Best Yupo and Waterproof Drawing Surfaces – ARTnews.com

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When working with alcohol ink, a liquid medium appreciated for the way it blooms and shifts, you need a nonporous surface, and many people turn to Yupo. Yupo paper is a waterproof sheet made from 100 percent polypropylene that allows the pigment to remain malleable and in motion before drying. But Yupo is just one style of paper; there are many other fine waterproof and water-resistant sheets that make excellent surfaces for not only alcohol ink but also watercolors, silkscreen, debossing, and more. Browse our favorite options below. 

1. Yupo Paper White Sheets
Yupo is a modern classic for a reason: it is durable and long lasting, and no traditional art substrate can match it. Created with three layers of polypropylene for strength and opacity, it can even be wiped clean if you use it for practice or don’t like your finished artwork. To make it permanent, you’ll have to spray it with finishing spray.

Buy:
Yupo Paper White Sheets

$12.38

2. Grafix Matte Dura-Lar Film
Dura-Lar is a supersmooth translucent plastic that hits a sweet spot between Mylar, a stretched polyester film, and acetate. Like Yupo, one of its most distinctive attributes is that you can lift pigment right off it, effectively erasing anything. It’s only 0.005 inches thick, but because of the composition, it’s incredibly durable and can withstand heat even better than Yupo. 

Buy:
Grafix Matte Dura-Lar Film

$18.56

3. TerraSlate Waterproof Copy Paper
These papers are fully recyclable and, like other synthetic substrates, made without trees. But recyclable doesn’t mean impermanent: TerraSlate’s 10 mil matte paper is seriously tough (it’s used by the likes of the U.S. Coast Guard and just about every restaurant that wants to wipe its menus clean without disintegrating them). Made to fit in a standard laser printer, these work great as a nonporous ground for art as well. 

Buy:
TerraSlate Waterproof Copy Paper

$37.00

4. Ranger Alcohol Ink Cardstock
These alcohol ink papers are actually water repellent rather than waterproof—meaning your ink will dry faster, giving you slightly less control than you get with the full-synthetic options. Whether you like that or not comes down to personal preference, but note that this cardstock comes in a brighter, truer white than usual Yupo paper. 

Buy:
Ranger Alcohol Ink Cardstock

$6.46

5. Yupo Paper Translucent Sheets
For a lighter take on the signature durability and nonporous nature of Yupo paper, these translucent pages provide a milky surface for artworks that play with light. Of course, you can use them for any purpose, but they really shine in backlit pieces. 

Buy:
Yupo Paper Translucent Sheets

$9.53

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