Since the time of the Neanderthal, man has been making art on any surface that was available:  cave walls, skins, dried plant matter, etc.  But the ancient artist searched for ever- better surfaces on which to create.

With the advent of papermaking, around AD 100, the real revolution in art surfaces began.  But paper is not the only surface artists use today.  In fact, there are three basic art surfaces currently in use:

Paper
Board
Canvas

Other, more unusual surfaces may also be used for art.  Fresco painting, on wet plaster, and painting on metal are examples.  However, we will concentrate on paper, board and canvas.

Paper Basics

The best-known and most widely used surface for creating art is paper.  For the artist, two main materials form the bulk of paper used:

Wood Fiber Cellulose ; the majority of papers, poor to moderate durability and aging properties

Cotton (or Rag) ; fine artist papers, very good to excellent durability and aging properties

Most artists purchase paper based on the medium they will be applying to it, not based on fiber content. Choosing the right paper can be confusing. Here are some paper traits that can help make choosing easier:

Finish - there are four basic paper finishes, each with its own tooth (surface texture)

Plate ; ultra-smooth finish, no tooth.  Coated with clay, plate finish paper makes the ultimate surface for ink

Hot Press ; a very smooth finish, suitable for ink or fine detail work.  Very little tooth.

Cold Press  - moderate amount of tooth, great for pastels and charcoals that require tooth to adhere to the paper.  Also good for grainy effects in pencils, inks and watercolor.

Rough ; more tooth still than Cold Press, normally used only in watercolor papers.  The Rough surface imparts a great deal of unusual character to colors and shapes as they are applied.

Weight ; means that 500 of those sheets will weigh a certain amount.  For example: 500 sheets of 140 lb watercolor paper will weigh 140 pounds.  Weight can also be determined by grams per square meter.  So, if a paper is rated at 640 g/m2, that means that one square meter of that paper weighs 640 grams.

As mentioned earlier, most artists buy paper based on what medium will be applied to it.  Let’s look at each medium and which papers are most appropriate for each:

Watercolor/Gouache - most water media papers are rough textured with surface sizing, to make the paper less absorbent of the pigments and keeping them from bleeding.  The best watercolor papers are 100 percent cotton/rag.

Acrylic ; acrylics are normally painted on canvas, but any durable surface can serve as a support.  Acrylics right from the tube (unthinned) are very heavy and will cause strain on all but the most rigid of papers.

Oil ; oils should be painted on canvas.  Although there are papers made that approximate a canvas texture, these are used for practice only, as they tend to be rather flimsy.

Chalk Pastel ; pastel papers have just the right amount of tooth to hold the pastel particles in place.  Many pastel papers come in colors, expanding the range in which the artist can create.

Oil Pastel ; although pastel papers are fine for oil pastel, a good rough textured watercolor paper makes for interesting textural effects when used with oil pastels.

Charcoal ; similar in texture to pastel paper, due to the similar sizes of the charcoal and pastel particles. 

Ink ; ink should be applied to a plate finish paper or board when a fine line and detail are required.  Ink drawn on more toothy papers will be less sharp and more feathery.

Pencil (drawing) - most successful pencil drawings are completed on hot press surfaced, hard, weighty papers. The amount of pressure exerted onto the paper through drawing and erasing will wear out less durable papers.

Pencil (sketching) ; the lighter technique of sketching allows the artist to use less weighty papers than for drawing, although erasing can damage these papers.  Newsprint may be used by students for sketching and character studies, but know that newsprint is the least durable paper and will begin to deteriorate within months of use.

Tempera ; large amounts of paper are usually required for the posters and children’s art painted in tempera.  Kraft Paper, the hot press, brown, rolled paper, is a good choice, as well as inexpensive board. 

Canvas Basics

Canvas and canvas-like products are the traditional surface for oils and acrylics. The canvas products you will encounter are:

Traditional Canvas ; canvas, primed with gesso, stretched on standard size stretchers. 

Heavy Duty Canvas ; similar to Traditional, but stretched on deeper, heavier stock stretchers.  Both Traditional and Heavy Duty Canvases are Gallery Wrapped, meaning the canvas painting surface covers the front and sides of the canvas, without being stapled on the sides.  Traditional and Heavy Duty Canvases are also both re-stretchable, allowing for tension adjustment throughout the life of the painting.

Two-Pack Student Grade Canvas ; inexpensive primed canvas, stapled on the sides of thinner stretchers.  These canvasses are not re-stretchable, but serve the student and beginning artist well, due to their low price.

Canvas Panels ; inexpensive primed canvas, wrapped around a chipboard core.  Not as stable as stretched canvases due to their tendency to warp, but a good beginning alternative to more expensive stretched canvas.

Masonite ; a rigid board primed with gesso.  More stable than canvas panels, but without the flexibility and longevity of stretched canvas. 

Board Basics
With the advent of electronic illustration and sign making technology, the need for boards for these uses has dwindled.  Some fine art-specific boards are still in use: 

Bristol ; not really a board at all, but in fact a multi ply paper, available in plate finish or a cold press vellum finish.  The plate finish is used for ink and fine detail applications, while the vellum finish is used for pencil drawing.  Also, any heavy Bristol is suitable for watercolor.

Illustration Board ; available in several thicknesses and in both Plate and Cold Press finishes, Illustration Board is the surface of choice for classic graphic arts, for rigid ink and pencil drawings, and can also be used for watercolor.

Poster Board ; a thin, multi-ply board, made from raw pulp with colorant added. Typically used for school art projects and children’s art.  Not suitable for other art applications to their quick degradation.

Mat Board ; primarily used for creating mats on framed art, mat board is sometimes used for pencil, charcoal and pastel due to its rigidity and interesting surface texture.  Very interesting results can be achieved with pastels on suede finished mat board.

Foam Board ; a rigid board used for filler and mounting, and sometimes as a surface for pencil, ink, pastel and charcoal.

Features and Benefits of Art Surfaces:

Glossary