Picking the Best Art Paper for YOU! Mixed Media & Colored Pencils (written version available!) 

I really think you should consider making a book with all your art. It’s beautiful and I know I would buy it. Do like a watercolor illustration book, a pastel one , a pencil one , and a mixed media. Just saying 🤷‍♀️ Happy Mother’s Day btw. 🤗💕

Your art work is absolutely gorgeous! You are so gifted, but not the least conceited! Thank you for a very thorough review of papers.

This is a nice change of pace, i was used to your sunday tutorials

This video is so informative. You are the only I have heard of talking about paper. Keep up with the good work.

I’ve never seen anyone go through and explain papers like this….thank you!

I've just realised that your the same age as my eldest! I could be your Mum !! Hahaha! Ohhhh you witch a video about - Paper ! I love to walk around a stationary store and sniff! I have notepads, sketchpad, reams of 140gsm paper , and erm copy paper for skribbly grandchildren! That is all I admit to! Thankyou for this .

As much as I appreciate your wealth of knowledge on this - can I just say you art 😮 one very specific, the peach colored one with the lace piece … it’s STUNNING! 😳 If you ever want to give it a new home, my house is open! Seriously, I’M IN LOVE with that piece!!! ❤️ I’m happy that I have some of these in my “vault” and I bought the Toned Tan and Greys when they were released several years ago, BUT one of them is a thinner paper and I didn’t realize it when I bought it. I found them at a local art store close to UGA and they wouldn’t let me swap it. I didn’t know there were different ones. 😞 TFS!!! HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!! ❤️

Thank you very much Lindsay for such a helpful and informative video. I will have to watch it again though, as I kept getting distracted by your gorgeous art. The strawberry one stayed with me the most probably because I had to keep telling myself 'Wow that's not real; she drew it'. Once again thank you very much for sharing the knowledge and your beautiful artwork. It was an absolute pleasure to watch. 🥰🥰🥰 💖💖💖

Thank you, Lindsay. I unfortunately missed the Michael's class even though I registered. We got hit with the plague as well. So sucks I had questions for you too. I was so excited for that class. Thank you for this video and I plan on catching the replay on Michael's website.

Yay!! You are so wonderful Lindsay! Thank you for the video!

OMG, Lindsay! You are so talented. I am mostly a paper crafter and don't really like colouring, but this was really informative. Thank you for all you do and glad you and your family are on the mend.

Thank you, Lindsay! Great analysis and video!

Excellent video! Very informative. Enjoyed seeing all of your artwork again! Hope you had a good day!

Thank you so much, I really love your work! ❤️

Lindsay, your art is amazing!! your knowledge is astounding! Thank you so much for sharing.

Hi Lindsay, a very informative flog, really appreciate the time you took to explain the different uses for these papers.

It was so much fun seeing so many different pieces of artwork at once. Thanks for the time you've put in.

This was so good! I watched live and I learned so much. You are a great teacher.

Loved the information on so many types of paper. Thank you for your knowledge 💕💕

Wow! That's a lot to think. Thanks for sharing 👍

Thanks for this paper info! Love seeing your wonderful drawings, too! Happy Mother’s Day!

Lovely to see all your artwork like that. :)

This was so helpful! Thank you for taking the time and work to explain all the different papers! I loved seeing your art. Your figure drawings are lovely. I’d love to try the Canson XL sand grain mixed media paper for oil pastels. So nice of you to make this info video to refer back to when needed.💕

On every paper, with every medium you art work is just superb! Thank you!

Awesome job on this ! thank you so much.

& the size if perfect for me! Thank you Lindsay for all your evaluations!

That was very very informative. Thank you very much. All your paintings and drawings are beautiful. Happy Mother’s Day!

I agree, use colored pencils over alcohol markers. I used to do those coloring books for adults and learned a lot about color and layering color.

You are so talented! I could look through your art for days. So many pretty samples. Well, I am saying samples but they are super art.

What a wonderful presentation on paper. I’m not really into colored pencils or pastels but the information you supplied here was phenomenal. And I love love love all your artwork. Thanks again Lindsay for always having a video with so much helpful information.

Thank you so much. For Ann the info.

I really like the visual journals - good price & takes watercolor very well!

To help people looking to try them, the legion stonehenge and the rives bfk are primarily printmaking papers.

