Watercolor Paper Cold Press Vs Hot Press Vs Rough

I am an absolute fan of cold press.

Watercolor paper cold press vs hot press vs rough. But hot pressed paper has a smooth surface finish. A watercolor painting on arches cold pressed paper know pressure. Watercolor paper that feels smooth to the touch similar to mixed media or drawing paper just way way way thicker is called hot press paper. It somewhat smoothens the fibers but overall is not as smooth as a hot press paper.

It tends to be a little thirstier in my experience. It s not as hard to get color into the paper but more than most prefer. To keep this one straight i like to think of the paper have goosebumps due to the cold. It tends to absorb paint faster.

You will also hear artists talking about the tooth of the paper. Hot pressed very compressed cold pressed semi compressed and rough loosely compressed. And that s a short explanation of the difference between. It is very smooth making it easier to get the color into the paper with colored pencil graphite or airbrush.

Cold pressed paper has a slightly bumpy textured surface. Hot press paper has a soft surface. Cold press paper has tooth aka texture. The amount of pressure during the compression process determines the different kinds of watercolor paper surfaces.

Cold pressed is going to have less tooth than the rough but still more than most like for colored pencil graphite or airbrush. Unlike the hot press in the cold press the fibers are turned into a sheet by the sheer pressure of a metal slab. This is one of the most common paper types used for watercolor though. To keep this straight i like to think of the paper being hot ironed flat.

In a nutshell the terms hot press and cold press refer to the paper s surface finish or texture. Bumpy texture watercolor paper however that has a bumpy feel to the touch is known as cold press watercolor paper. For example hot press paper has almost no tooth but cold press paper has a more pronounced tooth. In the making of rough watercolor papers the sheet is just crafted from the fibers and then it is left in the sun to dry up.