Rethink Color, Composition and Corners with YUPO Round

With YUPO Round artists can reshape, rethink, recompose and reimagine everything and create anew. It’s a revolution that cannot be cornered. YUPO opened a door of creativity with YUPO Round, taking that slick, beloved tree-free medium and literally reshaping it.

Learn more about how artist, Courtney Patterson, uses YUPO Rounds for her artwork.

What do you find appealing about the Round shape?
I love the shape of a Yupo Round. Circles are a soft shape and the roundness aspect often adds warmth and interest to a work of art. Circles are also omnipresent in the natural world and I try to include a sense of nature in every piece. The natural world is where I find most of my inspiration.

Does the shape affect the way you work on YUPO?
It absolutely does! I base the direction of the artwork on both the size and the shape of the paper. I really enjoy adding an accent tone to most of my work with alcohol ink (usually a metallic - silver, brass, rose gold, or gold). Depending on the shape and size of the paper, I will either increase or decrease the amount of accent tone I use.

How do you display a finished piece on YUPO Rounds? Do you mount the piece? Do you seal and protect your finished piece?

After the ink has dried on the YUPO Rounds, I use a finisher to set the piece. My varnish of choice is Lascaux 2070 Acrylic Fixative Spray. Often, the alcohol ink will dry with a high gloss and pigment finish, so for me, it is crucial that the varnish is non-yellowing and clear. I always want the natural pigments of the ink to stay intact and for the piece be as vibrant as possible. I let the artwork sit for a few hours before starting the mounting process, I like to mount the YUPO Rounds on cotton board. I then get the board and the spray adhesive beside me, along with some liquid glue. Once I have everything ready to go, I get started by flipping the YUPO Round over and spraying the back of the paper with the adhesive.

I then flip the paper so that it's upwards and adhere it to the center of the cotton board. I carefully press down with my hands and ensure every part of the paper has adhered correctly. In the rare case that it hasn’t, I keep liquid glue (Lineco Neutral pH Adhesive) beside me so more adhesive can be added to the corners of the round if needed. Once the piece has been finished and adhered, I have a rough idea of how it will look framed. Framing is a whole other process, I think it’s important to find a style and tone that best compliments the piece. There are thousands out there, so it’s always enjoyable hunting down the right one. Sometimes a simple moulding suits the artwork best and other times a frame with a little more character compliments the art just right.

 What your favorite media to use on YUPO?
My favorite media to use on Yupo paper is definitely alcohol ink. For the primary colors I use on YUPO Rounds, I enjoy using COPIC ink refills in the 12ml bottles. I drop them onto the YUPO Rounds and use a heat gun to drive the flow and direction of the piece. COPIC carries a variety of beautiful colors and shades. For the metallic accent tones, I usually use Jacquard Piñata Alcohol Ink.

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Any struggles you come across with YUPO / any advice for other artists?

There are not too many struggles when it comes to YUPO. Alcohol ink tends to dry quite quickly on non-porous surfaces, so sometimes going back and fixing what we might see as mistakes can be quite a challenge. Although, I often think what we initially see as mistakes can be the most unique or beautiful part of a piece, it can be best to avoid redoing anything and just see where it takes you! It is a good way of pushing you to be okay with being imperfect when it comes to creating. My advice is even if you do not like how it’s turning out at the beginning or midway through, just keep going and you might surprise yourself!

YUPO Medium Round is available in 74lb/197gsm, in both 8" and 12" diameter.

Hilboldt Studios Large Scale Charcoal & Oil Paintings

Introduce yourself! How did you get started as an artist?

{JH} Hi! My name is Julie Hilboldt and I’m a painter/drawer from St. Louis. Growing up, I always had a strong interest in art. My mom would have me making all sorts of projects to challenge me creatively. It was primarily a hobby until I got to college and I started to realize how much I really enjoyed it. After my undergrad I worked for approximately six months in the “real world” before I decided I needed to find a way to make art my career. At that time, I started graduate school for my MFA and I’ve been navigating my way through the art world ever since!

What type of art do you create? What mediums do you work with?

{JH} The majority of my work is representational with moments or marks of abstraction. Typically the subjects are people; the main reason for this is because I went to Fontbonne University for graduate school where there is a strong focus on anatomy and figurative studies. I primarily use traditional mediums like charcoal and oil paint but I’m enjoying experimenting with new materials that can enhance the old ones. 

How do you choose a paper for your piece?

{JH} It may sound strange but I have to feel the paper or any surface I’m about to work with. This is why I love a good art supply store. When going through the options there could be a different size, shade, texture, etc that jumps out to me and makes sense for my project. It’s difficult to have that experience online. 

Charcoal on YUPO

Charcoal & Ink on Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress

How does using YUPO differ from using Stonehenge Aqua?

{JH} There are so many differences between these two surfaces but I think the biggest is that there’s a permanence of Stonehenge Aqua that YUPO doesn’t have. I typically use the same materials on both-- charcoal and water. On Stonehenge Aqua, I can build up the charcoal and erase/blend it in a predictable fashion. On YUPO, when I erase something it may wipe away completely. I think that lack of control adds an interesting element to a piece. I don’t think any of my drawings on YUPO ended up looking the way I originally intended but instead it evolved into exactly what it needed to be. 

What’s your process like from the sketch to the final piece?

{JH} Chaotic, incredibly chaotic. I’m terrible at planning pieces out and since I use multiple references this can lead to many challenges. I’ve found that if I sketch and prepare too much, I will lose my energy and the artwork won’t become anything special. Instead I think about the piece I want to make for a few days and then I start sketching it out on the paper or canvas. Occasionally I’ll mark out the composition prior to adding the subject but overall I like to see my idea on the actual surface and size it’s intended to be on so I can adjust from there. 

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What’s the largest piece you’ve created? 

{JH} I’m fairly certain that the largest artwork I made was a painting for a lifesize figure painting class. Typically these paintings would be 6 ft tall but since I did mine independently it was 61”x81”. I absolutely love working large and I’m hoping that one day I’ll get the chance to make a painting that is at least double that size. 

You do an incredible job filming while creating! Is this an important part of your process?

{JH} Thank you! It started simply as a way of showing people my work, then it became something I enjoyed doing creatively, and now it’s evolved into part of my artistic process. I’ve recently found myself thinking of the video while also thinking of the piece I want to create. Whether I hear a song or just feeling some emotion deeply, I’ll think of how I can translate that into both my work and my filming. I believe finding this balance between the two ends up making for a stronger, more impactful piece. On the other hand, there’s days that I can’t have an interruption and I won’t allow myself to film so I can focus solely on the art. If you ever see a huge jump in the process that wasn’t included in the video, that’s probably what happened!

What’s next for you?

{JH} This year I will be teaching art to both elementary and college students while also working on my own personal practice. It’ll be a busy year but I’m looking forward to it!

Visit Julie Hilboldt’s Website.

Follow Julie Hilboldt on Instagram.

More information on YUPO.

More information on Stonehenge Aqua.