Best Paper for Coloured Pencils: Our Test Results

If you just want the short answer, these are the surfaces that performed best in my paper-and-pencil tests (15 papers, using Polychromos, Coloursoft and Pablo, plus a light solvent check with Zest-It).

Paper comparison at a glance (from the tests)

Full method and individual paper results are on the test page here:

Below is a quick summary of how the better-performing (and most-relevant) papers behaved in the paper-and-pencil tests (Polychromos, Coloursoft, Pablo, plus a light Zest-It solvent check and erasing checks).

Choose the best paper by what you’re trying to do

Best paper for beginners (and practice without spending a fortune)

If you’re learning coloured pencil, you’ll get the most value from a paper that’s forgiving, easy to find, and doesn’t feel “too precious” to use.

• Daler Rowney Heavy Cartridge 220gsm — good overall results for an inexpensive paper (just be aware the soft wax pencil erasing can smear more than you’d want for perfect clean-up).
• Fabriano Accademia 220gsm — a decent student cartridge paper with acceptable overall performance in the tests.

Best paper for detailed realism and crisp edges

For realism (especially botanicals, fur, sharp highlight edges, and clean linework), you want a smoother surface that still holds colour well.

• R.K. Burt Botanical Ultra Smooth HP watercolour paper 300gsm — excellent definition and superb erasing in the tests; performs particularly well with softer wax pencils too.
• Fabriano Artistico HP watercolour paper 300gsm — smooth, clean edges, very good all-round performance with wax and oil-based pencils.

Best paper for heavy layering and strong, vibrant colour

If you like building lots of layers and pushing colour saturation, you’ll generally want a surface with more “grab”.

• Clairfontaine Pastelmat — the best colour-holding surface on test and excellent for strong colour; not ideal for the very finest detail due to the granular working surface.
• Hahnemuhle Pastelfix cork surfaced pastel paper (170gsm) — not a classic “coloured pencil” paper, but it performed better than expected in the tests and can work especially well when you want a background with bite.

Best paper if you use solvents (or like smoothing early layers)

If you use a solvent such as Zest-It to smooth pigment, the paper’s surface and sizing make a big difference.

• Daler Rowney Langton Botanical HP watercolour paper 300gsm — solvent smoothing worked very well in the test; this has also been a long-time personal choice.
• Fabriano Artistico HP watercolour paper 300gsm — the solvent made less difference here (more of an underlayer “bed down”), but it’s still a very strong surface overall.

Note: Pastelmat didn’t benefit from solvent in the test (and on very absorbent surfaces, that’s not unusual).

Best toned paper option (for warm backgrounds and quicker “finished” looks)

If you like working on toned paper (so you’re drawing lights and darks rather than filling the whole white page), a reliable toned surface makes life easier.

Legion Stonehenge Kraft 250gsm — very good performance in the tests, and the toned colour can be a real advantage (plus erasing was very acceptable).

Papers I’d be cautious about (based on the tests)

Sometimes “popular” doesn’t equal “best for coloured pencil”.

• Fabriano Classico 5 HP 300gsm — it has been a go-to for wet processes, but in these tests it wasn’t as good as several alternatives for dry coloured pencil; plus there were past quality-control complaints noted, so I’d suggest looking elsewhere.
• Hahnemuhle Lana Pastel (Moonstone) 200gsm — the paper colours are appealing, but the test results weren’t strong for coloured pencil use.

Paper in depth

Now you’ve got the quick recommendations, let’s look at why papers behave differently — surface texture, sizing, and how that affects layering, blending and erasing.

The surface used to complete your art work makes a vast difference to the result.

Papers that are too smooth will not pick up enough pigment from your coloured pencil, and you will find they don't accept enough layers for you to achieve the colour strength you require.

Papers that are too rough, will pick up lots of colour but give no accuracy of line or detail.

Special surfaces made for pencil work can produce superb results - at a cost! But is the extra investment worth it?

Choosing the Right Drawing Paper: Weight, Texture and Surface Types

You can buy paper in many forms, and the descriptions can confuse a new artist. Manufacturers describe quality drawing papers by weight and the type of surface. 

Weight of the paper

Because we need to know how a paper is likely to perform, we need to know how thick it is and how it is likely to respond to treatment under a brush, pen or pencil. 

Weight relates to the weight of a square meter of a single sheet of the paper quoted in grammes. Here are some example weights...

• Copy paper for home printers will probably be around 90gsm - too light for artwork. 
• Cartridge paper could be 120gsm or even 220gsm. Good for dry media use and the heavier paper will take a fair amount of pencil work correction. 
• Watercolour paper for serious use will be anything from 220gsm to 500gsm and above. 

The USA and some other parts of the world still use imperial measurements. In Europe they quote the weight of paper in metric, which is much easier to explain. 

By weighing five hundred sheets of paper (17 inches by 22 inches) we can calculate the thickness of each sheet.

The comparisons are not exact, but the common 300gsm watercolour paper compares with 140lb, and a 400gsm paper with 188lb. I would not recommend that you use a paper with a weight under 125gsm (approx 60lb).

Surface type and colour

Cartridge paper has a fine grain surface which works very well for graphite and purely dry media. It also works well for pen, which involves very little moisture. 