Derwent Lightfast & Fabriano Artistico Hotpressed are my favorites for colored pencil, pricey but worth it, works excellent for my techniques! I primarily use Luminance and Lightfast for my commission portraits.

Thank you very much Lindsey. You're so helpful.

Lindsay, you are the best....so talented, so humble and so brilliant. Thank you for sharing your beautiful artwork with us.

Happy Mothers day! Hope you had a great day. Thanks for sharing all of these beautiful paper with us. Have a great night

Thank you Lindsay. I loved this video. It was super helpful & interesting & my oh my your drawings & paintings are Amazing. What a talent you have. I'm in awe of you 🤩

Hi Lindsay, to quote Mr Spock: "Fascinating." 😉 Thank you 💚 And then there is me, just using any available paper... 😎 My favourite is packaging paper, the type with a shiny side and a "rough" side. Because it usually has a "tan" colour it takes white amazingly well.

Thx 4 this very useful paper, and what amazing art you make!!

Well thank you, Lindsay! I was searching for the Michael link to this course but was not succeeding then this popped up! Very informative!! 🤩🥰👍🏾

Thanks for clearing the paper mystery. Blessings.

Thank you for this video ! Appreciated!

Wow… not only do I love your very honest reviews on products a lot of which I have purchased on your advice…. You are a seriously amazing artist……..WOW

Really great tutorial thank you. X

Happy Mother's day Lindsay. This video is a keeper. I really enjoyed seeing your artwork.

Yes! The Strathmore mixed media in black is quite nice for colored pencils and oil pastels.

Great review and showcase of your work. I fancy trying a sanded sheet so might try the gesso idea. Thanks

This is the most helpful video I’ve found on paper. Sarah Renae Clark has another awesome one too, but she herself admits on it that is she is starting to experiment with diff kinds of paper. Thank you so much Lindsay. This was incredibly helpful.

Wow, a boatload of good information for free. Love it!!! Well, free to watch, but it's going to cost the hubby when I get done ordering some of these. LOL

Yay! I missed most of the live stream. Happy to take notes and choose better papers for my pencils

Happy mother's day 🌹, awesome presentation.❤️👍🎨🤗

Your art work with things like colored pencil just blow me away! Fantastic!!

Wow! So many options. Blows my mind. Lol. Thanks for the comparison. Happy Mother's Day. Your artwork is gorgeous!!

Thank you! I am just diving into colored pencil work. This helps a lot. My husband bought me a set of Caran d’arche luminance colored pencils for my birthday, so I’m trying them on different papers. I have some of these you showed, but will definitely be buying some new stuff. I always thought strathmore was the cheaper version and avoided it but seems it works good for cp. I’ve used Stonehenge for cp so far and it is rougher than I like, just stuff I had sitting around. I also have Me teines and bamboo paper as I do a lot of pastels. Nice to know they work well with CP too. Funny, as artists we seem to collect a lot of different papers, I’m guilty of hoarding paper supplies and now I worry my watercolor paper I’ve had for some years might have sizing that’s gone off. Now I can use it for CP or gouache.

Took your class through Michael's, so much great information! Thank you Lindsay!

Such a helpful topic. Now I'll understand which paper to use based on pencil type or even type of drawing. TFS. This is like a time capsule video. Some artwork is from a while ago. Even though we don't know each other personally, we've had some good times on this channel.

except for the Camera blurring this was EXCELLENT info, Lindsay!!

Thanks so much for this review. It has been a big help. You are so talented! The snake head you did with green colored pencils- absolutely life-like! Loved so many of your images ❤️!

I like buying the arches hot press in the big uncut sheets and trim it down. It’s not cheap but it’s one of the best when it comes to mixed media.

I was sure I had registered for the Michael’s class, but I must not have completed registration like I thought. So glad you posted it here Lindsay. This is an excellent tutorial on the different types of paper and their many uses. Very, very informative. Thank you and Happy Mother’s Day. Glad everyone is doing much better.

Oh my! So many papers😋 Thou I have tested a lot less and found my jewel ones, I still want to experiment on more papers, MORE! Need to get almost all of these one day myself. This is an addiction 😄

My favorite topic!

Whouah I am watching over and over your review about différents types of paper, and according to my review this I’d the best review that I am seen ever done about the subject! ❤ Canada from Quebec 😊 Big bravo, Lindsay! I am watching you since the past three years and more!

