Fixative is a spray applied over charcoal, pastel, and pencil drawings to prevent smudging. From Loriot's 18th-century secret to modern acrylic sprays, learn its history.
In 1753, a French inventor named Antoine-Joseph Loriot discovered a method for fixing pastel drawings so they would not smudge. He mixed equal quantities of alcohol and fish glue and sprinkled the solution over the surface of a drawing with a brush. The method worked. But Loriot refused to disclose his formula. For ten years, he kept it secret, until 1763, when a pastel was exhibited at the Paris Salon that had been half fixed and half unfixed, to prove that the process caused no visible color change. Finally, in 1780, Loriot demonstrated his technique to the Academie de Peinture. The history of fixative is a history of secrecy, experimentation, and the persistent problem that dry media pose: the pigment sits on the surface of the paper, unbound, and the slightest touch moves it.
Fixative is a liquid containing a binder dissolved in a volatile solvent, sprayed or brushed over a drawing made in friable media such as charcoal, pastel, chalk, or graphite. When the solvent evaporates, the binder forms a thin film that adheres the loose pigment particles to the paper surface, preventing them from smudging, crumbling, or falling off. Fixative is to dry media what varnish is to oil painting: a protective coating that stabilizes the surface.
This entry covers the history of fixative, how it works, the different types available, and the practical and conservation issues that make fixative one of the most debated materials in drawing.
A fixative consists of two components: a binder and a solvent. The binder is a resin or gum that forms a film over the pigment particles and adheres them to the paper. The solvent is a volatile liquid that carries the binder in solution and evaporates after application, leaving the binder behind. In modern spray fixatives, the binder is typically a synthetic resin such as an acrylic, cellulose nitrate, or cellulose acetate, dissolved in alcohol or acetone and dispensed from an aerosol can.
The mechanism is simple. When the fixative spray hits the drawing surface, the solvent evaporates almost immediately, and the resin particles settle onto and between the pigment particles and the paper fibers. The resin forms a thin, transparent film that physically binds the pigment to the substrate. A light coat of fixative will hold the pigment in place while allowing additional layers of drawing media to be applied on top. A heavier coat will seal the surface more completely but may alter the appearance of the drawing.
Fixatives are categorized by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston's CAMEO conservation database as "a consolidant or varnish that physically binds a powdery material, such as charcoal or pastel, to the substrate." Common historical binders include shellac, mastic, and sandarac dissolved in alcohol. Modern commercial fixatives use synthetic resins that are more stable and less prone to yellowing. Read the CAMEO entry at MFA Boston CAMEO.
The practice of fixing drawings dates back at least to the 16th century. A 1996 study in the Journal of the American Institute for Conservation traced the history of fixative use, finding that traditional fixatives were composed of weak solutions of natural resins such as dammar or shellac, various vegetable gums, fish glue, beer, casein, and countless homemade concoctions. These were applied to drawings in friable media, most commonly charcoal, chalk, and pastel. The function was to adhere powdery drawing media to the paper support, usually so that the drawings could be handled during the creation of more important works like paintings or sculptures. Read the study at JAIC.
Two types of fixative emerged based on when they were applied. A "workable" fixative was applied while the drawing was in progress, isolating layers of smudgible medium so the artist could rework passages or build upon previous designs. The newly applied charcoal or pastel was not repelled by the matte surface of the fixative, which was a sufficiently poor film-former that it could be erased if necessary. A "final" fixative was applied at the completion of the drawing to provide more permanent protection.
Loriot's 1753 discovery was the first documented systematic method for fixing pastels. His formula of alcohol and fish glue was effective but not without problems. The Swiss artist Jean-Etienne Liotard (no relation to Loriot) created complex pastels that were drawn and fixed on both sides of the paper. The fixing process was entrusted to a Monsieur Jurine of Geneva, whose competence Liotard compared to Loriot's. The fact that artists entrusted fixative application to specialists tells you something about how risky the process was considered.
The 19th century brought industrial chemistry to fixative formulation. Refined organic solvents and synthetic compounds replaced the homemade concoctions of earlier centuries. By the 20th century, aerosol spray cans made fixative application more consistent, replacing the mouth blowers and bulb atomizers that had produced uneven, droplet-heavy applications.
Liotard was one of the pastel's greatest practitioners. His The Chocolate Girl (c. 1745, Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden) is a pastel on parchment that shows the medium's capacity for precise detail and luminous color. Liotard's complex pastels were fixed on both sides of the paper, a process so delicate that he entrusted it to a specialist in Geneva rather than doing it himself.
