Review: Daler Rowney Cartridge (130gsm) and Fine Grain Cartridge (160gsm) paper

Daler Rowney Cartridge (130gsm) and Fine Grain Cartridge (160gsm) paper are a step up from the Drawing (96gsm) and Fine Grain Drawing (120gsm).

The Daler Rowney Cartridge paper is a smooth off-white paper while the Fine Grain Cartridge is lightly textured and pure white.

For pen and ink line art, there's no difference between the final look and the feel of drawing on the paper. I prefer drawing on lightly textured paper though.

Cartridge 130gsm paper

Here, I've used a fountain pen on the 130gsm cartridge paper and it just glides smoothly across the paper surface.

The paper handles ink washes well to with minimal warping. Ink washes on the paper, and also on the Fine Grain, are able to retain sharp edges without feathering.

130gsm is thicker. Markers will bleed slightly to the opposite page but it will not bleed through totally.

Fine Grain Cartridge 160gsm

The Fine Grain Cartridge is also wonderful for pen and ink line art.

The 160gsm has less bleeding through with markers, but you'll definitely still see the marker impression on the opposite page.

Differences

The main difference between the paper comes from the paper texture. The Fine Grain texture has more tooth and when used with graphite or coloured pencils, there will be more white showing through.

The top is the normal cartridge paper and bottom's the Fine Grain Cartridge. I've used a Kuretake brush pen to create these brush strokes. The first two are slow strokes and the rest are fast.

Even on the Fine Grain Cartridge paper with slow strokes, there's still a tendency for the texture of the paper to show through.

The 160gsm paper is much thicker and has less tendency to show the impression of drawings on the opposite page, so I would consider it safe for using on double side even if you want to scan the pages. 130gsm is still too thin and not suitable for scanning with drawings on both sides of the sheet.

Conclusion

Daler Rowney certainly has covered all their bases by releasing so many variation of paper.

These are paper in the mid-range and they perform well with pen, ink and pencils.

Availability

Daler Rowney is from UK so you can find their products at JacksonsArt (UK).