Hot vs Cold Watercolor Paper: The Ultimate Showdown

When I started painting in watercolours I always used cold pressed paper and never had a problem with it. I switched to hot pressed to see if it was better for fine detailed work, and I used it exclusively for many years, however I did struggle to get smooth transitions and avoid edges where the paint had dried out too fast. Sometimes though, granulation does really unexpected things on hot pressed, because there is no regular pressed pattern for it to sink into, and I loved pushing granulating paints around on it just to see what weird and wonderful things would happen. I have just invested in an Arches cold pressed block and am looking forward to trying it out again. I definitely see the duller colours on HP compared to cold pressed papers.

Did you upload the tutorial to Skillshare?

I keep trying to use hot press, and I have had some good results, but not consistently. I know some artists wet an area twice, allowing the first one to soak in. Botanical artists seem to use hot press because of the ability to do detail, as you pointed out.

I have just started learning to work with the Hot Press Paper but I have noticed the differences that you mention in your video. I love the crispness that the hot press gives, where my cold press seems to have fuzzier edges....... so what technique am I missing with the cold press? may not getting enough color charged into the specific area? I would love to know your thoughts

I never comment, I usually just sit and grumble about how clean and vibrant and lovely your paintings look, lol.
I do however have a question that NO ONE ever answers: What is the humidity in the room where you're working?
I live in Sweden and it's getting wintery, and my humidity is sometimes too low to even measure with my hygrometer!
Usually in winter it's 10-20% inside and I find it makes it almost impossible to paint!
Like your paint behaved on the hot pressed paper on the lower petal in this video, that's how it behaves on cold pressed for me!
It dries virtually as soon as the brush touches the paper! It's impossible to manipulate the pigments or do wet on wet or soft edges at all.
I would LOVE if SOMEONE ever addressed this humidity thing. You never hear about what humidity it is when the person paints. I was watching an Indian woman paint the other day and her paint never dried! She messed around with it for several minutes!
I'm not jealous.... grumble
Do I need to switch to rough paper in the winter? I've never used that before...
In the summer I can paint reasonably well, but the very long and very dry winter is killing me! Artistically...
Anyway, you are the most amazingly wonderful artist and watching you paint always inspire me! Thank you!💜

Maybe there should be a “warm press” happy medium paper 😅

I use hot press because I do portraits, but I am thinking maybe to use cold press to do some sailboat paintings. Do you have an opinion to help me decide?

When I started painting with watercolor, I bought a bunch of hot pressed paper because I wanted to use dip pens to add linework on top of the washes, and I found that the texture of cold pressed paper made that more challenging. As I have continued painting, however, I have found the hot pressed paper to be frustrating when I am trying to do wet on wet techniques, so I have migrated largely to cold pressed. Though I am still trying to use up my cache of hot pressed paper!

Very informative and I loved the side by side comparison ♥️

Would adding ox gall (real or synthetic) to the brush water help, or would it have an effect on the finish in that style of painting? .

I prefer hot press in art where i will add elements with a dark fine pen, the smoothness work better. But love cold press for more textured paintings.

Fabriano Artistico Soft Press is another option that falls between hot and cold press paper.

Anna, do you ever paint bearded Iris flowers? My relative grows prize winning frilly ones. She would like me to paint them for her to hang on her wall. I don’t even know where to start with them, they are so frilly.
In the botanical art class I am in, the recommendation is to use hot pressed paper. I don’t feel like I have as much control over the paint using it. But it does scan better.

I like hotpress smoothness but I wish it operated like coldpress.

As usual, I admire your work and you inspire me to explore the medium and strengthen my skills.

I bought several Escoda Versatil brushes and the travel set but hands down, the Reserva is the best!

Is there another brand that is equal to the Reserva???

Thanks for all the help you provide us fledgling artists 🫶

Daaaamn! I already have a new sketchbook and is hot presssed. And now I know that i need and prefer more the cold one 😂

Thank you for this video. Is very usefull.

When I do use hp paper ox gall becomes valuable and it stays wet longer. I find adding some drops to my clean water helps with charging. I do prefer cp but I have both since I use the hp for other media. Thank you!😊

Your Artworks are Mind Blowing❤🎉

interesting

I am very much impressed
Your presentation ❤

I love hot press, because i love botanical art, detailed. To me the colors are more vibrant in hot press paper.

How about adding a watercolor medium that extend the drying time? Have you tried that?

If it possible to keep Hot Pressed paper wet longer by using watercolour media, say QOR, Cold Press is still better?

