Who doesn’t love acrylic paint? Both the novice and the artiste professionnel can get something out of using this versatile, bright, fun medium. The cool thing is, you don’t always have to use a canvas to use the acrylic either!
Acrylic paper pads are a great alternative to using canvas with acrylic paint. A quality pad of acrylic paper is good for practicing techniques, learning how to properly use acrylic paint, creating color swatches for future reference, or just using something new that offers a different texture than canvas.
I’ve discovered that picking up a good pad of paper specifically for acrylic painting can be a little difficult. Using paper and acrylic paint together isn’t the most conventional (or popular) idea ever, apparently.
Luckily, after some serious investigating, I’ve found four of the best paper pads out there for trying out the acrylic-and-paper technique. Read on to see the good!
Comparison Table
| IMAGE | MODEL | FEATURES | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 246-Pound 12-Sheet Acrylic Painting Spiral Bound Paper Pad from U.S. Art Supply |
| View Product | |
 | Acrylic Paint Artist Paper Pad from Royal Langnickel Essentials |
| View Product | |
 | 22-Sheet Oil and Acrylic Essentials Artist Paper Pad from Royal Langnickel |
| View Product | |
 | 115-Pound 10-sheet Canvas Paper Pad from Strathmore |
| View Product |
What to Look for in Your Acrylic Paint Paper
- Weight/Thickness: The higher the “weight” of your paper, the thicker it will be. A 210 lb weight will offer a thicker paper than a 80 lb weight. When it comes to using acrylic, which is a water-soluble paint, you’re going to want to shoot for a thick paper that will not buckle, warp, or wrinkle when wet. You have the option of learning how to treat and stretch paper to reduce unsavory effects of using wet media but it is much easier to just buy the appropriate paper.
- Finish: Think of how your average canvas is used– you usually prime it with gesso so your paint can be applied smoothly. The same goes for your paper. Paper may be naturally smoother than a canvas, but paper with a thin coat of primer helps with our warping problem and also reduces what little grit may be in the paper material. If you like some added texture to the surface you paint on, feel free to disregard this and get whatever gritty, bumpy, wild paper you’d like.
- Sheet size: You can use acrylic painting paper just as you use canvas– in any size you want. Acrylic paint is easily thinned, so you can create ultra tiny artist cards or huge pieces with this medium. Most of the products I’ll be talking about come in several sizes other than the size provided in the link, so try to look around for your ideal paper pad size!
- Primer: Primer is important for the canvas, why would it be different for the paper pad? Primer allows for extra smooth application of acrylic paint. It would be wise to look for paper pads that have a very small amount of acrylic gesso primer coating each page.
Best Overall Paper Pad for Acrylic Painting
246-Pound 12-Sheet Acrylic Painting Spiral Bound Paper Pad from U.S. Art Supply
U.S. Art Supply impresses us once again and lands one of its products at the top of this list as the #1 paper pad to use for acrylic painting. The 246-Pound 12-Sheet Acrylic Painting Spiral Bound Paper Pad from U.S. Art Supply is inexpensive, extra thick, and offers a perfect combination of smoothness with enough grit to keep paint in place.
This pad features 12 ultra-thick, acid-free, neutral pH, spiral-bound sheets of fine paper for acrylic painting.
With a super high weight and thickness, this pad’s acrylic paper sheets are not only perfect for acrylic painting, but for any wet media that you’d like to combine for an interesting mixed media piece. You don’t have to worry about buckling or bleeding with this paper.
It is also thick and primed enough that no additional prep is required before painting– flip to a fresh page and dive right in!
I personally really love spiral-bound sketchbooks like this one. Removal of pages is easy and the pad lies flat on your lap for casual, comfortable painting.
Customer Reviews
- Thick paper that holds up well
- Canvass type feel
- High quality material
Best Budget Paper Pad for Acrylic Painting
Acrylic Paint Artist Paper Pad from Royal Langnickel Essentials
Do you want a quality pad of paper for quick practice paintings or warm ups?
Are you an art teacher or a parent that wants to introduce their little one to acrylic painting without spending a ton on super fancy supplies, but doesn’t want to buy paper that ends up being literal garbage?
This 17-Sheet Acrylic Paint Artist Paper Pad from Royal Langnickel Essentials would be the smart choice.
This particular pad is only 5 inches by 7 inches, but Royal Langnickel’s Essentials line carries several sizes for this acrylic painting paper pad.
This featured size, however, is travel-friendly and fits easily in your bag or purse.
The 96-pound weight/thickness of this paper is good for acrylic painting, but not so ideal for extra watery media.
This little pad would a fun choice to practice acrylic paint texture with, or to keep swatches of the acrylic paints you have in your collection.
Customer Reviews
- No warping
- Canvas like texture
- High quality
Best Paper Pad for Acrylics and Mixed Media
22-Sheet Oil and Acrylic Essentials Artist Paper Pad from Royal Langnickel
This quality 22-Sheet Oil and Acrylic Essentials Artist Paper Pad from Royal Langnickel can handle almost any medium. Acrylic paint, oil paint, crayons, pencils, charcoal, markers, ink, pens, decoupage, gouache, and watercolors can all be incorporated together using this powerhouse mixed media paper pad.
The thickness of these sheets stand at a very nice 125 lb weight, so you’ve got a lot of leeway in what you can use with this paper.
If you wish to use watercolor paint or gouache with this pad, it would be wise to treat it first to ensure no buckling or warping will occur.
The only downside to this particular pad of paper is that the sheets are not acid-free. The longevity of the work you create using this paper can be affected by this.
As always, sealing your work with spray or special mediums after completing a piece would be a wise decision.
Customer Reviews
- Great alternative to canvass
- Works well with oil paints
- Great value
Best Canvas Paper Pad for Acrylic Painting
115-Pound 10-sheet Canvas Paper Pad from Strathmore
It’s like using canvas without the canvas! Sort of. The 115-Pound Canvas Paper Pad from Strathmore offers 10 sheets of quality thin cotton canvas that is great for experimenting with acrylic paint and oil paint as well as sketching and drawing.
The color of this pad is an off, almost eggshell white that mimics the look of untreated canvas.
This pad is ideal for the artist that wants to try out and test techniques to be eventually used on a fancy canvas, without spending the big bucks on a bunch of stretched canvases.
It is important to note that this paper pad is not the same as stretched canvas– in fact, treating the paper before using watery mediums or very thinned acrylic paint on it would be wise.
It’s very thin compared to actual stretched canvas.
Regardless, the 115 lb weight that this canvas paper pad offers is a perfectly good thickness for painting with acrylics and has an added grit and texture to it that can add some interesting personality to your paintings.
Customer Reviews
- Great texture and strength
- Quality material
Do you use paper for acrylic painting that we missed?
We’d love to hear about it! Get in touch with us, or check out other drawing and art reviews:
