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Learn more about paper

What does Bristol paper actually mean?
Choose the paper for your painting technique
Acid-free, lightfast and resistant to ageing - what does this mean for paper?
Watercolor paper is the first choice when working with water
Why particularly smooth paper is very important for the tip of your brush pen when lettering -
This is how you should store your paper - and your artwork

The right paper shows off your work to its best advantage

Paper for artists and creatives is of high quality. It should be easy to work with so that the finished work looks its best. The paper should also change as little as possible due to temperature, exposure to light or the acid content it contains.

Papers for artists' supplies differ greatly in their surfaces and textures. The color also plays a role: Tombow watercolor paper is a soft creamy white to bring out the delicate, translucent watercolor colors. The Tombow Bristol paper, on the other hand, has a light white tint, which is particularly rich in contrast when drawing with a pencil or fineliner and enables intensive shading.

[Translate to Englisch:] Gemalte Skyline der Stadt Bristol in England

What does Bristol paper actually mean?

You may have noticed that many manufacturers also refer to their drawing paper as Bristol paper. This is a term for paper that is glued together from multi-layered sheets. In the past, paper mills used to send their best papers to the English city of Bristol for gluing and this is how the name came about, which was intended to express a special quality.

Bristol paper has a satin, smooth surface. It is particularly suitable for sketches and drawings with pen and ink, and for working with markers or brush pens. Bristol papers and Bristol boards have robust surfaces and are perfect for final artwork and illustrations that you work on a little longer and more intensively.

Smooth papers such as the Bristol drawing pad are particularly suitable for sketching with pencils and coloring with felt-tip pens or hand lettering with brush pens.

Textured paper is well suited for drawing with a pencil because the graphite can be worked in easily. You can spread and blend it well with your finger. In contrast to sketch paper, drawing paper is usually heavier and thicker, which means that the sheets can be worked on and erased for longer - the paper can withstand more. It is often fixed in place with masking tape, but it must not be too fragile so that it does not tear when it is subsequently removed.

For watercolors with brushes or brush pens, you should always use watercolor paper because it absorbs more water and has a textured surface.

There are often different designations on drawing and coloring pads. What do they actually mean?

Acid-free: Printers mainly use "age-resistant paper" or "acid-free paper" for printing high-quality publications and graphics. It is produced without free acids and lasts for centuries.

Lightfast: Lightfastness means that the paper does not visibly change color or even decompose even when exposed to sunlight (UV light) for a longer period of time.

Resistant to ageing: Paper is made from natural materials and decomposes over time. Books and high-quality artist paper must be produced in such a way that it is resistant to ageing. This means that it has a minimum lifespan of several hundred years.

Eraser-proof: You can easily erase on the paper without accidentally roughening it.

Opacity: Opacity indicates how translucent a paper is. Color or writing does not shine through if the paper is not translucent. This does not only have to do with the thickness of the paper, even thin paper, for example for letterpress printing, can be opaque.

When the works are finished on the computer, I like to print them out and continue painting with brush pens to work out clothes, bodies or hair, for example. This creates a nice tension between different techniques in mixed media works.

Chen-Long Chung, Manga-ka and illustrator

Watercolor paper is the first choice when working with water

Watercolor paper such as the Tombow watercolor pad is well suited for working with wet paints such as watercolor painting. There are various techniques for this. You can moisten the paper with water before actually painting. The colors can then be applied well and the firm paper still lies on the block without waves, even when wet, because it is glued to the block at two edges. You can also paint wet-on-dry by picking up the paint from the palette with a brush or water brush and painting it onto the dry paper. Or you can paint directly onto the dry watercolor paper with the ABT Dual Brush Pen and then blend the paint with a brush and water.

If you like to work a little more artistically with different media (mixed media), you can also print out designs that you have created on the computer with digital graphics programs, for example, on watercolor paper and then work on them with watercolors. It is important that you do not paint on the printed color, as water-based paint does not adhere to it, but complete the design on the free areas with watercolor paint.

Workstation with Tombow materials for creative hand lettering and watercolour: coloured Tombow ABT Dual Brush Pens, Tombow MONO fineliners, watercolour brushes, pencils and erasers next to a sketch sheet with popcorn hand lettering and a pad of watercolour paper.

Why particularly smooth paper is very important for the tips of your brush pen when lettering

When lettering with brush pens, very smooth paper is particularly advantageous because the brush tips glide over the paper surface with less resistance than with rough, uneven paper. This enables a very even brush stroke. Above all, however, the brush tip is protected and frays less when working on smooth paper. By applying more or less pressure to the brush pen tip, you can create strokes of different thicknesses. This creates the typical lettering pattern. However, as the pen is not only drawn but also pushed against the fine brush tip, it is particularly important not to apply any pressure when pushing and to use very smooth paper so that the tip is protected from fraying. If you are working with a lot of paint and water, watercolor paper is recommended.

I have high expectations of the paper for my illustrations, because nothing is more annoying than when it suddenly disintegrates and becomes crumbly after a long period of working with the brush pen.

Chen-Long Chung, Manga-ka and illustrator

Watercolor blocks are usually joined at several edges, i.e. held together at up to four edges with a layer of glue. This has the advantage that you always have a taut sheet in front of you when working, even if you work on the sheet with water beforehand. This makes it very easy to work with watercolors because the sheet does not slip.

To remove the top sheet from the block, proceed as follows: 1.

Wait until your work is completely dry.
Insert a flat, sharp knife into the opening between the first and subsequent leaves.
Carefully run the knife along the edges of the sheet, cutting through the glue.
Separate the top sheet from the block.
Now remove the adhesive residue from the free sheet so that it does not stick together with the other sheets during storage.

And the pad is ready for your next job.

There are a few basic things you should bear in mind when storing your paper and your finished work. Paper is a natural product made from wood. It reacts accordingly to the effects of the weather. It should be kept dry and out of direct sunlight. Moisture can lead to stains and mold growth. However, if it is too dry, the paper can become brittle and break. If you are in doubt about how high the humidity is in your rooms, you can measure it. Also make sure that you don't store the paper too warm, for example in an uninsulated attic. The cooler the paper is stored, the longer it will keep.

Every artist works a little differently, with more or less pressure, with more or less water - so the demands on the material are also different. Test different papers to see what works best for you - and for your pens.

Have fun - and stay creative.

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The right paper shows off your work to its best advantage

What does Bristol paper actually mean?

Choose the right paper for your painting technique

Acid-free, lightfast and resistant to ageing - what does this mean for paper?

Watercolor paper is the first choice when working with water

Why particularly smooth paper is very important for the tips of your brush pen when lettering

Glued at the edges - how do I get the watercolor paper off the block?

This is how you should store your paper - and your artwork

Tip: Test different papers

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