Fantastic video

This was so helpful!! I am just starting my colored pencil art journey and every artist has a different take on smooth versus textured paper. It left me confused but you cleared that up. I also enjoyed looking at all your gorgeous art work while learning about paper.

Watched all of video, update I have the Canson mixed media paper, smooth I think & I have a Strathmore mixed media sketchbook & one of their watercolor sketchbook as well. I prefer the same size pads as you do. I also have a pad of the Fabriano studio student grade watercolor paper, and I do have some of the Canson mi-teintes colored papers pad and I think I also have the Strathmore one's as well. Anyhow, I really appreciate all of the information you provide and would be thrilled to take all of your online classes and in person classes too if possible, but it's just not in the budget. Just wanted you to know how much you are appreciated. God bless you and yours. Becky B

You are so inspiring ☺️

The worry about not denting the paper underneath is relatable (15:56). Oddly enough, while I'm already doing this with my write-in pages and stationery, I'm not doing this with my sketchbook pages yet. This video has been helpful for me - not just for the look at various papers, but also connecting new ideas.

Thank you for this one. I started to view on Michaels, but got distracted, so was happy to see you put this one up. An odd idea here...it would be interesting to hear you voice your process of choosing a subject and the medium you choose to use and the surface you choose & why-like a short maybe on that part if the process? Sometimes I wish I had used a different surface or media or, or, or, ya' know?

Thank you so much! You have me comparing so many of my supplies, and it's almost too much fun. So glad you've recovered! I need to chat about Blick pencils someday, and palette knives for the casual user. Meanwhile, Happy Mother's Day! 💗

Hullo Lindsay! I watched the video over on the Michael’s channel and I must say that I am enjoying watching this version more! Thank you for sharing all of your expertise with us. You are truly inspirational and such a delight to watch! I would have left a comment on the Michael’s video but they are turned off! I am just going to go off topic and wish you a happy Mother’s Day! My Mom’s middle name was also May! She has been gone several years now and she was so supportive of my art desires, she did want me to have a backup vocation so I did a lot of construction work growing up. I even spent a year as an electrician’s assistant, wiring houses and pulling wire for renovations! Hard dirty work! It made me truly desire a career as an artist! Still hard but in a very different way. I hope your family is doing well and your all feeling better. Please take care and be safe. Have a lovely Mother’s Day!

For pure graphite drawing, I greatly prefer paper that's as smooth as I can find. I find it holds far more than enough graphite to let me draw anything I wish. For charcoal, watercolor, colored pencils, and pastels, I want various degrees of texture. Strathmore is my favorite brand of paper, particularly the Strathmore Bristol papers. But I make a huge difference between sketches and drawings, and between sketchbooks and drawing books/paper. My sketches are very rarely anything wonderful, anything I want to save. They aren't intended to be. They're really a kind of brainstorming, a way to get the drawing I want to do inside my head and in focus. My favorite sketchbook is Walmart's Pen Gear brand. It has one hundred and twenty 8x12 sheets for just under five dollars. I really like this paper. In fact, I like it more than the standard Strathmore Drawing Paper Books. I also use a LOT of 28 and 32lb HP premium printer paper for sketching. It's heavy, it's very, very smooth, and works extremely well. There just is no reason for a beginner to spend a lot of money when much cheaper products are just as good, or better, frr their purposes. Or for pros to spend unnecessary money, either. It pays to separate sketching from drawing, and it pays to know the off brand products that do the same job as the expensive products. Most pros don't even bother to check out off brand papers and pencils, which is sad.

The 140# cold press visual journal!

I mainly alternate between kraft (brown) and black paper for my normal work. Super fancy pastel paper in the rainbow pack for pieces I want to sell. Corrugated cardboard for larger pieces. Canvas sheets for the paint markers and hand-made paper for one-offs. Best to experiment for yout preferred ones.

Thank goodness for your tips on these papers! I am still struggling to find the right one as the shops have a huge variety, but not enough info on them.

Happy Mother's Day

The Winsor and Newton Clear Gesso has a grit to it as well. I've used it to give my papers a sanded surface.

Me, my favorite papers are Talens art creation sketchbook and Fabriano clay toned paper, very good papers for colored pencils. Talens art creation sketchbook for polychromos colored pencils and Fabriano clay toned paper for prismacolor colored pencils. Thank you so much for watch us others papers.

