Smudgy pencils

[avram]

A question for you practising artists out there: Do you use pencils in your sketchbooks? The sketchbooks you carry around with you, I mean, not the ones you leave at home. And if so, how do you keep the pencilled work from smudging to hell and back? (I suspect the answer will turn out to be Spray it with fixative when you get home, but maybe there’ll be another possibility that poses less danger to my lungs.)

Maybe I should join one of the artist’s communities on LJ and ask there.

I’ve been restricting myself to pigment marker and occasional watercolor pencil in my travelling sketchbooks, but there are times when ordinary pencil work would be easiest, and I’d like to be able to go back to it without having to worry about the work turning into a cloud of graphite within a few weeks.

(I’ve got the germ of an idea for a web comic strip, and I’m going to try to get it to sprout over the next couple of weeks.)

Comments

[arkanfel.livejournal.com]

hmm. I agree on the large ring-bound sketchbook point. I've had the same problem with those. Yes... fixative. Since i like my nose attached to my face, i tend to use nice smelling hairspray.
Yes... inking right away does the job as well, i tend to do that a lot.

For large sketchbooks, what you also might try, is get a few large acetate sheets (the ones used for projectors, "Graphix" for instance), and tape it over the work area/page. I found that it's also quite good for extra protection for graphite or charcoal. Sorta like permanent or temp glass-like protection for pages. It will keep aqarelle paint & pencil sketches from fading as well. Downside is that the sketchbook might get a bit bulkier.

that's all i can think of.