# 2 PRTS: Illustration question: Fixative for heavy, toothy graphite application?/

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-prts-illustration-question-fixative-for-heavy-toothy-graphite-application/217859
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 9, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-prts-illustration-question-fixative-for-heavy-toothy-graphite-application/217859 "2003-12-09T04:17:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![criminalcatalog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@criminalcatalog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/criminalcatalog)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-prts-illustration-question-fixative-for-heavy-toothy-graphite-application/217859/1 "2003-12-09T04:17:55Z")

</div>

I’m using a 2B jumbo pencil (LYRA 1772 2B) to apply a heaping lot full of graphite onto certain parts of this picture, and I am concerned, because I don’t have any fixatives to put over it while I work on the rest of the piece.

I draw with my left hand. Since we “write” from left to right, I smear letters sometimes with my left hand while writing. Is there a way to protect those areas from future smearing without having to buy something?