📝 A Guide to Premium Watercolor Papers: Hahnemühle, Arches, Fabriano & More

Choosing the right watercolor paper is like choosing the right stage for a performance — the surface affects everything: color vibrancy, brush feel, glazing behavior, lifting, and even how confidently you can paint.

Today, we’ll focus on a handful of top-quality watercolor papers beloved by professionals and serious enthusiasts alike:

• 🇩🇪 Hahnemühle

• 🇫🇷 Arches

• 🇮🇹 Fabriano Artistico

• 🇬🇧 Saunders Waterford (UK)

• 🇪🇸 Baohong (Elite Series) — a modern contender worth noting

We’ll also look at paper types, sizing, sheet vs. block formats, and a few quirks — like Fabriano’s mysterious soft press finish — that can influence your painting experience.

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🧾 Understanding Watercolor Paper Basics First

Before we dive into brands, here’s a quick refresher:

• Paper Weight: Typically 140 lb (300 gsm), 200 lb (425 gsm), or 300 lb (640 gsm). Heavier papers buckle less and can often be painted without stretching.

• Surfaces:

  • Hot Press: Smooth, great for fine detail, ink, and crisp edges.

  • Cold Press: Slight texture, the most versatile surface for both beginners and professionals.

  • Rough: Pronounced texture, perfect for expressive washes and granulation effects.

• Sizing: This is the gelatin or synthetic treatment that controls absorbency.

  • External sizing (on the surface) affects brush feel.

  • Internal sizing (within the fibers) controls how pigment penetrates.

  • Strong sizing = more liftable and controlled. Weak sizing = more absorbent and soft edges.

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🇩🇪 Hahnemühle (pronounced HAH-neh-moo-luh)

Type: 100% cotton
Weight: 140 lb, 200 lb, 300 lb
Surfaces: Hot, Cold, Rough
Notable lines: Hahnemühle Cézanne, Expression, and The Collection Watercolour

Thoughts:
Hahnemühle papers have a silky brush feel — washes glide beautifully, and glazing layers sit cleanly without disturbing the layers beneath. The surface sizing is well-balanced, leaning slightly toward less absorbent than Arches, which makes it excellent for lifting, reworking, and glazing.

The hot press variant is particularly elegant for line-and-wash, botanical work, and ink detail. Cézanne’s cold press surface has a gentle, natural tooth that takes pigment evenly. It can feel a bit “softer” than Arches, which some painters love for subtle transitions.

Best for: Controlled work, glazing, botanical illustration, artists who like to lift pigment cleanly.

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🇫🇷 Arches (the classic workhorse)

Type: 100% cotton, traditional gelatin-sized
Weight: 90 lb to 300 lb
Surfaces: Hot, Cold, Rough
Made: France, mould-made

Thoughts:
Arches is the most widely used professional watercolor paper, and for good reason. It has a robust surface sizing — in fact, it’s gelatin-sized internally and externally, and dried in air, which gives it a distinctive surface feel.

Colors stay vibrant and crisp. It can handle multiple heavy washes and aggressive lifting without pilling. The cold press texture is well-defined and consistent, making it ideal for a wide range of techniques from loose landscapes to tight rendering.

However, because of its strong sizing, it’s less forgiving to beginners — washes can bead up if you’re not generous with water, and soft blends require a bit more finesse.

Best for: Bold washes, glazing, wet-in-wet techniques, artists who want durability and control.

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🇮🇹 Fabriano Artistico (and the quirky Soft Press)

Type: 100% cotton
Weight: 140 lb, 300 lb
Surfaces: Hot, Cold, Rough, and Soft Press
Made: Italy, mould-made

Thoughts:
Fabriano Artistico is prized for its even surface and beautiful color response. Its cold press surface is smoother than Arches — somewhere between traditional cold press and hot press — which makes it perfect for fine detail without giving up too much texture.

The star here is Soft Press, a finish that sits squarely between hot and cold press. It has just enough tooth for controlled washes but is smooth enough for crisp edges, pen work, and tight rendering. It’s a hidden gem for portrait artists and illustrators.

Its sizing is softer than Arches, making it very responsive to soft blends, but it also means it can’t take as much scrubbing or reworking. Plan your layers thoughtfully.

Best for: Illustrators, portrait artists, soft glazing, anyone wanting an in-between texture.

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🇬🇧 Saunders Waterford

Type: 100% cotton
Weight: 140 lb, 200 lb, 300 lb
Surfaces: Hot, Cold, Rough
Made: St. Cuthberts Mill, England

Thoughts:
Often called “the British Arches,” Saunders Waterford offers beautiful texture and slightly gentler sizing. It’s less hard-surfaced than Arches but more structured than Fabriano. This gives a great balance for expressive watercolorists who still want structure.

It handles multiple washes well, and the rough surface is particularly stunning — it catches pigment in ways that make granulating paints shine.

Best for: Loose painters, granulation lovers, landscape work, expressive glazing.

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🇪🇸 Baohong Elite (Modern Contender)

Type: 100% cotton
Weight: 300 gsm / 640 gsm
Surfaces: Hot, Cold, Rough
Made: Spain (with Chinese branding; Elite line is high-end)

Thoughts:
Baohong’s Elite series has quietly earned serious respect among professionals. Its cold press surface is closer to Arches, but a touch softer — excellent sizing, vibrant pigment response, and very affordable for the quality.

Best for: Painters wanting Arches-like performance at a lower price point.

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✈️ Travel Paper Sizes & Formats

✂️ Sheets

• Usually 22 x 30 inches (full sheet).

• Can be torn or cut into half (15 x 22″), quarter (11 x 15″), or even eighth sheets (7.5 x 11″) — the last is a favorite for plein air sketching and travel kits.

• Pros: Cost-effective, maximum flexibility.

• Cons: Must be taped, clipped, or stretched; not as convenient on the go.

📚 Blocks

• Glued on all four sides (except a small gap for a palette knife).

• Ideal for travel and studio: the paper stays flat as you paint.

• Available in cold, hot, and rough surfaces, usually 140 lb.

• Common sizes: 7×10″, 9×12″, 12×16″.

Why use blocks: No buckling, no need for a board, and easy portability.

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🧪 A Note on Sizing (the other kind)

• Some papers (like Arches) are gelatin-sized, making them slightly resistant to paint at first. A light water wash over the surface before painting can “wake up” the sizing.

• Papers like Fabriano or Saunders have a softer sizing, which makes blending easier but may not withstand aggressive lifting.

• If you like layering and scrubbing, Arches or Hahnemühle will serve you best.

• If you prefer soft transitions and glazing, Fabriano or Saunders may be your match.

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🖌 In Summary

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🧠 Final Thoughts

Watercolor paper isn’t just a surface — it’s part of the technique itself. A well-chosen paper will elevate your painting: washes settle gracefully, glazing behaves predictably, and pigment sings.

If you’re new to premium papers, buy quarter sheets or small blocks from a few brands and compare them side by side. You’ll quickly discover which sizing, texture, and response feels like home.