If you've been making junk journals or mixed media projects for a while, you've probably accumulated more painted paper than you know what to do with — or you've stood in front of a blank page with a brush in hand wondering how to make something that actually looks good. This tutorial is the answer to both problems. I walk through exactly how I make painty papers, from choosing colors to mark making to finishing touches, and then I show you what I actually do with them in projects.
What we cover
This is a full step-by-step painty papers tutorial — color selection, laying down paint, mark making from largest tool to smallest, and a range of texture techniques including cling wrap, balloon printing, scrunching, blow painting, and more. I also show a collection of papers I've made over the years and how I've used them in finished journals and covers, including a faux leather journal cover and paper weaving projects.
What you'll learn
How to choose a color palette that works — without second-guessing yourself or pulling out every paint you own, including:
- Starting with just 2–3 colors plus black and white for contrast
- Using Google or a color wheel to find complementary colors if you're unsure
- Why contrast (light and dark) matters more than having many colors
How to lay down a base coat — getting paint onto the page with intention, using a smooshy brush, a sponge, or a plastic bag, and understanding what "done" looks like at this stage before moving on
How to do mark making from largest tool to smallest — working through a deliberate sequence so the composition builds rather than gets muddy, including:
- Large shapes first (jar lids, toilet paper roll shapes, foam stamps)
- Medium marks (perfume bottle tops, corrugated cardboard edges, sponge textures)
- Small details last (nasal swabs for dotting, pen lids for tiny circles, lines with a fine tool)
Why going off the page matters — stamping and marking beyond the paper's edge makes the composition feel complete rather than crowded in the middle
How to add detail without overdoing it — dots inside circles, scratched lines, clusters of small marks, strategic glitter glue — and knowing when to stop
The scrunching technique for faux leather and dragon-skin texture, including:
- Painting the whole page in one color while wet, then scrunching carefully so the paper doesn't tear
- Opening it back out and going over the raised ridges with a contrasting color
- How this looks on journal covers (genuinely stunning — I've kept mine as samples for years)
The cling wrap texture technique — laying paint flat on the page, pressing scrunched cling wrap into it while still wet, then lifting to reveal organic texture; the key is painting the color on flat rather than letting it blob up under the wrap
Balloon printing — blowing up a small balloon, pressing it into paint laid out on a plastic surface, then stamping it onto the page to create soft, round texture marks
Blow painting with a straw — watering down acrylic paint and blowing it across the page to create branching, organic marks (a Halloween tree being one happy accident shown here)
How to use leftover paint productively — instead of washing brushes between colors and wasting paint, using the cleaning process itself to build a background layer; some of my favorite papers started as brush-cleaning sessions
How to use painty papers in finished projects, including:
- Paper weaving for journal covers
- Cutting and layering into collage-style covers
- Painting directly onto a canvas notebook cover
- Tearing into strips and sewing the joins for a full journal wrapper
Why painty papers look better as a whole than up close — zooming into details will always find something imperfect; the magic is in the full composition, and this changes how you evaluate your work while making it
Tips & gotchas
Use heavier paper — I work with 180gsm watercolor paper, and the textured side in particular holds paint beautifully. Printer paper will just fall apart when wet paint hits it.
Limit your palette before you start. Put two or three chosen colors in a box on your desk and only work from those. It sounds like a small thing, but it genuinely stops the desk chaos that makes the whole process feel overwhelming.
Always have a light color and a dark color in your palette. They don't have to be black and white — but you need that contrast. Without it, everything flattens out and the mark making disappears into the background.
Use a plastic or non-absorbent surface as your palette. Paper eats up paint; a piece of plastic lets you control exactly how much paint goes on your tool.
Start mark making with your largest tool and work down to the smallest. It sounds obvious, but it's easy to reach for a fine detail tool early and then have nowhere to go. Save the nasal swabs and pen lids for last.
Keep a container next to you for dirty brushes. When you switch colors, drop the brush in the container rather than rinsing it mid-session — rinsing mid-session leads to muddy mixing. Take the whole container to the sink when you're done.
For the cling wrap technique: paint the color on flat before you smush the wrap down. Globs and blobs under the wrap create uneven texture. Flat paint plus scrunched wrap gives you those beautiful, even veins.
Scrunch the paper while the paint is still wet for the faux leather texture. If it dries first, you lose the crisp ridges that make the technique work.
Wear gloves and an apron. I say this every time I make painty papers and then forget to do it myself — today included, because I'd painted my nails the night before. The paint gets everywhere and it doesn't wash off easily.
Don't zoom in. Painty papers always look worse under scrutiny than they do at normal viewing distance. If you find yourself picking apart a piece, take a step back. More often than not, it looks good.
One thing I've found: if a piece isn't working on its own, cut it down. Even the ugliest painting paper often has one section worth saving, and small pieces work beautifully in collage, as journal cover details, or woven into strips.
Paper weaving with painted papers is one of my favourite things to do with them — there's a tutorial linked below if you want to go straight there from here. Scrunched papers that started as faux leather become journal covers. Strips sewn together become a whole journal wrapper. The further you get into making painty papers, the more uses you find for them, and the more you start to see potential in every brush you're about to rinse clean.
