Protecting Your Drawings

I’ve been asked a couple of times recently about how to prevent smudging on pencil drawings.

One way to avoid smudging while you’re still working is to lay down a sheet of paper over your previously drawn sections, for your wrist to rest on. But what about after the drawing has been completed? If you place a pencil drawing into a folder of any sort, in time it’ll smudge (plastic envelopes are the worst for this). I’ve seen drawings rendered totally incomprehensible after having been left in a folder for just a few months. You could, of course, frame your drawing, but if you produce as many pencil drawings as I do, that isn’t very practical.

The answer is to protect the drawing with Art Fixative. There are lots of makes available; all do exactly the same thing, and applying it is simple; just hold the can about 12 inches away from your drawing and spray it as evenly as possible. It’s best to do this in a well-ventilated area or, even better, outdoors – trust me; you really don’t want to breathe in the stuff…

It’s probably worth saying that you shouldn’t do this until you’re absolutely sure the drawing is finished; alterations can’t be made once its been fixed. I do highly recommend using it, though, particularly for those drawings you’re most proud of, and want to be around for another hundred years or so.

Hairsprays are often bandied around as being a cheaper alternative to dedicated fixative sprays, based on the fact that they contain many of the same ingredients. If you’re going to go down that route, however, you should experiment first. Most hairsprays contain oils that may leave unsightly grease spots on your drawing, and there is an added danger, over time, of your drawing discolouring badly (it goes yellow). Personally, I don’t think it’s worth the gamble; fixative spray doesn’t come cheap, but a large can should last you ages (mine has)… don’t risk it!