Choosing paper for charcoal and pastel drawing is a personal matter depending on your working method and the hardness of your preferred medium.
Best drawing paper for graphite and charcoal.
All papers will have a different texture also referred to as tooth the tooth allows the media to adhere to the surface.
This refers to the rough textured surface that drags the particles from the stick or pencil and holds them to the paper.
Smoother surfaces or less tooth work well for graphite and pen and ink.
Rough texture is more suited to charcoal or pastels.
To achieve an even shade it is necessary to surround the peaks paper texture with graphite from all angles.
The best paper for graphite drawing should be over 80 lbs.
Similarly to graphite the hardest charcoal will give you the lightest values while the darkest charcoal will give you the darkest.
The key to a good dry medium paper is tooth.
This not only produces an even shade but it is easier to achieve and has greater depth.
Printer copying paper generally has a weight of 20lbs 75 gsm.
Textured paper surface should be thought of as being a 3 dimensional surface with peaks and valleys not unlike a mountain chain.
Like graphite charcoal comes in degrees of hardness and can also be found in pencil form.
The charcoal particles will need that extra tooth to stick to.
The sheets are perforated and true to size which means they will still be 9 x 12 if you detach them from the sketchbook.
For graphite or colored pencil a medium texture is best.
Best drawing paper for charcoal.
Weight of drawing paper.
Charcoal however is made from burning wood until the resulting substance is the correct consistency for drawing.
Most drawing papers will be.
Again the strathmore brand is my go to source of paper even with charcoal drawing.
We think the arteza 100 sheets premium sketch book has the best drawing paper for graphite and charcoal.
There s no need to use the very best paper for quick doodle sketches for example.
Make sure you use the most appropriate paper for the task in hand.
Like graphite charcoal is a form of carbon.
The vast majority of my day to day graphite drawings and sketches are completed on standard drawing paper.
I used strathmore 300 series bristol board pads 9 x 12 smooth for this ink drawing.
For graphite drawings with a moderate degree of realism a drawing paper like strathmore series 400 is a good place to begin.
Charcoal and crayon will work better with more tooth.
It has a paper weight of 100 gsm and a bright white color.
In general you re going to want paper that s slightly rougher more tooth for charcoal drawing as compared to what you would normally use with graphite pencil.
When we talk about the weight of the paper we are referring to the papers thickness.
To select the best paper for charcoal drawing you have to keep in mind the characteristics of the medium as well as what you desire out of the drawing as a whole.
Most drawing paper has a coarse texture and that will work against you.