Watercolour papers come in Hot Pressed, Cold Pressed or 'Not', and Rough surfaces.

You will also find papers labelled as Plate, Smooth, Vellum or Satin.

Pastel papers often have a different surface on each side, with one being smoother and the other having a distinctive lined or honeycomb texture. Because they come in a wide variety of colours, they are attractive to the coloured pencil artist, who would normally use the smoother side.  

Black paper is also popular. Don't forget to check out the step-by-step tutorial which shows an indoor scene worked in pastel pencil on black paper. 

Talking of coloured papers, you might like to check out the page on working coloured pencil on black paper for tips and techniques.

Presentation

Some drawing papers come in pads with one edge secured with either glue or a spiral binding so they open like a book. 

Others come in blocks that are secured around all the edges so that they are pre-stretched for watercolour use. This can confuse the new artist, who cannot find a simple way to remove the top sheet. The trick is to inspect the edges of the block. Eventually you will find an area that has no seal, often a corner but sometimes along an edge. Carefully separate the top sheet using the edge of a plastic ruler or similar smooth, blunt instrument. This will avoid tearing the next sheet down, which is possible if you use a knife.

How is paper made?

Paper is a mixture of fibres mixed with water and traditionally made by hand in a mould. However, these days they are more commonly made by machine.  The fibres enter the machine as a slurry mixture which is drained of as much water as possible and the resulting wet, felt like material is pressed between rollers and then dried. 

If the finishing rollers are smooth and hot, the paper will be smooth and referred to as Hot Pressed.

If the rollers are cold, the paper will be Cold Pressed, or in old 'artspeak' NOT - or NOT Hot Pressed. (Who said artists don't have a sense of humour?).

Rough papers are made by pressing them between rough woven blankets or rough textured rollers at the stage where the surface is established. They are usually the heavier weight and more expensive papers, but they are less suitable for coloured pencil work so we will not get excited about them here. 

The fibres in drawing paper can be cotton, wood pulp or a mixture.

• Lower cost papers often use wood pulp, buffered by chemicals to delay internal acid rot. 
• Archival papers, intended to last for a long time without going yellow, contain cotton.
• More exotic drawing papers, often from the Far East, use ingredients, such as leaves or bamboo.

Internal and external sizing

Size is a gelatine like ingredient which enables you to use wet media without the paper soaking it up like a sponge. The manufacturer either adds the Size when the pulp is mixed (internally sized) or sprays it onto the hot paper as it comes off the machine, as a final coat (externally sized).

If you are certain that you will only use dry pencils, then you can use unsized paper. 

Sometimes you may find that a hot pressed paper, such as Arches, will have too much Size, and coloured pencils will skate over the smooth surface. A neat trick is to wipe the paper with a damp cloth to remove some external size and raise the grain to give more tooth for the pencils to grip onto.

Cartridge paper

Using thin papers such as Cartridge (an unsized paper) is fine for dry point coloured pencil but it is advisable to still hold the paper in place on your drawing board with either pins, tape or White Tac to stop it moving about while you work. It is worthwhile checking that your board is perfectly smooth before working with a thin paper, otherwise place a sheet of smooth paper below your working sheet to smooth out any unevenness. 

I also like to place a second sheet of fresh cartridge paper on top, secured at the top edge by tape or White Tac to protect my artwork while it is being transported or stored before framing. 

Stretching paper for wet media

If you add water to an unsized paper, or one lighter than 300gsm (140lb), it is likely to buckle when it dries. But what can you do if that is all you have available and want to use watercolour pencils and a fair amount of water, but a smooth finished result?

We can pre-stretch the paper to prevent this from happening during the application of wet media. The page on stretching watercolour paper gives full instructions for this process.

If you stretch a sheet of paper, but don't end up using wet media, you won't harm the paper.

Drafting Film for Coloured Pencils – Pros, Cons and Best Brands

A popular drawing surface is Drafting Film, made from polyester, not paper. In appearance it resembles a thick tracing paper as it is translucent. It is very smooth but takes coloured pencil beautifully, although it reduces the number of layers you can use. However, you can also work on the back of the film or even layer multiple sheets as I did for the deer drawing above. 

The weight of the film can vary, with PolyDraw being the flimsiest, DuraLar a little thicker and Grafix Drafting Film the most sturdy. 

Another plastic based substrate is NeverTear 'Paper', which unlike Drafting Film is pure white and opaque. This is another ultra smooth surface which works really well with coloured pencil. It is also waterproof, which means you can use wax pencils on it when sketching outside in all weathers. 

Sanded papers

The first test for the best paper for coloured pencils

Going to the other extreme, you can work on sanded substrates, such as Uart or Tim Fisher pastel paper. These have a grit surface to the paper which grips hold of pastel, or in our case coloured pencil.

Lux Archival, a sanded surface designed and manufactured by Alyona Nickelsen's company Brush and Pencil, is a white paper rather than the darker colour of the Uart, It is currently only available in the UK from Jacksons Art. 

Another product designed originally for pastel artists is ClaireFontaine Pastelmat. Similar to the sanded boards, the surface of this grips hold of the pencil (or pastel) but has in fact a cellulose fibre coating. It allows for many, many layers of pencil, but it can put off some artists because of the grainy appearance as the first few layers go down.

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