To sum up the differences between these two paper types: smooth paper allows focus on the image, its colours and visual impact, whereas textured paper is more interesting on an emotional level and can release the image. What does smooth paper mean? If you are wondering what the best mediums are for Bristol paper, we will discuss this in the section that follows. Smooth surfaces are great for pen & ink, mechanical pencil, airbrush, and markers. There is little to no tooth, making these surfaces great for creating fine lines, detail drawings, or marker drawings. In 2005, Charlene completed her Wellness Diplomas in Therapeutic Aromatherapy and Reflexology from the International School of Reflexology and Meridian Therapy. She worked for a company offering corporate wellness programs for a couple of years, before opening up her own therapy practice. It was in 2015 that a friend, who was a digital marketer, asked her to join her company as a content creator, and this is where she found her excitement for writing.

Here are the papers I use for graphite and colored pencil, as well as pen and ink. For graphite drawing I use smooth bristol. This comes in many brands, surfaces, and sizes. It can be found in pads and single sheets. What paper do professional artists use?Vellum surfacesare great for graphite, colored pencil, charcoal, pastel, and crayon. The surface has peaks and valleys which grab dry media such as graphite. More even shading and deeper tones can be achieved on a vellum surface. Charlene Lewis has been working for artincontext.org since the relaunch in 2020. She is an experienced writer and mainly focuses on the topics of color theory, painting and drawing. The two-ply and three-ply varieties are the most popular for home use, and the thinner variations are usually used for printing, especially in magazines. Fine ink and pen work well on smooth Bristol paper, while mediums such as graphite, charcoal, crayon, and chalk work on the more textured Bristol board paper. A few other ways this versatile paper is used include: The most well-known and easily available brand is Strathmore Bristol paper. However, you can also get Bristol paper from Canson, Koh-I-Noor, Neenah amongst others.

Bristol papers generally have two types of surfaces: smooth and vellum. Smooth surfaces are great for pen & ink, mechanical pencil, airbrush, and markers. There is little to no tooth, making these surfaces great for creating fine lines, detail drawings, or marker drawings. Is smooth paper good for pencils? Bristol board is generally more lightweight when compared to illustration board and is used for art pieces that you want to preserve. In some cases, an illustration board can be used for creating artwork that will later be reproduced on another type of media. Bristol board provides the smoothest surface for drawing. This makes it suitable for marker art, ink and fine detail drawing. The Winsor & Newton Bristol Board has no visible surface texture, giving the ability to create clean, crisp colours. Is Bristol paper good for graphite? You also need to consider the right paper texture for your colored pencils. Most people will prefer a smooth texture (also called hot press, plate or fine-grain), which allows for detailed work and easy blending. Is Bristol paper good for pencil drawing?

Illustration board is often heavier than Bristol board paper and is usually used for artwork that needs preserving. Bristol paper is lightweight in comparison. As you can tell, Bristol is such a versatile paper, suitable for quite a few different mediums. Whatever sort of art or craft you dabble in, it is likely that at some point, Bristol board paper will come in handy, one way or another! Bristol generally describes a drawing paper that is glued together under pressure to form multi-ply sheets. Bristol sheets provide a stiff, strong surface to work on without the need for mounting. The felt sides of thepaper (typically the more desirable working side for the artist) are exposed so there are two workable surfaces in one sheet. Watercolor paper is always the best choice for watercolor mediums. That said, vellum Bristol paper texture is quite similar to watercolor paper and many artists successfully paint watercolor on Bristol of this variety.