Yeah...I have this issue too. I thought--what a great idea--laminate to preserve art forever. But months and years later (I use primarily Prismacolors too) anything with yellows bleed pretty bad...which includes greens and oranges. I also start getting a "pink halo" around purples, too.

This is what I did...I switched over to the laminating pouches (when the work is small enough--so 8"x11" or smaller) and I put a paper on the back of the drawing to take the lamination sticky-ness, with the other side of the pouch showing (but not sticking to) the art. But other than that, I can't figure out anything with lamination that won't prevent this bleeding over time.

I don't know if this suggestion will help, but I usually use "fixative" on my works, and with the very few I have laminated I have seen no bleeding. I only have one small bookmark that I made decades ago still in my possession, but I don't recall any bleeding. I don't know if it matters, but her face was more tan than yellow, but she was a very dark green on the whole.

NOTE: I've never been a sit down and get it done in one shot type of artist. I would draw my light pencil lines, then ink, and color in any totally black areas. Then I'd spray a light coat of fixative on the work. The next time I sat down to work on it, may be the next day or next month, I'd work on coloring and shading. Then I'd spray another coat of fixative. This process would go on and on until the work was complete. Now I must admit that I have never used Prismacolor products, so I don't know if that will make a difference. I know I've used: gel pens, fountain pens, highlighters, markers, acrylic paint, watercolor pencils, and enamel paints.

Hope this helps. =+}

I'd thought about the fixative the other day. I was wondering if "sealing" the color would help keep it from bleeding, but at the same time, I'm unsure what exactly is the cause of it in the first place. If it's contact with a plastic product, it may still bleed with the fixative. I wish I had a sample of it to try out, rather than having to buy a whole can...

Mmm... I honestly do not have an answer for you. =+{

I know that if you do not let the media dry for the full time described, you will indeed get bleeding when using fixative, I do know that no matter what you should only use a very light coat on any bleedable media period. Ink, marker, gel pens, and water color are the big time offenders for fixative bleeding when trying to use the sealing method of one heavy coat. I stick to multiple light coats if I think a work is not properly protected. I do blast a heavy coat days later on a previously lightly coated work that I deem complete many weeks later.

Again, I don't know if this will help you at all. =+S

It's moisture.
In the same way that if you colour onto toilet paper, then drop water onto the coloured area, the colours will split and spread, carried by the water, the ink inside something laminated will get carried around by any moisture that's locked inside the plastic, even if it's a tiny amount. The less moisture, the longer it'll take. But it's the same moisture, rolling arund in there for such a long time, that the colours start to wander.

Minimising the moisture that gets trapped inside is important, and thankfully, quite simple.


Run the art through the hot laminator either once or twice, to dry it, before putting it through with the plastic film over it.

I laminated art that had been dry for months, though? Possibly years, even. I'm not sure how old one of the pictures I laminated was by the time I did it, but it was at least several months old by the time it was done.