Legion Lenox Cotton Paper Review

I don’t do very many product reviews because I don’t use that many new products. But I have recently tried a new paper, Legion Lenox Cotton paper, so it’s time for a review.

Legion Lenox Cotton Paper Review

I’ll begin with a few details about the paper itself, then share the results of a demo piece, and conclude with my opinions.

Technical Details

Legion Lenox Cotton paper is a 100% cotton, medium-texture fine art paper. It can be used for a variety of drawing and printing techniques with colored pencils, graphite, pastels, and charcoal. The smooth white surface also works well for silkscreening, offset lithography, etching, and embossing.

It’s also acid-free, pH-neutral, and weighs in at 92 lb (250 gsm). It’s available in 15-sheet pads in a variety of sizes. I purchased the 9″ x 12″ pad.

First Impressions

I purchased this paper in the hope that it would be a good substitute for Rising Stonehenge (the original Stonehenge). When I first opened the paper, I thought it would be. The surface texture is very close to the feel of Stonehenge, perhaps even a bit softer. It also has a nice, hefty feel when handled. It looked perfect for the kind of colored pencil work I wanted to do.

Demo Piece

I did something different for this review demo and made a coloring page. I chose this option because I also wanted to try Jesse Lane’s method of drawing a rich, black background using nothing but Prismacolor Black. That just sounded too simple to ignore.

In short, Jesse applies multiple layers of Black with light pressure to avoid creating marks on the paper that might show up in the light on the finished piece. Since I have a naturally light hand, it seemed like a perfect fit.

And since Legion Lenox Cotton looks and feels so much like Stonehenge, and because Stonehenge and Prismacolor are a perfect match in my book, why not try this method with Legion Lenox Cotton?

The bonus was that my printer accepted the paper when trimmed to 8-1/2″ x 11″, so I printed one of my coloring pages and was ready to start layering!

Step 1

Below is a three-step progression of my attempt at drawing a black background using Jesse Lane’s method and Prismacolor pencils.

I started with light pressure, but had a difficult time getting an even color layer at that stage (left). That may have been partially because I wasn’t feeling 100% when I did this. But it’s also due in part to the way the color lay down on the paper. It’s not as smooth feeling as Prismacolor on Stonehenge.

By the time I got very many layers on the paper (center), I had to use heavier pressure. By the time I finished (right), I was nearly burnishing just to fill in the tooth of the paper. There’s nothing wrong with burnishing, but it does leave visible makes that catch the light in different ways when viewed in person.

To be perfectly honest, I thought about abandoning the experiment when I finished the background. It just didn’t seem worth the effort.

Step 2

I started filling in the triangles, starting with what I chose to be the “main” triangle, using Prismacolor pencils, and light pressure.

The paper produced some nice patterns and textures, but it didn’t seem to matter how many layers I put down, the color didn’t smooth out.

It also became difficult to continue adding layers. The tooth is just too smooth. So toward the end of this step, I picked up a blue pencil and filled in the top triangle with heavy pressure. The result was more pleasing, but still not satisfactory.

To finish this step, I used light pressure to add as many layers of greens or blues as possible and used the texture of the paper to create visual interest.

By the way, take a look at the small shape where the largest triangle and the blue triangle overlap. I tried layering two colors there, using light to medium-light pressure. Even with sharp pencils, that method of blending created splotchy color.

(The main triangle was colored with Neon Yellow, which didn’t scan well at all. In later steps, I layered a darker yellow over it.)

Step 3

From this point on, I used heavier than normal pressure to fill in the shapes. The red triangle was the next shape and although it turned out better than the blue triangle, the color still looks splotchy in real life.

It does seem, though, that some colors performed better than others. I don’t know if that’s due to the pigments used to make them, or something else. Unfortunately, I didn’t keep track of the colors that worked better.

This is the finished coloring page.

A Few Suggestions if You Try Legion Lenox Cotton

Do

Try layering color with the side of the pencil. I discovered that I could get fairly smooth color by using light pressure and the side of the pencil. That method also helped use the texture of the paper to create some interesting patterns.

Blending with solvent is okay. I blended the lower half of the blue triangle with solvent using a cotton swab. There is improvement in the smoothness of the color, but even after burnishing color and then blending, it’s not as smooth as I prefer. The solvent did bleed through to the back of the paper, but it dried without staining or warping the paper.

Don’t

Don’t try lifting color with tape. You can lift color, but you will also scuff the surface of the paper. The damage in the white stripe between the black sections is the result of attempting to lift color with tape. There was no way to repair the damage or cover it.

Also notice the white line in the green shape on the right above. That’s a mark in the paper. That is very Stonehenge-like! Stonehenge always took impressions very easily. It would take a steady hand and a sharp pencil to fill in marks like this.

Finally, I had difficulty with color lifting in spots even after heavy layering. The marks in the black area below are where color came off the paper. I don’t know how that happened. I do know it was difficult to fill them in. Stippling didn’t even work.

Don’t use heavy pressure if you can help it. I found indentations in the paper in areas where I used heavy pressure. The indentations didn’t show up in original layers, but when I layered additional color over those areas, the indentations did show up.

I did one more coloring page test after this one. For this test, I used Faber-Castell Polychromos and Prismacolor Premier. The Prismacolor pencils worked the best, but still not as well as I’d have liked.

My Conclusions

This paper may be good for general drawing and all the other purposes Legion states, but I wasn’t happy with my results. The paper was too easily damaged, for one thing.

I also like being able to lift color by whatever methods are needed, and that simply was not possible with this demo. It may be possible with more gentle methods like mounting putty or an eraser. I didn’t try either, so cannot comment on their effectiveness. Either one might be worth a try, though.

Despite the smoothness of the surface, it was also difficult to get smooth, even color layers. Burnishing and blending with solvent were less effective than anticipated. The paper felt like it would behave like Stonehenge. It performed more like Bristol.

Legion Lenox Cotton Paper Review

Do I recommend Legion Lenox Cotton Paper for colored pencils? No, especially not if you use a drawing method similar to mine and/or unless you enjoy a challenge. It’s unlikely I’ll do any more colored pencil work on it.

But if you like soft and smooth papers, you might want to take a look at this paper. It might be exactly what you’re looking for.

One final note. Legion offers samplers of many of their papers, including a sampler of drawing papers. The drawing paper sampler includes 8.5″ x 5.5″ pieces of 20 different papers made by Legion. Yes! That includes Legion Lenox Cotton!

So if you’re still in doubt, but are up for a challenge, check out the Legion Drawing Paper Sampler. The small purchase price is more than worth it.

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