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What media can I use on yupo paper?

What media can I use on Yupo paper by Sandrine Pelissier on ARTiful, painting demos
Painting technique / Yupo paper demonstrations

What media can I use on yupo paper?

Yupo paper is often used with watercolors, but there are many other media you can use on this wonderful paper. Here are a few examples:

Media you can use on Yupo paper

Pencil

pencil on yupo paper

pencil on yupo paper

Pencil will work great, it makes a very clean line, a little difficult to erase completely, you can even do a limited amount of smudging.

Colored Pencils

colored pencils on yupo paper

colored pencils on yupo paper

colored pencils on yupo paper

colored pencils on yupo paper

You will also make a very clean and strong line with colored pencils. You can mix them a little bit on the paper but layering is not possible. Trying to add too much colored pencils will result in the production of little balls of wax and pigment on the paper, as you can see on the picture.

Watercolor Pencils

watercolor pencil on yupo paper

watercolor pencil on yupo paper

wet watercolor pencil on yupo paper

wet watercolor pencil on yupo paper

Watercolor pencils will work great either dry or wet, they make a wonderful line. Still not possible to layer.

Felts

felt on yupo paper

felt on yupo paper

Felts work very well, they slide easily on the paper.

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Yupo Watercolor Paper

Yupo is a compelling and unique alternative to traditional art papers. It’s a synthetic paper, machine-made in the USA of 100% polypropylene. It is waterproof, stain resistant, and extremely strong and durable. PH neutral.

Oil pastels

oil pastels resist on yupo paper

 oil pastels resist on yupo paper

oil pastels scraffito

oil pastels scraffito

Very nice to work with on yupo paper, you can try to mix colors a little as shown on the picture, layering still very difficult. Scraffito is very easy and can produce very interesting effects.

India ink

india ink on yupo paper

India ink on yupo paper

india ink on yupo paper

India ink on yupo paper

India ink will produce a very strong contrasting black on the bright white of yupo paper. You can dilute it to obtain different shades of grey, then work it the way you would with other inks, watercolors, or liquid acrylics on yupo paper. They will stain the paper and once dry are very difficult to lift.

Pastels

pastels on yupo paper

pastels on yupo paper

Pastels won’t adhere on the surface of yupo paper because there is no tooth at all, but if you did build up layers of acrylics and gel medium or if you did some paper collage then you can have enough tooth to use pastels.

Collage

collage on yupo paper

collage on yupo paper

You can try some paper collage, here I used gel medium to have the paper adhere on the surface and reworked the paper with some purple pastels. You can see the paper lifted in some areas, but I liked the effect.

Oils

You can paint with oils on Yupo paper, they work really well and are very pleasant to use on such a smooth surface. You can see a flower painting I did with oils on Yupo paper here

Painting with oils on yupo paper by Sandrine Pelissier on ARTiful, painting demos

Acrylic

Acrylic works really well on yupo paper, you just have to protect the surface as it will scratch easily :

Layering Acrylics on yupo paper

Watercolor

Watercolor is the medium of choice on Yupo paper, with many advantages: You can lift out any passage you don’t like and repaint it, and of course you get wonderful textures when the watercolor dries on the paper.

Painting on Yupo paper, a few techniques on ARTiful, painting demos by Sandrine Pelissier

Painting a yupo paper with watercolors: a few techniques

4.2/5 - (4 votes)

Comments (16)

  1. John

    how can i protect the oil pastels from smudging on yupo paper?

    1. Hi John. I don’t think you can totally prevent oil pastels from smudging on yupo paper because this is a medium that never dries completely.

    2. I don’t think you can really prevent oil pastels from smudging as they never really dry and will always stay a bit susceptible to smudging. I would just frame the finished painting.

  2. Pete

    Thank you for sharing your experiences. What are your observations/views on using charcoal on Yupo?

    I haven’t tried much yet … I am enjoying the smooth way charcoal crayons go on, for example, and the beautiful contrasts that result, but it seems like I only have one good chance to lay down my line … I am having trouble building up and reworking the images.

  3. I am working on Yupo paper for the first time, using graphite and fluid acrylics. The paint does not adhere well, I used water to make each layer transparent. Help!

    1. Hello Regina, that is normal, nothing much adhere on yupo paper. You just have to use a very light hand if you decide to work with layers and then fix everything or frame under glass when you are done.
      If you are working with acrylics, know that if you dilute them over a 50% ration, then they start to loose their binding properties. It is better to work with fluid acrylics if you want to work with liquid paint.

  4. Paulette

    Thank you for this valuable information about Yupo. There’s not much I could find that is as good as this!

    1. Thanks Paulette !!

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