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RE: How to Draw a Flower

in Discovery-it3 years ago

Okay gotcha. Good to know.

My paper is crap though. I didn't realize there were different qualities of paper until I read it in one of your posts. I just bought the cheapest available. It gets the job for my purposes but it's not great.

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A good choice for florals with watercolor pencil is hot press watercolor paper of at least 300 gsm. It's very smooth so it allows for great detail with sharp pencils. If you don't want to invest a lot of money you can try "Clairefontaine PaintON Multitechniques" (250 gsm, 40 sheets, smooth white, A3, for about 11 EUR) which should be super easy to get in France. Works well dry and wet with the Goldfabers.

Just don't get the "à grain" variety by accident, that looks kinda ugly. They have 3 white qualities, the regular (as recommended), the "à grain", and the "lisse" (too smooth). They also have colored varieties (black, grey, green, blue, and buff). Only the buff ("naturel") variety looks good with watercolor pencil. If you use that paper colors look warmer but you need to invest in a good white gouache for whites and highlights.

A great all-purpose watercolor paper for wet work @ 300 gsm is Hahnemühle Expression. 100% cotton rag paper with a fine structure (not smooth but close enough) which can be had for about 20 EUR (40cm x 30cm, 20 sheets).

Okay thanks. I'll keep those suggestions in mind. I don't draw often but every now and again I get on a big drawing kick. Lol