#might be helpful to some uwu

Some watercolor paper info i came across, might be helpful to some of ya’ll who make or wanna try trad art✌

When painting the other day, i noticed the colors were making this weird texture and looked duller in saturation. I thought i was doing something wrong, but apparently its cuz the paper is older, or probably wasnt stored very well So i got my sealed, newer sheets of paper out and did some swatch tests:

Both swatches were made using the same puddle of paint and in the same way. Images were taken with phone flash and unedited (only cropped). The color used is Pthalo Blue watercolor (Van Gogh brand) which isnt supposed to have any texture.

You can see that the swatch on the older paper looks less vibrant and has a strange texture vs. the newer paper. Thats cuz the sizing has worn off. Paper sizing (based on google) aids the paper in absorbing moisture evenly, and allows the pigment to sit up on the surface where it refracts color more brightly, instead of soaking in and giving a “dull” appearance. The color then can easily be reworked due to the accessibility of the pigment remaining on the surface.

Sizing can also wear-off if paper isnt stored properly, like exposed to the elements, humid climate, being old paper in general, or a factory defect even.

You can re-apply sizing onto papers manually by buying liquid sizing from art stores, tho i think im gonna use the old papers for gouache paintings instead.

So ye, sometimes when the paintings not looking quite right, it may be the material working against you nwn"

And heres a quick doodle using up the rest of the paint puddle! Cant be wasting paint now haha