DD26 - Five minute Friday

I wanted something quick to work on today so I've switched to using charcoal blocks. I love these as they lay down loads of generous tone really fast. They're not suitable for small scale, detailed drawings, but for something more gestural they're perfect.

Of course if you're using charcoal, and even just pencil, then you'll need to be fixing your drawings. If you don't fix them, then as you turn the pages and keep drawing in your book, the graphite will smudge and transfer. Disaster!

You can fix drawings with artists' fixative spray, but I tend to just use hairspray.

One word of caution, hairspray (and possibly fixative too) can affect different media in unexpected ways. Biro and markers like Sharpie are soluble in hairspray. This can either be a good thing or a bad thing! I quite like the effect and so encourage it by spraying fairly generously. If you don't want any bleed, then you'll need to do your charcoal or pencil drawings first, fix them, then add any pen work afterwards.

Ooh, and be aware that often when the pen bleeds after you've sprayed it, it'll go right through the page and show on the other side. Another disaster? Maybe not, maybe it's the start of tomorrow's drawing…

Thanks for visiting,
Laura
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