Acid Free/texture and a few more
04/20/10 10:09 Filed in: Paper
Why acid free paper? it will help to extend the life of your artwork. You probably have noticed that your beautiful drawing that you made on a sheet of news print and some instances the printer paper that is so handy and easy to find, is starting to fade and go yellow, well that is because the newsprint/printer paper is not acid free. When you do make a drawing on an acid free drawing paper, the yellowing and fading process takes so much longer to take place. Almost all the popular brands of paper in the market is acid free, however before you make your purchase, make sure that it is acid free.
Heavier papers withstand a lot of "abuse" (erasing/scratching/rubbing) better then the regular lighter papers. The rougher the texture of a paper surface the more layers you can apply, with a bit more pressure, therefore you will get a better quality piece of art work. Very often you will notice that by the time you have gotten your darkest dark on a smooth surface your art work almost looks like it has a shine to it, not something that looks very good with a delicate graphite drawing.
WATERCOLOR paper what does the following mean?
HOT PRESSED - has a very smooth surface
COLD PRESSED - has a moderately textured surface
ROUGH - highly textured.
The nice thing about paper is that you can use almost all of the media's on it. It is all about personal preference and what you like your final project to look like. I for example prefer to do my graphite portraits on Vellum bristol and nothing else, color pencil portraits I do on Strathmore recycled drawing paper because I like the smooth look I can achieve with it. I have always struggled to find a good enough surface that can handle the layers of charcoal. The other day I decided to do my project on watercolor board with charcoal, and I absolutely loved it. I could put layer on top of layer without any of it falling of, and handled the amount of times I erased very well.
So do not be afraid to go out there and try a piece of paper, experiment and see what you like. Ultimately it will only make the process so much more enjoyable and I can promise you that the final project will be satisfactory.
Heavier papers withstand a lot of "abuse" (erasing/scratching/rubbing) better then the regular lighter papers. The rougher the texture of a paper surface the more layers you can apply, with a bit more pressure, therefore you will get a better quality piece of art work. Very often you will notice that by the time you have gotten your darkest dark on a smooth surface your art work almost looks like it has a shine to it, not something that looks very good with a delicate graphite drawing.
WATERCOLOR paper what does the following mean?
HOT PRESSED - has a very smooth surface
COLD PRESSED - has a moderately textured surface
ROUGH - highly textured.
The nice thing about paper is that you can use almost all of the media's on it. It is all about personal preference and what you like your final project to look like. I for example prefer to do my graphite portraits on Vellum bristol and nothing else, color pencil portraits I do on Strathmore recycled drawing paper because I like the smooth look I can achieve with it. I have always struggled to find a good enough surface that can handle the layers of charcoal. The other day I decided to do my project on watercolor board with charcoal, and I absolutely loved it. I could put layer on top of layer without any of it falling of, and handled the amount of times I erased very well.
So do not be afraid to go out there and try a piece of paper, experiment and see what you like. Ultimately it will only make the process so much more enjoyable and I can promise you that the final project will be satisfactory.