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Have you ever heard of Yupo substrate before? When Legion Paper sent me a sample pack of various watercolor “papers” to test out, I was very surprised to see these three sheets included.

How could I possibly watercolor on these? They are so smooth and there isn’t any tooth or texture for my watercolor paint to sink into?

But once I got over my suspicions and began to experiment with them, I was OBSESSED.

What is Yupo?

Legion’s Yupo is a synthetic (polypropylene) substrate that is super smooth, non-absorbent, and tree-free. It works well with alcohol inks, acrylic, oil pastels, pencils, markers, watercolor, and so much more.

Legion Paper offers three different Yupo substrates: Yupo Heavy, Yupo Medium, and Yupo Translucent. All the Yupo substrates are acid-free, tree-free, have a smooth surface, and are recyclable. Yupo Heavy (144 lb/390 gsm) and Yupo Translucent (104 lb/153 gsm) come in sheets & pads, whereas Yupo Medium (74 lb/200 gsm) comes in sheets, pads, AND rolls.

For my experimental purposes, I tested all three samples of Legion’s Yupo with my Dots & Dust Handmade Watercolor Paints and Princeton’s Heritage 4050 Round Brush in a size 6.

What did I think?

I honestly was so skeptical when I first sat down to paint on these. I am so used to using Legion’s cold press or hot press watercolor paper that has texture and “tooth.” To say that the smooth surface of Yupo substrate puzzled me was an understatement.

But once I started painting on them, I was hooked!

The smooth surface lets your paint glide effortlessly on the surface with little to no resistance. My watercolor brush moved so well over the Yupo and it was so easy to paint my flower petals and leaves. If you are a beginner to watercolor and still want to practice your brushstrokes or lack in your confidence, this “paper” is something I highly recommend to invest in. And while the paint is still wet you can easily wipe it clean if you make any mistakes or if you’d like to continue practicing. I wish I knew about it earlier!

Being made of polypropylene also ensures that your painting surface lies completely flat. That means you don’t have to worry about it buckling when you add water.

BUT, keep in mind that since the water does not have anywhere to sink into, it isn’t wise to use too much. Painting on Yupo I quickly could see that it was best to keep my paint ratio high and my water ratio low on my brush to maximize my color payout. And even though the watercolor would pool up in certain spots of the surface, I was actually okay with it. I feel like these random spots brought texture and interest to my flower petals.

I really enjoyed painting on the Yupo Medium substrate the most! It was more flexible and lighter in weight than the Yupo Heavy, but still worked really well with my watercolor paints. I could also tell that my paints that were darker and that were formulated closer to gouache paint seemed to move on the surface a lot smoother and had the biggest color payout.

My favorite discovery? Adding the stamen details (center) of my flowers only to be delighted to see the paint burst from the center and move the paint of the flower petals outward. It was so cool to see and I wasn’t expecting the color to explode out in that manner. Since the paint for all of my flowers at the time were still wet, that bursting caused some really cool and unique bleeds of color from one flower to the next. So fun!

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Yupo Translucent substrate but honestly it may have been just because of the paint that I chose. I will say that since the colors I painted with had shimmer in them, when I lifted the painting up to the sunshine streaming through the window in front of my desk, I couldn’t help but smile as the florals sparkled. I would love to give it another try since I believe it would work very well with any project that I would need to trace a design onto. Its translucent nature removes the need for a light box since you can easily see lines when you place this substrate on top.

Last note…you have to be careful to not overwork the paint on Yupo substrate. Since the surface has such amazing lifting capabilities (even with dry), you will need to spray it with a matte finishing spray to ensure your painting does not get smudged and stays put.

Overall, I was so surprised and thrilled to be able to experiment with Yupo and watercolor. I definitely will have to get a pad or two to play around more with in the future.

How about you?