Degas pushed pastel to its limits, building up layers of color and fixative to create surfaces that are almost painterly in their physicality. Works like Blue Dancers (c. 1897, Musee d'Orsay) show multiple layers of pastel with fixative between them, allowing Degas to work and rework the surface. His experimental approach to fixative was part of his broader experimentation with materials, which included using turpentine and even tracing paper as supports.
Redon's charcoal drawings, known as "noirs," depend on fixative for their survival. Works like The Spider (1881, Musee d'Orsay) use delicate passages of charcoal that would smear at the slightest touch without fixative. Redon's noirs are built up in layers, with fixative applied between layers to allow additional work on top.
Kollwitz's charcoal and pastel drawings, including her self-portraits from the 1930s, use fixative to stabilize the powdery media. Her drawings show the expressive potential of charcoal when it is allowed to sit on the surface of the paper without being blended or smudged, a surface quality that fixative preserves.
Close's large-scale drawings, including his fingerprint drawings and pastel portraits, required extensive fixative application. His Self-Portrait (2005, pastel on canvas) is built up in dozens of layers, each fixed before the next was applied. The scale and layering of Close's work would be impossible without modern spray fixatives.
Modern fixatives fall into several categories. Workable fixatives, such as Krylon Workable Fixatif, are designed to be applied during the drawing process. They create a surface that can be drawn over, allowing the artist to build up layers. They are also erasable, which means the artist can correct mistakes made on top of a fixed layer. Final fixatives, such as Krylon Fine Art Fixatif, are applied at the end and provide more permanent protection. They create a more continuous film but are harder to reverse.
A 2024 study by the paint manufacturer Golden, published on their Just Paint resource, tested seven commercially available spray fixatives for use with PanPastel on Pastelmat paper. The study evaluated color shift, texture shift, smudge-resistance, and workability. The results showed significant variation between products. Krylon Workable Fixatif produced some darkening in blue, green, and yellow tones. Lascaux Fixativ 2070 provided an even, light coating with slight darkening. Talens Concentrated Fixative, a more binder-rich formulation, produced significant darkening. Sennelier Latour, a traditional formulation, showed good smudge resistance with moderate color change. Read the full study at Just Paint.
The color shift that fixatives produce is one of the main reasons artists are cautious about them. When fixative lands on pastel, it wets the pigment particles and compacts them slightly, darkening the color. Soft pastels are particularly vulnerable because their high pigment-to-binder ratio means the particles are loosely packed and easily compressed. Charcoal and graphite tend to benefit from light fixative layers, which can actually enhance tonal variation and richness.
Fixative is one of the most problematic materials in paper conservation. The JAIC study noted that artists have "traditionally been wary of fixatives, and for good reason." The chemical composition of historical fixatives was often unknown to the artist, their aging behavior was unpredictable, and the method of application was difficult to control. Large droplets from mouth blowers and bulb atomizers could cause loose pigment particles to coalesce and dry into dappled patterns. More aggressive methods like dipping, floating, or brushing could cause dyes in pastels to bleed through the solvent-saturated paper.
Natural resin fixatives, such as those based on shellac or mastic, tend to discolor with age. The CAMEO database notes that these resins "tend to discolor with age," which is why modern commercial fixatives use synthetic resins like acrylics and cellulose derivatives. However, synthetic fixatives have their own problems. Some have poor adhesion to certain papers. Others become insoluble over time, making them impossible to remove if the drawing needs conservation treatment.
The fundamental tension in fixative use is between stability and reversibility. A fixative that strongly binds the pigment to the paper will protect the drawing well but may be impossible to remove if conservation treatment is needed. A fixative that is easily reversible may not provide adequate protection. Conservators must balance these competing demands, and the choice of fixative depends on the specific drawing, the media used, and the expected storage and display conditions.
Fixative is related to varnish, which serves a similar protective function for oil paintings. It is used with dry media including charcoal, pastel, and graphite. The solvent component of fixative is similar to the solvents used in oil painting. For more on drawing materials and techniques, read our post on reading a drawing, or explore our guide to sketching outdoors.
You cannot see fixative in a drawing. What you can see is the drawing's survival. The fact that Liotard's The Chocolate Girl still exists in pristine condition after 280 years is partly because it was fixed. The fact that Degas's pastels retain their layered complexity is because fixative allowed him to build surface upon surface. The fact that Redon's charcoal noirs have not smudged into gray fog is because fixative holds the particles in place.
The best place to see the effects of fixative is in any museum with a significant pastel collection. The Musee d'Orsay in Paris has Degas and Redon. The Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden has Liotard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has pastels by Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas that show the medium at its most delicate, preserved by fixative and careful display behind glass.
For more on drawing materials, read our entries on charcoal and pastel, or explore our post on chiaroscuro and drawing techniques.
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