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Pencil Only...
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9 posts in this topic

Hello guys:

I have never own a pencils only piece;
but there are a couple of beautiful ones that catch my eyes.

My question is: Do they need an special type of care? I guess I am mostly concern about smudges.

Thank you for your answer.

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2 hours ago, MagnusX said:

Hello guys:

I have never own a pencils only piece;
but there are a couple of beautiful ones that catch my eyes.

My question is: Do they need an special type of care? I guess I am mostly concern about smudges.

Thank you for your answer.

I just put them in a top loader. 
 

 

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Pencils are more delicate to handle because they are easier to smudge and fade. They can still be stored similarly to inked pieces by placing them in mylars and handling them with care as you'd do with any piece. There also exist some products like this which can make pencils more resistant to smudging if you're willing to spray them and claim to be archival safe.

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As someone who draws a lot in pencil (hours each day), I can verify that spray fixatives do indeed yellow in time.  You're best bet is to put them in something like Mylar and prevent movement as much as possible.  Any and all friction causes smearing over time until the piece is a mess.  I've had this happen over a period of weeks, let alone months or years.

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For the people who already purchase pencil only pages,
do you assume that the artist already spray the page with the fixative
or you do that by yourself when you have the page in hand?
is any difference in the texture? can you tell when the spray had been apply or not?

 

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17 minutes ago, MagnusX said:

For the people who already purchase pencil only pages,
do you assume that the artist already spray the page with the fixative
or you do that by yourself when you have the page in hand?
is any difference in the texture? can you tell when the spray had been apply or not?

 

some artists spray their pencil art and some dont.  really depends on the artist.

when buying an all pencil page....ask the artist. they should be able to remember if they sprayed the piece or not.

you will be able to tell if the page has been sprayed.  there is a certain luster/texture that you can see on the page.

 

 

 

 

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Make sure your mylar, Itoya, top loader or whatever is sized as close as possible to the art to avoid the piece moving around and smudging the pencils.

To avoid pressure on the pencils, I try to keep my pencil pieces vertical as much as possible. 

I've had a pencil piece (my Batman/Green Arrow: The Poison Tomorrow cover prelim, http://cafurl.com?i=24661) with the a lot of pencil where some of the pencils did transfer to the acetate in an old portfolio.  It was noticeable if I put a blank sheet of white paper in its place in the portfolio, I just wiped it off.  But thankfully, it wasn't really noticeable when looking at the actual art. 

Pieces that I've sprayed with fixative seem to get a slight glossy finish and feel.  You can compare it to the back of the paper.  There can be a difference between the front and back even on non-sprayed paper.  But on sprayed paper, the difference is even more noticeable.

Depending on the cost vs value of art, if you frame it, make sure you get it with anti-static acrylic, this avoids static electricity from actually pulling the graphite off the paper.

Also try putting wax paper (e.g from the supermarket ) over the art.

If it's "just" a convention sketch, you don't have to go nuts.  All of the above also applies to pastels.

I have a large pastel that I'm looking to re-frame one day.  Also a smaller pastel that's still in the top-loader from when I bought it.  A couple weird pieces (maybe black pastel or a grease pencil/China marker ?), not sure what to do.  I don't even want to put it on my scanner.

Good luck.

Edited by Will_K
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