Okay Lindsay this was fun to watch and see your beautiful work! Can you do a Pencil class? I would love to learn how to use them better.. Thank you for this l learned a lot..

Your artwork is beautiful! I’d watch a video of nothing but looking at your artwork.

A day behind and a dollar short, as per usual for me. Anyway, thanks for the information on the papers, but I would have liked to have had a little more info on the Black Black papers. I've only watched about 11 minutes so far. So maybe I've just not watched enough. Anyhow, so far the Black Black is the only paper that I have too. Hope you had a great Mother's Day in spite of the stupid covid mess. Take care and God bless you and yours. Sincerely Becky B from Arkansas

Checking if these are ideal for the mediums I want to use such as color pencil, graphite, and charcoal: arches hot pressed watercolor paper (use for color pencils and graphite) and arches cold pressed watercolor paper (use for charcoal). I hear color pencils and graphite work well on smooth surfaces like these hot pressed papers, being watercolor papers also allow them to take more layers and has a bit of tooth. As for charcoal, it needs more tooth to hold but still want to get even value transitions… so cold pressed seems like a step up.

Wow you are a wealth of knowledge about this! I think you said once that you really don’t care to use acrylic for painting- but do you think those Canson ones that are your new faves would work? Oh and you’re so so talented! Loved seeing all that artwork.

Wow! This was wonderful information. There's so much to experiment with. Your art work is beautiful. Do you ever frame it or show it? Happy Mothers Day.

I left a comment but it seemed to have disappeared, hmm 🤨 thank you again Lindsay for the paper review , I found it very helpful and showing your artwork was a bonus ❤❤❤

I don't use coloured pencils very much and I don't even own markers, but I still found this video really informative and helpful to watch. Would you consider doing more videos like this for other media? Like gouache, markers, pastels, etc. Or maybe even a what papers for what supplies video. It could be nice if you feel up to it.

So much brands i never see in France the easiest to find is Canson and Hanemulhe i was so sad when i use my first heritage sheets and be greater with Hanemulhe thanks for this big review !

Oddly enough, the Strathmore Visual Journal *mixed media* paper is the only Visual Journal that’s 100% cotton. I got both of mine, small and large, at Staples for a good price. The little one was under $10 and the large one was under $20.

Hi Girl, thk u for yoyr video. Question I love my Caran D'Ache aqua crayons?

I work whit black drawing pencils from alliexpress,alchol markers from my local budget craft store in the netherlands the action and i use coloured pencils so eighter Bristol paper, stone paper or canson marker paper 😊i don,t know😂i can,t find stone paper

Thank you so much for this comprehensive list! I tried to find the list on your blog and must be missing it. Is the list in the same blog post?

Very informative, thank you. How many layers of pastel, do you think I could get if I used the clear gesso you recommended?

Where can you by wakuwaku paper? I didnt see it on Amazon. TY for all you do.

Thank you for this video! Overall for a portrait with only colored pencil which one takes the absolute win?

Thank you for this; it is very enlightening! I’m going to add a few of these to my wishlist to try out. Question on the gesso: can you coat cheap papers with it to make them more colored pencil friendly? I was thinking of a few coloring books where the paper is less than ideal. Any suggestions or tips for a gesso newbie? Thank you again!

Hi Lindsay, have you tried the Ohuhu paper? I have the marker sketchbook, the paper is thicker than usual marker paper, I like it alot. And I have the mixed media paper. I was wondering what other papers it compares with, as I don't have that much paper experience. Thanks for all this video, you do know how to make a mishmash of information clear 😊

Linsey who makes and where do you buy the multicolored, multi- texture, recycled paper? It is featured toward the end of this video with the texture paper group. Thanks! Bernadette

Hello Thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich I draw whit: black drawing pencils,fineliners,markers and coloured pencils. My question is: can i use bristol xl paper by canson or does it has to say vellum on it? I love this video about diffeent kinds of paper. I have never seen so many papers together 😊🙏🏾😌👏🏾👋🏾👍🏾😁 godbless you and you,re familiy

Whats the best paper to use acrylic gouache and watercolor on? I feel the paper strong enough for watercolor and gouache doesnt allow for well enough blending of acrylics