While pastel paper can indeed come in pretty colors, it is not just pretty copy paper. In fact, pastel paper is a gritty, heavily textured paper that's ideal for holding the pigment of pastels and charcoal without leeching color. Pastel papers come in many varieties, from cold pressed paper to sanded, to archival and museum quality.
Pastel Grit
The key to choosing a good pastel paper is its level of grittiness or tooth. The rougher the paper, the better it is for working with pastels and even charcoals. You should look for cold pressed paper, which has a medium tooth, if you are just getting started. If you find you are particularly happy with the result of your work on cold pressed paper, you can make it more permanent with the help of a fixative spray.
For those committed to the ages kind of projects, it's okay to break out the really hard stuff, sanded paper. This incredibly rough paper can hold many layers of pastel making it great for more finely detailed projects. Sanded paper pastel projects don't need fixative to stay.
Color and Aging
After choosing a suitable tooth, you can start looking at color. Just as painters sometimes give their canvases a primer, so do artists who work with pastels. The primer gives a work a warm undertone that purely white paper can't offer. You can also buy pastel paper in warm colors, like earthy browns and grays.
There are also issues of paper quality. Ideally, you want archival or museum grade pastel paperyou want your work to last for a long time, without cracking or fading. However, for simple doodling or getting a feel for the medium, less durable paper can be used. You should also keep an eye out for weightier paper; the heavier it is, the longer it can last, as it can hold more layers of pastel.
