How can I prevent pencil lead from smearing all over the paper?

Question

Every time I draw my hand smears up against it and all over the rest of the paper. I'm left handed too. My hand smears it all up. If you put hairspray on it will it prevent it?

Answer 1

Use a pen will help..kidding

hair spray indeed does work~

Answer 2

Okay, hairspray is almost a fixative, and will prevent you from manipulating the current line work. Another thing is that you are not drawing the way you should if you are smearing the media.

Don't put paper under your hand as you can still smear the work by moving the paper. This also is the development of a bad habit. It also sounds like you are holding the pencil the same way you write. This isn't good. Your writing / prinitng manner should be different from the way you draw.

Hold the pencil between your thumb and forefinger as you would a brush. Drummers do this with their hands upside down, so this will take more practice and you will be thankful you developed this style.

In addition to all of this, you can do what Leonardo di Vinci did, which is to use a rod (thick dowel) with a cushioned end to it to keep your hand and / or arm from resting on the drawing. Hold it at an angle so that the "cushion" part of it is resting on the surface near it or on the edge of the canvas. This habit will become a blessing to your future artwork.

Best of wishes and good luck to you.

Answer 3

Hairspray, or any other kind of fixative will change the surface of the paper, preventing you from continuing and making changes to your drawing.

I haven't done much pencil sketching in a while, but, when working in my studio, I kept a soft bristled brush by my drawing board, which I, occasionally swiped across my paper to remove pencil dust, while I worked. These are sold in most art supply and craft stores.

As far is your hand smearing the pencil stroke while you are working, that is something that you will just have to overcome. You should try practicing drawing WITHOUT resting the heel of your palm on the paper. Hold you hand OFF the surface while you draw, using the entire arm motion, instead of, just your wrist and forearm.

After awhile, your strokes will become more fluid, as you learn to control the larger muscles. Like all the other skills associated with good artistic endeavors, this will take practice.

Answer 4

If you use a harder lead than you will have finer and thinner lines with less smudging. When you draw properly you keep your hand off the paper, but it is harder to hold your hand that way and it can interfere with the creative process. If you clean your hands well or wear a plastic glove then you can still smear your work. It isn't how much oil or water is present, it is the act of moving one smooth object across another that is giving you problems. Most people don't understand what a 2H pencil really means. It means hardness level 2 on a scale of 1-6 with 6 being the strongest. Then there are the softer lead pencils HB and then F. Below that you have B1-B6 with B6 being as soft as warm butter. You can find different leads and different lead pencils at an art store, a craft store, or at a drafting supply store. You can also find the different leads from an Office store like Staples or Office Depot, however only the very large stores will stock a wide range of lead. To get the ones you want you will probably have to order them online. You could probably sketch your drawing in with the hard pencils, and erase your mistakes. Then you could go back and use a softer lead pencil to draw over the lines that you want to keep in your final drawing. If you do it this way then you can work from right to left so your hand will always be off the soft lead lines. Another good way to stop the smearing is to use a template and spray fixative. If you put another sheet of paper or a piece of cardboard under your hand then you won't smear your work as much; provided that you move your hand across the cardboard or sheet of paper, and do NOT move the cardboard or sheet of paper. You need to lift it and then move it to another position. Drawing Templates can do the same thing. Art stores do sell spray fixative, but often hair spray works as well. Just make sure it is dry before you rub your hand across it. The best time to use spray fixative is when your artwork is complete. I trained as a draftsman in school and college, before Computer Assisted Drafting became so popular. I had a lot of problems with smearing my drawings, and I am right handed. Often I would put my hand on a plastic template to stop the smearing. It became a major problem when I started drawing perspective drawings on 22" X 17" sheets of paper and larger. Even standard drafting drawings could be smeared if I had a lot of detail in them. Another common way to protect a drawing is to use a bag of eraser dust (art stores or craft stores carry them). The bag has a lose weave so you can shake out the fine eraser dust on your drawing. If you smear the drawing then you smear the eraser dust, which could erase the smear, or it can help keep your hands from contacting the page. To get rid of the dust typically a horsehair or camel hair (camel hair is finer) brush is used. You want a fine hairbrush so it doesn't smear your drawing as well. Another good technique is to pick up an Eraser Shield. This paper thick sheet of steel has holes and thick lines cut into it. When you erase something you put the eraser shield over the drawing with the area you want to erase in the middle of a space cut in the shield. Then you can press hard without smudging the paper. You can also use the shield to let you erase a line that is very close to another without touching the line you want to keep. Most eraser shields have a right angle cut in them so you can make your lines match. For more ideas go to an art store and ask the sales force, or you could visit an artist and ask them for some advice. Most artists use pencil and paper to make a sketch first to give them an idea of what they want to create. NOTE: Pencil lead is the name of the rod of graphite in the pencil. All pencils use graphite, so you can't get lead poisoning from drawing too much.

Answer 5

ok nobody really answered your question. if you smear everything with your hand, put a piece of paper under your hand over your drawing.
Hairspray is only good after you are finished the drawing and want to preserve it.

Answer 6

Placing a piece of regular white paper over the part that's done already will also protect it so long as you don't rub that back and forth while you work on another section.

Answer 7

What I do is use another paper under my drawing hand, and carefully lift the paper when I have to move to a new area on the sketch pad or what ever you are drawing on. You can also use frisket paper, so you can see the entire drawing when you are drawing.

Answer 8

I don't know about the hairspray thinng but what u can do is be careful where u place ur arm.Wait 4 it 2 dry up then start writting again.Or u can just try the hairspray thing,ur choice really!

Answer 9

Well it all depends on what kind of pencil you are using... If you write lighter you probably wont have the problem...

Or use hairspray...

Answer 10

hairsray or fixative will work .They are both laquer hairspray is cheaper.(the cheaper the more laquer)Also try a harder lead it will smear less.