O love your tutorials!! Can you please make a tutorial on Virgin Mary ?

I agree with you, and it's very important to compare both type of papers! Well, I prefer to work on cold pressed paper, because of the wet on wet technique, and wet on dry too. I had try the hot pressed paper...and I do a landscape, and I didn't feel comfort for the artwork. But, It's good to know the different way to use them😊

I prefer cold pressed as well! I use a lot of granulating paints in my work which is much more evenly dispersed on the cold pressed texture. I also find that glazing works better for me on the CP surface! The pigment sinks in and lifts less in my experience.

Thank you so much !! Very helpful !!

I prefer Saunders HP for botanical but CP is good for landscapes.

Hi Anna, I’m looking forward to your next Skillshare class! I prefer cold press for watercolor but like to use hot press for gouache and colored pencils. Haven’t tried rough yet but imagine it would be nice for landscapes.

I would like to try hot press again. But cold press will always be my favorite. 😊

Team cold press forevs💜

Great information, thanks for the info and illustration. I wish I had seen this video when I went crazy buying watercolor supplies. I’m pretty new, when I decided I wanted to paint, I went to Michael’s and purchased what they had. I then heard Arches was good so went to Amazon and purchased several blocks in different sizes of you guessed it, hot press. I didn’t know that there was a difference until recently. I couldn’t understand why mine didn’t spread correctly. I kept adding more water on brush and then color wasn’t as vibrant…ugh! I I guess I should start painting landscapes with the remainder of paper🙄

Thank you, I'm impressed by learning more about watercolour paper

I prefer hot press as I prefer the smooth finish as it also works well with ink.

Very interesting comparison, Anna! I do all techniques on hot press with good results. I disagree a bit that paper brand doesn't matter for high quality papers. I find a lot of differences with hot press Arches, Fabriano, Saunders Waterford and others. I tried out a handful of HP paper to find the one that suited me. That said, I do like CP too on occasion. Love your work!!

Thank you for making this video stating so well and clearly the differences between the two types of paper. I've been painting on-and-off for a couple of years and have always used cold pressed, as I was instructed. I've never used hot pressed, but now I know the difference between the two. Very helpful. Thank you!

I completely agree with your analysis - I love cold pressed paper for paintings where I use a lot of wet in wet or granulating colours. For my urban art like house portraits, especially when I use ink outlines before adding watercolour (or for watercolour pencils) I prefer hot pressed paper. It’s part of the charm of watercolours to match paper and materials with a certain style or subject!

This has explained so much to me, as a beginner. Thank you so much. I have been using hot pressed but will be trying cold pressed now.

Hot press looks better but is much more difficult to work on. The smoothness and vibrancy on hot press is unmatched but cold press is so much easier to work on. Your hot press flower looks like it was painted on glass whereas the cold press looks more textured and muted.

Water control is the basic difference. I am not a fan of hot pressed paper because I can't manage the water/pigment ratio. It is a new skill set I have to learn.

I prefer hot press because I often desire the faster drying time, I typically work in layers and wet-in-damp rather than wet-in-wet when I do portraits, so I want things to dry quicker. I also find it works better with coloured pencils, which I like to use for touch ups and small details, but the texture of cold press makes it hard to get even coverage on the paper, even with a very sharp pencil.

I am just learning water colour and started experimenting with different papers. I liked the cold press so far. I liked the finish of the hot presx but fou d it hard to work with and as i have arthritis i think i will stick with cold press. Havent tried rough yet. Thanks for the comparison, love your work.

Under portrait? I love faces…

Thank you for all this valuable information - I have a hot press pad of Arches, and I had no idea of what to expect using it with watercolor. So a big thank you for what to expect while using it. The orchid flower is beautiful- it is always a pleasure to see your work .

Hi Anna, do you prefer cold pressed paper when painting with gouache as well? Also, if you ever used mixed media where you layer colored pencils or pens on top of paint does that affect your preference for cold pressed paper?

This was REALLY good information! I started painting 4 years ago and I bought hot press paper not knowing there was a cold press and a rough choice. I struggled with blending and my paintings looked tight and overworked. I subsequently learned about cold press and my painting experience was so much more fun and the end product looked better to me. I am definitely a cold press 100% cotton gal.✨

Cold CB press is a texture I’m not yet comfortable with it yet. What do you use for portraits?

At the moment I am using Hot Pressed paper, it was uneasy at the first try but I am happy to draw and painting on it. This video is a nice experiment. Thanks 😊

I much prefer cold press for all the reasons you list.