ART Filter - I want to paint on top of a pencil drawing without smearing it. Suggestions?

March 5, 2007 7:53 PM

Fellow artists, I have drawn in pencil on a 24" x 30" gessoed wood panel. I would like to seal the drawing before painting on top of it. I've thought of spraying it with Damar varnish or coating it with acrylic gloss medium. My goal is to not smear the drawing. I can work in acrylic or oil. Any ideas are welcome. Thanks!
posted by spakto to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

There's an aerosol fixative at art/craft stores called Prang (?) or something that should do it. I remember using hair-spray before, but you're probably better off with a purpose-made product.
posted by maniactown at 8:25 PM on March 5, 2007

Here's what I was thinking of.
posted by maniactown at 8:28 PM on March 5, 2007

Don't use workable fixative--it might not be strong enough. What you want is Krylon Crystal Clear or other acrylic spray varnish, in several thin coats. Then you can brush on a thin coat of regular acrylic based medium or varnish. When that dries your drawing is totally protected and you can paint acrylic or oils on top of it. I have a friend who uses this technique with thin oil glazes over charcoal drawings--it works really well (the darker five on the right and top.)
posted by tula at 9:02 PM on March 5, 2007

Practice on some scrap first.
posted by lee at 9:25 PM on March 5, 2007

What I have done is erase the unnecessary lines (like if you went crazy with a 4B or something) and just paint. Unless you're doing a watercolour, the pencil is going to disappear fast enough, whether you spray it or not. I wouldn't spray it because you don't want anything that might flake off coming between your paint and your gessoed surface. That's why you gessoed it: because it latches onto the paint well.
posted by Listener at 9:41 PM on March 5, 2007

you can use aqua net hair spray, its much more effective than spray fix, however it probably isn't archival if that is important to you.
posted by Bengston at 9:45 PM on March 5, 2007

Please, for the love of God, don't use hair spray. It's cheap and ineffective if you're planning on painting over it. You are much better off sticking to a commercial fixative. Even spray sealants (preferably with a matte finish) will do the job just fine. Don't worry about it flaking - if your gesso is good it'll stick. That's why you gessoed it, right?
posted by Jilder at 1:59 AM on March 6, 2007

tula is right. Or, you could just paint over it with acrylic matte medium and then paint acrylic or oil on top of that. Acrylic medium is great stuff; it's transparent, you can thin it down as much as you want with water or use it for texture and it lasts forever, being plastic and all.
posted by mygothlaundry at 6:34 AM on March 6, 2007

i really can't get behind using any acrylic if you're thinking about painting in oil over it. i know id doesn't really make a difference, but it's a rule that's been so thoroughly beaten into me that i can't help but reiterate it here. furthermore, if you brush on an acrylic gloss medium (yuck!), you're likely going to smear the drawing, in the process.

i would use a good quality shellac-based spray fixative. i find Pearl's house brand is quite passable.
posted by wreckingball at 7:21 AM on March 6, 2007

Thanks for all the posts. Some good advice there. I'm off to buy some Crystal Clear!

And I will spray it outside.
posted by spakto at 9:02 AM on March 6, 2007