I’ve recently bought fixative. After drawing a picture, I went outside, followed all the directions CLOSELY, and waited for it to dry. It did smell a bit high, but I figured the scent would leave as soon as it finished drying .
It smells still! Is this normal? Is there a way to cut down on the high scent of it?
Did I do something wrong?
Oh, art gods and goddesses of the Straight Dope, I need your help.
Fixative is seriously overwhelming. You didn’t do anything wrong, it’s just got fumes that would knock over a bear. I does go away eventually. I use a workable fixative when I’m working with conté and layering it on pretty thick.
I also use to use it in my sketchbook, since I use a messy medium, and there’s a lot of transfer of the image to the back of the preceding page. So to keep the pages rubbing the images off each other, I use fixative. The “book” aspect of the sketchbook tends to hold the fumes I find. But it’s been awhile. If I sniff the book I can still tell there’s fixative, but it no longer makes my eyes water to look at the pages.
For really UNIMPORTANT stuff, say like sketchbook doodles that I do to prep and study something for a real painting/drawing, I use unscented aerosol hairspray. But that’s for really, really, unimportant stuff. Stuff I’m not going to exhibit or sell or frame. Stuff that’s NOT important and I don’t ultimately care if it gets ruined.
The hairspray is cheap and not-so-stinky and works just fine for that purpose of sealing the medium to the page. So does Scotchguard. However, I’ve no idea what the long-term effects will be. So far, there hasn’t been any yellowing or obvious degradation on drawings I’ve had for ten years.
But again, I would never use hairspray on my real artwork. But it comes in handy for the messy junk you still want to keep on file and perhaps develop into a good idea later – old sketchbooks, preparation sketches you’re going to toss out later. Stuff like that.
It should air out eventually.
In the mean time: stop sniffing it, ya junky! 
Is the drawing purty?
Care to share?