastels and gouache.

This is a typical block for students, amateurs and anyone who wants to learn these techniques. With this weight, you won't go crazy with watercolor, because when you apply a lot of water, the paper is wavy.

Canson is actually my first watercolor block and I had a really good time working on it. And all the folds in the painting were something natural.

Well, over time, I learned that there is even better paper. It seems to me that such a block is suitable, for example, for drawing or pastel, because watercolor is more demanding.

When it comes to the effect of watercolor paintings, there is almost no difference in colors. These are white papers, with better or worse structure, but it seems to me that the effects here depend on the colors and not on the paper.

Paper is a substrate that can deform, for example, when exposed to water, or leave a little ink if applied in a large number of layers.

On papers below 300 g/m2, the number of layers of watercolors is very limited, so nothing needs to be requested.

On the one hand, Kanson is good for dry-on-wet practice drawings, but on the other hand, if we were to create something more demanding, unfortunately, this paper simply won’t work in practice.

Winsor & Newton - XNUMX% cotton watercolor block!

And finally, I prepared something completely different, something higher on the shelves. This is a watercolor block on wheels by Winsor & Newton, weight 300 grams2. The paper consists of 100% cotton, it is fine-grained and acid-free.

The block is slightly smaller than A5, contains 15 sheets and costs about PLN 37. In the overall rating, the paper wins and, as it may seem to some, the effect is no different from previous works.

I can assure you that working with this type of paper is very convenient and, most importantly, you do not feel any restrictions here. Such paper is pleasant to paint on and the paper does not curl when exposed to large amounts of water.

There are many possibilities here, so I recommend this block for beginners and advanced.

Sometimes it is worth testing different weights to see what the difference is, to understand what these documents are and how you work with them. Of course, I only encourage you to test different weights of paper. Remember that 300 g/m2 paper works best in practice.

Watercolor paper - does the final result depend on it?

In addition, I present to you the effects of my watercolor works, painted on paper of different weights. Winsor & Newton wins the rankings by far and I think it gives a lot of opportunities in dry and wet conditions.

For beginners, I recommend buying several blocks with as few sheets and small formats as possible in order to test which surface is best to work on. Every artist has their own requirements.

If you are going to learn how to paint with watercolor, then a good solution would be to buy a watercolor block on wheels. You will have all your collections in one place, and it will also be easier for you to compare results.