How To Protect A Graphite Drawing

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At that place's cipher worse than working hard on a pencil drawing, only to notice it smudged in your sketchbook or hanging on the wall. Luckily, there are some easy ways to protect your pencil drawings from smudging.

To protect your pencil drawings from smudging, spray them with a fixative. This will create a barrier between the graphite and anything that might come in contact with information technology. If your drawings are in a sketchbook, you lot can too put wax paper, frames, or page protectors betwixt the pages.

All artists shake their fists at the heaven because of smudging at some point.

It'due south simply a part of the game.

Thankfully, there are some piece of cake ways to protect your pencil drawings from smudging, all of which are dirt cheap and easy to implement. Yes, these techniques fall in the category of "small hacks that will change your life." Well, your art life anyways.

Let'southward go started and end that smudging.

1. Use a Fixative to Protect Your Drawings

Fixatives practice exactly that — they assist "gear up" your graphite to your paper. Fixatives are used with many types of art to help preserve it and protect information technology from UV rays, yellowing, fading, and yep…smudging.

When yous're done with a pencil drawing, whether it'due south a simple putter in your sketchbook or thousand masterpiece, a fixative is an important spray to keep your pencil from smearing.

Of import note: DO NOT use hairspray every bit a fixative for your art.

Hairspray IS a fixative, simply information technology'southward called HAIRspray for a reason. It'south meant to ready your hair, non your art. Some hairsprays share ingredients with fine art fixatives, but they aren't the same thing. To make sure that your drawings last every bit long as possible, become an fine art-specific fixative. If yous're in a pinch, I would say that information technology'southward better to non employ a fixative at all than to utilize hairspray.

As y'all choose a fixative, focus on quality. Y'all'll be more upset with a depression grade fixative that ruins your art than spending a few actress dollars for a high quality product. Krylon is a great brand that specifically makes fixatives for pencil drawings. It's actually pretty inexpensive, besides. Read reviews, talk to the staff at your local fine art store, inquire your artistic friends what they employ.

Krylon Workable Fixatif is a nifty choice! Find it here on Amazon.

Do your research and then experiment with the one yous choose (source). Starting time off with a tester page so that you can piece of work out all of the kinks of applying it. You don't want the starting time thing yous've ever sprayed with fixative to be a grand masterpiece.

best drawing pencils for sketches — Cheque out more from Adventures with Art!

As you're spraying, make sure that you have a light touch. Keep moving and don't linger on any ane part of the piece. Y'all'll want to do a few low-cal coats of spray so that you aren't tempted to lay on a thick layer of spray on the first pass.

Information technology might be obvious, just don't use your fixative indoors. If you practice, you will accept a fun-smelling afternoon. You lot'll likewise want your drawings to air out a fiddling chip and dry later on you spray them, so go outside and enjoy the sunshine as you spray.

This video has some great tips and techniques for applying your fixative.

2. Put Wax Paper Betwixt Your Pages

Wax paper is useful exterior of cooking and baking! This slippery paper can go a long way in helping you protect your pencil drawings. Grab a roll of wax paper or a pack of pre-cutting wax paper sheets.

Trim them to the right size and slip them in between the pages of your sketchbook. If y'all have standalone drawings, lay a slice of wax paper on top to protect it from the outside world.

To secure your wax paper, use a thin strip of masking tape or painters tape along the top. Merely utilise masking tape or painters record. Any other blazon of record tin rip your cartoon when you try to take it off. A rip is obviously much worse than a smudge, then make certain you don't sabotage yourself with your tape choice.

Pro tip: cutting your piece of wax paper alee of time before y'all even get-go your pencil drawing. Lay information technology underneath your hand and go along it there as you lot work. This will aid you keep a smudge-free workspace and prevent you from getting graphite on your drawing paw.

If you don't have wax paper, you tin can use parchment paper or cling wrap as well. Nosotros're basically looking for a slippery cloth that'southward designed to be not-stick. These magical baking tools can work wonders in our art tool boxes as well. Just be sure to hide them from any bakers in the house!

drawing of cloth and butterfly wing hanging to dry — This is a drawing that I kept in my sketchbook, but DIDN'T protect properly. You can see that it has smudged a niggling 🙁

3. Frame Your Pencil Drawings

If we're looking for a barrier, this is a elevation notch bulwark. You tin't get more than extreme than putting glass between your pencil cartoon and the balance of the earth. While this won't work for sketchbooks, this is a great choice for any of your special pencil drawings.

Don't be shy about framing your art. You worked hard on it and it'south beautiful. Show if off already!

drawing of older woman — My parents have a lot of my drawings framed from when I was a child considering, you know, that'southward what parents do.

All of u.s. go to Ross and buy discount art that was mass produced in a warehouse when we have original pieces of work right in our own shelves.

Or, if you're like me, yous give all of your fine art to your parents and their house turns into some strange shrine. Seriously, people could walk through my parents' house and encounter how my art has progressed (or not) over the years.

When looking for a frame, make sure to get a loftier quality ane with proper UV blocking drinking glass. This volition not but protect your drawing from smudging, but also from fading in the sunlight as well. Win-win!

Only similar fixatives, you lot go what you pay for. If you've worked difficult on a piece of art, y'all might besides spend a few extra bucks to make sure it lasts a long time.

5 tips for protecting your art from sunlight — Check out more from Adventures with Art!

iv. Apply Page Protectors

Nosotros're talking about those folio protectors you used in schoolhouse to organize assignments in your binder. What I love about this method is that information technology not only protects your pencil drawings, but also gives you a great way to organize your piece of work. Put each slice of fine art into its own page protector then file it whatever way you'd like — chronologically, thematically, stylistically, any suits your fancy.

I'm one of those people who loves having binders full of neatly organized documents. There's something nigh page protectors that makes everything seem so neat, make clean, and more than organized than it would exist otherwise. Looking at your own beautiful art in this way is a dream for someone who loves organization and crispy clean stuff. More practically, it'due south as well a great way to maintain a portfolio, but who cares most practicality.

If you lot're non interested in organizing everything in a binder, in that location are some SUPER neat page protectors that are rigid. This ways that they tin't be bent which, along with smudging, is another enemy of fine art. These sleeves are fabricated out of rigid PVC and volition keep your fine art direct and smudge-gratis. Grab a few packs of them and start stacking your pencil drawings without worrying that they'll smear with each other.

The obvious trouble with this method is that you're limited to art work that'due south 8.five×11 or smaller. This is definitely one of my favorite techniques for smaller pencil drawings though.

Do Pencil Drawings Fade Overtime? — Bank check out more from Adventures with Art!

Don't Pick Just 1 Method to Protect Your Fine art

Some of these strategies will be better than others depending on what you're working on. If you have a chiliad slam masterpiece, fix it and frame it. If you have a sketchbook, use wax paper. If y'all have stand up alone pieces that are the size of printer paper, utilize the page protectors. Having a number of different protective techniques at your disposal ways that, no matter what type of pencil fine art you create, yous know you'll accept a strategy in your back pocket for extending its lifespan.

Diana has been an artist for over 25 years and has training in drawing, painting, digital drawing and graphic design. Diana'south latest obsession is digitally cartoon with Procreate and creating t-shirt designs with Canva. Diana has experience selling her art beyond a number of platforms and loves helping other artists learn how to make money from their fine art as well.