Question about Newsprint

[hitnrun]

How long does it take for newsprint to get old, brittle and yellowish?

I made the mistake of starting serious work on a drawing of a sculpture which I plan to use in a portfolio on newsprint.

[Eric Young]

the biggest problem with newsprint is that it doesn't hold the drawing for very long after only a few months the drawing will start to fade and get smudged up even if you use fixative. Your best bet is to start over on better paper.

[Parka81]

You should start scanning the artwork now.

[O-mie]

Newsprint is better used for practice sketching, methinks :x better to scan now, like teo said!

[XanaChama]

;2349644']the biggest problem with newsprint is that it doesn't hold the drawing for very long after only a few months the drawing will start to fade and get smudged up even if you use fixative. Your best bet is to start over on better paper.

I have a portrait in charcoal on newsprint with fixative sitting in a frame. And it hasn't done anything like that yet. Not saying I recommend newsprint, just saying.

For charcoal, I like to use Canson Mi Tientes paper. Work looks smoother, holds up well, and is available in quite a few colors/tints.

[AChipps]

It will stay like new behind glass, in a frame. I have a pencil drawing from 1983 that still looks new. Nothing else works as good unless you put it in a ziplock bag to keep it out of the air. I varnished a drawing on posterboard in 1978, and it turned brown, but a drawing my father did of me in 1963 was pressed in a book, and it is soft, but it didn't fade or turn yellow. If you want to keep it for a while, keep the air off of it.

[dbclemons]

...I made the mistake of starting serious work on a drawing of a sculpture which I plan to use in a portfolio on newsprint.

What's important here is the portfolio. It won't be nearly as impressive if it includes drawings made on lousy paper. Otherwise it just screams that you're a student. Redraw it on better paper.

[hitnrun]

Ahso, wonderful! Thank you everyone for the input; I would love to thank all of you individually, but I've read and taken into account the advice that all of you shared. I'm *definitely* going to restart this baby on some better paper. If I can get my hands on some canson paper in time, I'll get the new vine charcoal drawing done on it. If not, the best I have right now is some big sketchbook paper, we're talking like 18x24, or toned paper that is even bigger by the sheet. (The newsprint is 18x24 and my lil scanner can only do 8 1/5 x 11 so I'm taking digital pictures with a Kodak Easyshare - I *wish* I had a nice DSLR). If anyone wants to see the vine charcoal thing I'm working on, it's over in my sketchbook. Link is in my sig, and I'd certainly appreciate a view/comment/critique or two ;) Oh and be harsh - I can take it. If I couldn't take the heat, I'd have been out of the kitchen a long time ago.

I also find it interesting that fixative wont prevent charcoal on newsprint from smudging. If you happen to know why, I'd love to find out. I was going to redo the samurai I uploaded the same way as the vine charcoal thing, and fixative was my big plan to keep it good looking. Glad I found out before disaster struck.

Oh and DBclemons, thank you for the portfolio advice, you're absolutely right! None of the images in my current portfolio were done on newsprint. Heh, funny you should mention it screams "student" because I'm 23 and pursuing a bachelors, so I actually am a student.