Why is Art Paper so Expensive?
Tuesday October 9, 2007
A reader emailed this question to me some time ago, and I suspect that others might like a bit of an answer to this, too. When you first go to an art store to buy some good paper for drawing or watercolor, the cost seems outrageous. How can one sheet of drawing paper cost as much as a whole packet of office paper? I expect that part of the answer is in art-shop overheads and the small market for good papers, but other than that, here are a few thoughts on why art paper is so expensive.
Comments
Actually, I don’t think it’s very expensive. Lets say you buy a sheet of the best drawing paper obtainable like Rives BFK heavy paper. Daniel Smith sells this paper at three dollars and nineteen cents. The sheet is 22×30 inches which means you can cut it into fourths. So your cost, for a nice heavy paper that is 110% cotten rag and not wood pulp – you pay about seventy-nine cents per sheet. Is that too much to invest in a drawing? Consider this paper is also acid free. Lastely, it should be pointed out that drawing is the most inexpensive of artistic endeavor. When I consider the amount of time and energy invested in a given project I may be working on, 79 cents is a small consideration for me. When I do watercolor, and I select 300lb paper it costs considerably more. The benifit is that the colors come out beautifully, the paper streches well and I can rework if I have too. I cannot emphasize enough though, you should use the best you can afford, I’ve found it makes all the difference.
Good comment, John. Actually, you’ve raised an important point that I haven’t mentioned in the article – the fact that you are investing yourself in creating an artwork, and that a dollar or two is a relatively small financial part of that. I certainly tend to use paper without thinking much about the cost, but then I’m used to it. But when you aren’t familiar with it, compared it to a ream of printer paper for a couple of dollars, it seems like a lot. Sometimes to non-artists, art paper doesn’t LOOK expensive – I remember someone saying it felt like cardboard!