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Sealing pencil lines
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Message
Posted
Hi
I want to transfere (trace) a complicated image on to canvas and having done this once before I seem to remember my lines getting smudged and at times discolouring painted areas.
What would be the best way of sealing the lines so I can still see them but they don't smudge?
Sorry if it is very basic!
Posted
Can you tell us which medium you are using, and do you want them to be visible at the end?
Because if it’s acrylics and oil you could use a very watery underpainting over your lines, raw umber springs to mind
Or you could use white trace down paper to keep applying your lines during the painting process
Edited
by Alan Beresford
Posted
Underpainting is something different, it’s applied over a ground (which could be gesso based), or primed canvas.
It’s generally used with limited colours to establish tonal structure and form prior to painting.
Just use a turpsy wash (as already suggested), that’s the tried and tested method used by many artists. A grid system is ideal for transferring an image, and is particularly useful when scaling up an image.
Posted
This is about acrylic - so NOT a turpsy wash.... that would lead you rapidly to disaster: Alan thinks in terms of oils....
But a wash, yes - a mix of paint and water, or acrylic medium. I don't understand the 'gesso' suggestion - the lines would still show through if it were applied thinly, otherwise there'd be no point in laying them there. And if that was the idea, ie that they should show through, a coat of Zinc White would probably be better (in acrylic, that is). If your lines were so strong you could see them through a coat of gesso, they could still show through the paint film. There are two questions here in one: a) how to stop the lines smudging - well, as suggested above, paint over them with a neutral thin wash just to seal them in place, or use an acrylic medium; b) how to stop those lines ghosting through the paint film - and again, as suggested, trace down paper (carbon paper) should work, as should using a harder pencil (but not so hard that it scores lines into the surface of the panel or paper) and covering them with opaque paint (ie, more white in it) as you go along.
I've rarely done this, but when I last did it, I coated the back of the image I wanted to transfer with graphite - probably just my softest black pencil - and laid that on the board/paper, going over the lines fairly lightly with another pencil, although I could have used anything, even a cocktail stick. And voilá. It worked.
(I have a feeling this post is coming across as a bit grumpy in places: apologies if so, I have one of my 'eads .... might not be unrelated to last night's imbibing.)
Posted
Yes acrylic, I see that now, just testing you Robert!
I don’t know how much detail you are thinking of including in your preliminary drawing out, but it’s not necessary to go overboard at this stage.
There is a danger of sticking rigidly to these lines during the painting stage - ending up with a static and uninspiring result.
They should be there as an initial guide, not to slavishly work over.
Posted
I often work my chosen subject up as a tonal drawing the same size as my intended painting and trace it to transfer the design to my board or canvas. I trace it the old fashion way using tracing paper and rubbing the back with a soft (but not too soft) graphite pencil. A quick spray with fixative Stops the lines smudging. Don’t spray too much fixative though or the surface gets difficult to work over. I do paint over in oil paint, but I can see no reason why it wouldn’t work with acrylics. I’ve used this method for probably 30 years and never had a problem with any of my paintings.
Incidentally I know of one very well respected professional artist who only uses hairspray for the same purpose, preferably “Ellnet extra hold”....
I await the barrage of disapproval!
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