how to prevent drawings from smudging in sketchbook

This post may incorporate affiliate links

There'southward nothing worse than working difficult on a pencil drawing, only to find information technology smudged in your sketchbook or hanging on the wall. Luckily, at that place 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 it. If your drawings are in a sketchbook, y'all tin likewise put wax paper, frames, or page protectors between the pages.

All artists milkshake their fists at the sky because of smudging at some bespeak.

It'southward but a role of the game.

Thankfully, there are some like shooting fish in a barrel 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 "pocket-sized hacks that will change your life." Well, your art life anyways.

Let's get started and stop that smudging.

1. Use a Fixative to Protect Your Drawings

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

When you're done with a pencil drawing, whether it's a simple putter in your sketchbook or grand masterpiece, a fixative is an of import spray to go along your pencil from smearing.

Important note: Exercise Not employ hairspray every bit a fixative for your art.

Hairspray IS a fixative, but it's chosen HAIRspray for a reason. It's meant to fix your hair, not your art. Some hairsprays share ingredients with art fixatives, simply they aren't the aforementioned thing. To make sure that your drawings last equally long equally possible, get an art-specific fixative. If yous're in a pinch, I would say that it'southward amend to not use a fixative at all than to use hairspray.

As you choose a fixative, focus on quality. Yous'll be more upset with a low grade fixative that ruins your fine art than spending a few extra dollars for a high quality product. Krylon is a great brand that specifically makes fixatives for pencil drawings. It's actually pretty cheap, too. Read reviews, talk to the staff at your local art shop, ask your creative friends what they use.

Krylon Workable Fixatif is a not bad pick! Find it here on Amazon.

Do your research and and so experiment with the one you choose (source). Get-go off with a tester page so that you can piece of work out all of the kinks of applying it. You don't desire the first thing you've ever sprayed with fixative to be a grand masterpiece.

best drawing pencils for sketches — Check out more from Adventures with Fine art!

As you're spraying, brand sure that yous accept a light touch. Continue moving and don't linger on any one part of the piece. You'll desire to practice a few low-cal coats of spray so that y'all aren't tempted to lay on a thick layer of spray on the showtime pass.

It might exist obvious, but don't use your fixative indoors. If you lot do, you will have a fun-smelling afternoon. You'll also want your drawings to air out a picayune bit and dry after yous spray them, so become outside and enjoy the sunshine as you lot spray.

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

2. Put Wax Paper Between Your Pages

Wax paper is useful outside of cooking and blistering! This slippery paper tin can go a long way in helping yous protect your pencil drawings. Take hold of a roll of wax newspaper or a pack of pre-cutting wax paper sheets.

Trim them to the right size and slip them in betwixt the pages of your sketchbook. If y'all take standalone drawings, lay a piece of wax newspaper on top to protect information technology from the outside world.

To secure your wax paper, use a sparse strip of masking tape or painters tape along the top. Only use masking record or painters record. Any other type of record tin can rip your drawing when you try to take information technology off. A rip is evidently much worse than a smudge, so make sure yous don't sabotage yourself with your tape pick.

Pro tip: cut your piece of wax paper ahead of fourth dimension before you even start your pencil cartoon. Lay it underneath your hand and keep it in that location as yous work. This will help you keep a smudge-costless workspace and prevent you from getting graphite on your drawing hand.

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

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

3. Frame Your Pencil Drawings

If we're looking for a barrier, this is a pinnacle notch barrier. You tin can't become more than farthermost than putting glass between your pencil drawing and the residuum of the world. While this won't work for sketchbooks, this is a not bad choice for any of your special pencil drawings.

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

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

All of us go to Ross and buy discount art that was mass produced in a warehouse when we take original pieces of piece of work right in our ain shelves.

Or, if you're like me, you give all of your art to your parents and their house turns into some strange shrine. Seriously, people could walk through my parents' house and see how my art has progressed (or non) over the years.

When looking for a frame, brand sure to become a high quality 1 with proper UV blocking glass. This volition non only protect your drawing from smudging, but also from fading in the sunlight as well. Win-win!

Only like fixatives, you become what you pay for. If you've worked hard on a piece of art, y'all might as well spend a few extra bucks to brand certain it lasts a long fourth dimension.

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

4. Utilize Page Protectors

We're talking well-nigh those folio protectors you lot used in school to organize assignments in your folder. What I love about this method is that information technology non only protects your pencil drawings, but likewise gives you a slap-up way to organize your work. Put each piece of art into its own folio protector and then file it any way yous'd like — chronologically, thematically, stylistically, whatever suits your fancy.

I'm one of those people who loves having binders total of neatly organized documents. There's something about page protectors that makes everything seem so swell, clean, and more organized than it would be otherwise. Looking at your own beautiful fine art in this manner is a dream for someone who loves organization and crispy clean stuff. More than practically, it's as well a smashing fashion to maintain a portfolio, merely who cares nearly practicality.

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

The obvious problem with this method is that you're limited to fine art piece of work that's 8.5×11 or smaller. This is definitely ane 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 One Method to Protect Your Fine art

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

Diana has been an creative person for over 25 years and has preparation in drawing, painting, digital drawing and graphic blueprint. Diana'due south latest obsession is digitally drawing with Procreate and creating t-shirt designs with Canva. Diana has feel selling her art beyond a number of platforms and loves helping other artists learn how to make coin from their art besides.