I have the Daniel Smith watercolor ground, and I don't actually care for it in coloring books because I don't like the texture. It's more for non-porous materials, to give watercolor a smooth porous matrix to adhere to long enough to dry and accept sealant, which allows watercolor painting of surfaces that would normally not take it well. But as you noted today there is also a bit of a shield effect to it, and IMO it is that, not the absorbency of it, which is what makes it help an inadequate paper accept the kinds of water media used in coloring books. For myself, I far prefer the acrylic medium known as glazing fluid, either satin or gloss, diluted with water by half. (Because it soaks into the paper so well, whether applied whole or diluted, there is no gloss to gloss glazing liquid on paper like there is on a gessoed canvas.) You're exactly right in saying that acrylic paints and mediums, once dry, are permanent and cannot be reactivated, and that's exactly what I like about glazing fluid. You get that same shield effect you get with the ground, but without the texture -- and with dilution, no brush lines. Alcohol markers will still get through it, so no dice there, but because of that shield effect it does make a thin paper hardier and more able to withstand water media. Acrylic glazing fluid is also much easier on marker tips, though it's still not as smooth as uncoated paper. I suspect many watercolor ground products these days are actually acrylic based, just like almost all popular gessos are now, but I have not been able to substantiate that guess with actual statements from manufacturers. (I looked back when I first bought mine because I was curious.) But you hit the nail on the head when you said it feels like gesso, because that's exactly what it is: gesso for watercolor, when you're not on watercolor paper, and I suspect that rough texture is the same calcium carbonate they use in regular gesso, just more finely ground. If you get a chance, try some satin glazing fluid, or gloss glazing fluid if that's all you have on hand. It's cheap, even less expensive than your watercolor ground, a little bit lasts forever, and you can get it at your art store or wherever acrylic paints and mediums are sold. If you use it undiluted straight from the bottle, I find it's very difficult to avoid texture from the applicator, but if you thin it by half and do just a single thorough application (with my Kitchen Aid bowl scraper, lol), I personally think it's the best of the bunch for using water media in coloring books. I have tried so many I can't even remember them all now, lol. But that's the one I really like. Maybe this will help you some.
I tested watercolor ground in Worlds of Wonder last year. The page was a right awful mess but I did learn some things. For one, the barrier it adds to the paper is strong enough that I was able to use alcohol markers on the page with absolutely no bleed-through, but the roughness was terrible on the nibs and the barrier made the ink 'pool' so you had darker areas and smudging was a real concern. I did not like how the watercolor reacted on the page either due to that same 'sits on the surface without absorbing' effect it had, but I'll admit I had essentially never used watercolor before doing that page so I was trying out too many new media at once lol...
TH-cam channel color me stress-free swears by certain products as she has been through all of them. And for this product she only uses Daniel Smith as the others have failed her. And she gets beautiful backgrounds like which you want there.
I feel like I was scammed by Amazon into buying the stuff. I bought it for the cheap price and pretty box. I'm gonna donate mine, but im keeping that damned box.
Very informative Jackie. The more we experiment the better our art becomes. Thank you.
I have the Daniel Smith watercolor ground, and I don't actually care for it in coloring books because I don't like the texture. It's more for non-porous materials, to give watercolor a smooth porous matrix to adhere to long enough to dry and accept sealant, which allows watercolor painting of surfaces that would normally not take it well. But as you noted today there is also a bit of a shield effect to it, and IMO it is that, not the absorbency of it, which is what makes it help an inadequate paper accept the kinds of water media used in coloring books.
For myself, I far prefer the acrylic medium known as glazing fluid, either satin or gloss, diluted with water by half. (Because it soaks into the paper so well, whether applied whole or diluted, there is no gloss to gloss glazing liquid on paper like there is on a gessoed canvas.) You're exactly right in saying that acrylic paints and mediums, once dry, are permanent and cannot be reactivated, and that's exactly what I like about glazing fluid. You get that same shield effect you get with the ground, but without the texture -- and with dilution, no brush lines. Alcohol markers will still get through it, so no dice there, but because of that shield effect it does make a thin paper hardier and more able to withstand water media. Acrylic glazing fluid is also much easier on marker tips, though it's still not as smooth as uncoated paper.
I suspect many watercolor ground products these days are actually acrylic based, just like almost all popular gessos are now, but I have not been able to substantiate that guess with actual statements from manufacturers. (I looked back when I first bought mine because I was curious.) But you hit the nail on the head when you said it feels like gesso, because that's exactly what it is: gesso for watercolor, when you're not on watercolor paper, and I suspect that rough texture is the same calcium carbonate they use in regular gesso, just more finely ground.
If you get a chance, try some satin glazing fluid, or gloss glazing fluid if that's all you have on hand. It's cheap, even less expensive than your watercolor ground, a little bit lasts forever, and you can get it at your art store or wherever acrylic paints and mediums are sold. If you use it undiluted straight from the bottle, I find it's very difficult to avoid texture from the applicator, but if you thin it by half and do just a single thorough application (with my Kitchen Aid bowl scraper, lol), I personally think it's the best of the bunch for using water media in coloring books. I have tried so many I can't even remember them all now, lol. But that's the one I really like. Maybe this will help you some.
I tested watercolor ground in Worlds of Wonder last year. The page was a right awful mess but I did learn some things. For one, the barrier it adds to the paper is strong enough that I was able to use alcohol markers on the page with absolutely no bleed-through, but the roughness was terrible on the nibs and the barrier made the ink 'pool' so you had darker areas and smudging was a real concern. I did not like how the watercolor reacted on the page either due to that same 'sits on the surface without absorbing' effect it had, but I'll admit I had essentially never used watercolor before doing that page so I was trying out too many new media at once lol...
TH-cam channel color me stress-free swears by certain products as she has been through all of them. And for this product she only uses Daniel Smith as the others have failed her. And she gets beautiful backgrounds like which you want there.
I feel like I was scammed by Amazon into buying the stuff. I bought it for the cheap price and pretty box. I'm gonna donate mine, but im keeping that damned box.