Fixative and their uses video

[ElaineH]

This video is so informative........everything I needed to know explained very clearly. Loved the dog’s different hairstyles! I use workable fixative, but only usually on completed work. Usefully applying it as an intermediate stage is very interesting. I did, however wonder if the tooth of the fixative produces a more textured working surface when applied to conqueror paper.

[Mike Sibley]

Usefully applying it as an intermediate stage is very interesting. I did, however wonder if the tooth of the fixative produces a more textured working surface when applied to conqueror paper.

Given that I very rarely use fixative mid-drawing I'm just going on memory... I think you'll find it feels slightly rougher than Conqueror but graphite actually goes on as smoothly. The fixative does provide extra tooth, and it's useful tooth too, but it's not particularly deep or aggressive. It doesn't feel much different from the paper's tooth - maybe a little drag under the pencil.

You can see when I applied the 2B over the fixed 8B that the 2B applied itself as if I was drawing on paper. You might find very light shading with a hard grade produces darker values than expected and won't apply as smoothly... but I'm tapping into a very old memory there.

The best way to find out... is to try it. You have the fixative, so experiment.