Cleaning, maintaining and preserving your Drawing material | Canson® (2024)

FAQs

How do you maintain cleanliness of drawing? ›

Paper mask: A piece of paper placed under the hand can serve as a shield to prevent transferring skin oils to the drawing, and can protect against smudges. Any piece of paper will do in a pinch, but thin, smooth stock is best. Carefully place the mask over the drawing, under your hand, and move it gradually as needed.

Keep a small bag of some sort and keep all your tools and equipment in it. Keep it organized and know what shouldn't be put where. Example don't put a kneaded eraser without covering it or it will stick to everything. Keep refilling your bag when you have time and try to keep the bag clean from the inside and outside.

Protect them from shocks. When working with several pencils at once, avoid constantly laying them down and picking them up again. It's better to hold them in the hand that isn't drawing. To properly clean your color pencils after sharpening them, pass over the lead with a paintbrush to remove the color residue.

If you are interested in storing your drawings without a fixative, you can place the picture between two pieces of glassine interleaving paper. Glassine interleaving paper is an acid-free translucent paper that is ideal for protecting and storing delicate artwork like graphite, charcoal, colored pencils, and pastels.

For pencils, chalks, pastels, that sort of thing, keep them in their cases, and dry. And for all drawing media, keeping it dry and away from humidity is important. Papers can buckle, which will essentially ruin them. It's good to store them flat, especially for larger sheets.

Keeping your drafting tools clean, well maintained, and properly stored will result in better performance and longer service life. 10. The performance of simple cleaning, maintenance, and storage procedures help a lot in keeping the efficiency of every drafting instrument.

You'll need to use a spray varnish for this (also called a final fixative). Plus, spraying a pen and ink drawing with a fixative gives the artwork a nice finish, somehow unifying the look of the piece.

How do you preserve pencil drawings with Hairspray? ›

You shouldn't use hairspray to fix drawings. It is likely to yellow over time, often quickly. It may also change the appearance of your work, making it appear darker or even dissolving some colours completely. You should seal your drawings with an artist quality fixative spray instead.

A soft-bristled brush, vacuum cleaner with a micro-suction tool, or another gentle tool is used for removing surface dirt and dust. Care must be taken not to apply too much pressure or use abrasive materials that can scratch or damage the artwork.

Keeping your drawing clean through completion is incredibly important. The last thing you want is to work hard on your drawing only to have your hand smear the work you created. Your hands contain oils that mix with the material and make the smearing that happens hard to erase and ugly.