The answer is yes – you can use hairspray to set your charcoal drawing if needed, but you should use a professional fixative if you are serious about drawing. Using a fixative or hairspray will help, as it will bind the charcoal granules that sit on the surface of the paper, together, which helps prevent smudging.

Protect your charcoal, chalk, graphite, and pastel drawings, and more, by using a fixative spray. Although even the best will result in some degree of color shift, these sprays are valued for their ability to keep surfaces from smudging, fading, flaking, and discoloring.

The ultimate option to seal your charcoal drawing is to use a fixative spray. But once you decide to apply this to your art, make sure you’re familiar with the type you’re going to use. Fixatives come into two types: workable and final.

Fixatives

• Winsor & Newton Professional Fixative.
• SpectraFix Spray Fixative.
• Sennelier Delacroix Spray Fixative for Pencils and Charcoal.
• Royal Talens Concentrated Fixative Spray.
• Daler Rowney Perfix Colourless Spray.
• Loxley Soft Pastel Fixative.
• Jackson’s Pastel Fixative.
• Sennelier HC10 Universal Fixative.

The properties of hair spray as a fixative for pastel and charcoal on paper. Many artists who create drawings with friable or powdery media, such as chalk, pastel and charcoal, choose to use hairspray as an inexpensive alternative to commercially available art fixatives.

Protecting a Charcoal Drawing without Fixative When working with charcoal, it’s important that you purchase a triple mat frame as this helps make sure the charcoal doesn’t touch the glass, which can cause smearing and dislodge particles.

ANSWER: There are many opinions as to whether or not a charcoal drawing should be sealed with a fixative upon completion. Some say yes to preserve the drawing and prevent it from smudging. Others say no as it can cause charcoal particle loss or value changes if not applied properly.

Tips for Fixing Your Charcoal Drawing For best results, carefully apply a couple of very light coats of spray fixative. If need be, retouch the drawing afterward as the fixative can act as a “glue” underneath the charcoal.

You can make your own fixate by adding about one tbsp. of white shellac (which is actually clear) to four ounces of isopropyl alcohol in a paper cup. You can stir the preparation with anything, then pour it into a plastic spray bottle. You must always spray fixer solutions onto a charcoal drawing.

Allow fixative to dry completely before painting, drawing or touching the work. Do not over apply as it will cause a more dramatic color shift or even cause pastels to dissolve in the fixative.

Though professional art fixatives are always a better option, hairspray works in a pinch to protect your pencil drawings from erasing and smudges.

Krylon Fixative Aerosol Spray Provides Lasting Protection for Pencil, Pastel and Chalk Drawings But Can Be Erased to Rework Your Art (Pkg/2)

1. acid free.
2. archival safe.
3. prevents smudging.
4. protects against wrinkling.
5. allows easy rework.

To prevent your pencil drawings from smudging, create a barrier between the graphite and anything that might come in contact with it like hands or other pieces of paper. This barrier can be made with fixatives, wax paper, frames, or page protectors.

Also, please keep your drawings between butter paper or cellophane paper to ensure that they remain safe and intact. Drawings, especially pencil / charcoal sketches tend to become yellow with time, and to prevent that you can use a spray like an artist’s fixative.

Can you use a hairspray on pencil drawings? Yes! Hairspray can be used as a useful final fixative for pencil drawings. It works well to protect your drawing from smudging.

The most effective way to prevent smudges is to spray your drawings with a fixative spray once they are completed. Other methods include hairspray, using a hardbound sketchbook, drawing with H-grade pencils or ink, placing wax paper between each page, and placing rubber bands around your sketchbook.

The best reason to laminate your artwork is because it will protect it. Not just from the aforementioned spills and pet mishaps, but from other dangers, too, such as damaging UV rays. Laminating can also be a lot cheaper than framing and it still protects your work just as well as a frame would.

Laminate is especially useful in slowing the effects of fading colors by serving as a see-thru shield that guards adds a level of UV ray deflection and general wear and tear.