PRODUCT REVIEW: LEGION YUPO for DRAWING

It's been awhile since we've done a proper product review, so this month I decided to try a new drawing paper for my projects and share the results here! The subject was this month's Monster of the Month, The Chaos Chimera!

The product is YUPO Medium from Legion Paper. To begin, this review is for this paper as a drawing surface, and not as a multi-media paper. (I know that it has a loyal fanbase for its role in wet media, so I am noting in advance, this review is purely for its performance as a drawing surface.) 

So what am I looking for in a drawing paper?

• Is it durable? Does it stand up to erasures? ReworkingIs it archival? 
• Does it create interesting linework and texture?
• How well does it retain lines vs smudging?
• How well does it allow for layering? (For instance: 2H for sketch, HB for drawing, and then 2B for shading) 
• Does it produce nice final results?  

Initially, I have to admit, I reeeeally disliked this paper... but that was because I was using the wrong pencils.  

For traditional graphite pencils, including my sacred Staedtler 925, it simply did not perform well.  It is a sturdy paper, with a plastic-feeling surface. It offered a very smooth, almost ink-like line. However, it didn't do well when I tried for smooth shading, which looked more like marker strokes than the fine blending I was used to. Further, it resisted layering, and trying to work with darker pencils was spotty.  And finally, erasing, which I use A LOT to carve out highlights and sharpen details, was an absolute no go.  Most erasers (like the Mono Zero I love so much) would lift up the graphite, but would smudge it around too much, and then when you tried to redraw over the erased area you would find that it had become unworkable and resisted the lead. This was a critical failure for me.  

Graphite on YUPO MEDIUM: HARD FAIL. 

But I wasn't ready to give up. 'There is more than one way to skin a gundark,' as we used to say back on the Falcon.  So next, I brought out some of my favorite color pencils: Caran D'Ache Pablo Color Pencils, in Slate Grey and Black.  And here I found the paper was OUTSTANDING.  

The paper was durable, easily erasable, and rework-able.  It offered beautiful, fluid, elegant linework that was a pleasure to behold. You could also achieve very fine shading and flat fills. I found that it could also be smudged a little, and if you used a cloth to lightly smudge a sketchy area, you could achieve some very interesting smoky linework.  It retained lines perfectly, (almost too perfectly, as stray marks tended to show up quite clearly and I had to use a very light hand to avoid it looking messy.) 

Layering was achieved by using a grey pencil lightly, then using it more firmly, and finally, by using black.  

The final results were wonderful and extremely crisp. It retained lines extremely well, never buckled or tore, smudged very little, and I liked what it produced. The only drawback was  the shading, which wasn't quite as nice as I was used to with my vaunted Strathmore 400 Smooth bristol, but I felt that it made up for it with rich, elegant lines. 

Since I know not everyone has the Caran D'Ache Pablo pencils, I also tried an experiment with Prismacolors to cover something that is more widely available. I found it offered similar results. I prefer the Pablos though, they are just so consistently solid and nice pencils , plus the Prismacolors didn't erase as well.

In the end though, for me, I don't think it will replace the Strathmore 400 for 2 reasons:  

First, color pencil is typically thicker than the point one can achieve with very sharp 2H or a .5mm pencil, and this is a strike against it.  Second, the shading is slightly less interesting as it shows more of the pencil, and less of the paper. 

FINAL VERDICT: YUPO MEDIUM is EXCELLENT for highly-precise linework and design. Just plan on avoiding erasures and work in color pencils instead of graphite for the best results. If you like super clean lines and are a more precise artist by temperament, then I recommend this paper. 

ADDENDUM Aug 5, 2020: I did a #LETSDRAWMONSTERS stream demonstrating the method I prefer to use when working on this paper.  You can check it out here: 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/701306271

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I hope you've enjoyed this review! If you'd like to see more of these on the Patreon, let me know in the comments. Also, if there are products you'd like me to try, give them a shout out as well! 

Note: This post was not sponsored by any of the brands listed here. The opinions expressed here are purely my own! -jg