Best fixative?

Specifically for pencil. I have a sketch that has been lying dormant for well over a year I need to get my bum to work on. It was already smudged by the blithering idiot who RIPPED it off the board it was taped to and I don't want to do any more harm.

I use the good old toxic planet unfriendly do not use if even pending pregnancy. I am bad. AT least i don't use it often but that isn't much of an excuse. I always fix outside and leave the piece in the bathroom with the fan on until all odor has evaporated. Isn't sadistic that they made some of it odor free? I don't have a can here but i remember it starts with a K. Any non yellowing workable fixitive is what i reach for. Don't use hairspray, it yellows badly.

I've been lucky with the hairspray, thank go, but I've barely used any of it and only used fixative for big projects.

Are there other brands that work equally well?

don't use it on anything you want to keep for along time for a year or two from now it will be dirty brown.

I use a UV resistant, clear acrylic coating spray by Krylon for all my pencil and coloured pencil work. It requires two coats, drys quick, and you can't even really tell its on there. Its moisture resitant, non-yellowing, smudge proof and protects against UV light - would still recommend not to hang any artwork directly in the sunlight though. I also use a different spray by them for my paintings. I got these through Currys Art Store in Ontario, but if you google them, you could probably find out who carries them in your area. Hope this helps.

Thank you, Julie!!! I just needed to know what to look for. We've got dozens of art stores in the area, I'm sure I'll be able to find something.

Be very sure you do not breathe the stuff, it is bad bad bad. STored in your fat which makes it even worse. WHen i was at the art institute i was PG my senior year. I had to leave the building everytime someone used fixitive and wait for the filters to clear the air which was a pain in the arse. Do not buy the ordorless either, kinda like taking the rotten egg smell out of the gas lines...why in the world they made an odorless version is beyond me. You need to be able to smell it to know to stay away until it is completely dry. ONce i spray fixed something heavy in the basement of the apt. I had no idea that smell would fill the corridor and stairs for the rest of the evening. (OOOOPS) outside is best.

Im bad is till talk to my high school chem teacher so if i need to use fixative on a project i do it in her fume hood !!!

That is a good place...you hve to realize how bad it is when it stays in your body for long periods of time. Especially when you do this for a living. Many marker illustrator has succumbed to liver cancer. You know that smell that permanant markers give off? Kind of the same thing so that is why i never let children have access to them.

Ummm.. oops. My art teacher had that brand (know it started with a K) and we did it in class ALL THE TIME.. well, I didn't, but other people did, and she bitched at me when I asked them not to.

Oh well. With all the hamburgers and steaks I've eaten, not to mention the basic grocery store chicken. I'm screwed anyhow. Still going to be careful, though. No sense introducing preventable toxins to my body.

Oh yeah, don't breath it in!!! You can feel it if you do. At the current time I spray in my bath tub with the window open, and the exhaust fan on. Not the best place, but a lot of times it is too windy or wet outside to attempt it.
Smkie, I had no idea about the markers!!! I use markers quite a bit, but they actually have no real smell (well, maybe a little bit, but its hard to notice). They are the tria letraset and prisma colour pantone markers.....I have felt light headed when using them, and normally open a window, but yikes, didn't know about the cancer causing!!