Digital Art Papers

Paper is a misnomer when it comes to quality canvas paper for digital art as it's a bit of primed canvas cut to a size that'll go through your printer. (Cheaper versions may be textured paper.) It handles like floppy cardboard, so be careful not to bend it as you put it into your printer (and don't get greasy fingermarks on the printing surface neither). There's a right and a wrong side (or rather primed and unprimed side, see photo), so ensure you put it into the paper tray the correct way up.

The brand I've used is Hahnemuhle, running it through my photo inkjet printer without problem and with beautiful results on "top quality" setting. If your printer lets you, set the paper options to matt rather than gloss.

As you'd imagine, watercolor or aquarelle digital art paper is designed to produce a print that looks like a watercolor painting. The paper looks like a sheet of watercolor paper, but is supposed to have a coating on it that gets the best printing results from inks (no bleeding or spreading, for example). Different brands produce papers of different weights. The one I've used is 170g/m², produced by Hahnemuhle.

Become a walking advert for your art by creating a T-shirt with a print of one of your paintings on the front. There's also huge potential for mixed media. Fabric transfer sheets come in two types, one suitable for light fabrics and one for dark fabrics; don't get them mixed up.

Create fridge magnets with small versions of your paintings printed on them to market your art, or even to sell. The brand I've used is Print'Jet Magnetic Paper (Read Review) which is like a thin sheet of paper stuck to a thin sheet of magnet. I used watercolor paint on it as well as printing, though it would likely not stand up to much reworking with paint. .

I bought a packet of Lazertran Inkjet Waterslide Decal Paper (Buy Direct) with the thought of using it as an easy way to add lettering to a painting (my calligraphy not being up to much) or an art journal page. But it got "borrowed" by my Significant Other to make decals for his models and I've not seen it since. The advantage of decal paper over sticker paper is that you can use turps to melt or dissolve the decal on absorbent surfaces.

I have managed to hold onto my packet of Letraset Safmat, which is a printable sticky film (acid-free) that becomes "virtually invisible" when you rub it down. Various types of sticker paper are available; be sure to check whether it's clear or white, a whole sheet or one with precut templates.

Golden Artist Colors produce mediums ("digital grounds") for creating printable surfaces. They call it Digital Mixed Media and there's one for porous surfaces, a matt white one, and a clear gloss one. The theory is that you'll be able to turn just about anything you can get to go through your inkjet printer into a printable surface. (I would experiment with an older printer, not your fancy new photo printer though!)