A sketch (ultimately from Greek σχέδιος – ''schedios'', "done extempore") is a rapidly executed freehand

drawing Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayo ...

that is not usually intended as a finished work.Diana Davies (editor), ''Harrap's Illustrated Dictionary of Art and Artists'', Harrap Books Limited, (1990) A sketch may serve a number of purposes: it might record something that the artist sees, it might record or develop an idea for later use or it might be used as a quick way of graphically demonstrating an image, idea or principle. Sketching is the most inexpensive art medium. Sketches can be made in any drawing medium. The term is most often applied to graphic work executed in a dry medium such as silverpoint,

graphite Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on la ...

pencil A pencil () is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage, and keeps it from marking the user's hand. Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a tra ...

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ...

pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...

. It may also apply to drawings executed in pen and ink, digital input such as a digital pen, ballpoint pen,

marker pen A marker pen, fine liner, marking pen, felt-tip pen, felt pen, flow marker, sign pen (in South Korea), vivid (in New Zealand), texta (in Australia), sketch pen (in South Asia) or koki (in South Africa), is a pen which has its own ink s ...

, water colour and

oil paint Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. The viscosity of the paint may be modified by the addition of a solvent such as turpentine or white spirit, and ...

. The latter two are generally referred to as "water colour sketches" and " oil sketches". A sculptor might model three-dimensional sketches in

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay pa ...

, plasticine or wax.

Methods

The two methods in sketching are line drawing and shading.

Line art

A line drawing is the most direct means of expression. This type of drawing without

shading Shading refers to the depiction of depth perception in 3D models (within the field of 3D computer graphics) or illustrations (in visual art) by varying the level of darkness. Shading tries to approximate local behavior of light on the object ...

lightness Lightness is a visual perception of the luminance (L) of an object. It is often judged relative to a similarly lit object. In colorimetry and color appearance models, lightness is a prediction of how an illuminated color will appear to a stan ...

, is usually the first to be attempted by an artist. It may be somewhat limited in effect, yet it conveys

dimension In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coord ...

, movement, structure and mood; it can also suggest texture to some extent.

Shading

Line gives character but shading gives depth and value-it is like adding an extra dimension to the sketch.

Advanced techniques

Pencil painting

When the pencil is handled almost as if it was a brush, resulting a paintlike quality, then the technique is called Pencil Painting.

Wash and benzene

Starting with a pencil drawing first, then washing over the pencil areas with a sable haired water color brush dipping it into the benzine is called Wash and Benzene. Benzene does not itself add color, but merely modifies the shaded pencil areas.

Uses

Sketching is generally a prescribed part of the studies of art students. This generally includes making sketches ( croquis) from a live model whose pose changes every few minutes. A "sketch" usually implies a quick and loosely drawn work, while related terms such as

study Study or studies may refer to: General * Education ** Higher education * Clinical trial * Experiment * Observational study * Research * Study skills, abilities and approaches applied to learning Other * Study (art), a drawing or series of ...

modello A modello (plural modelli), from Italian, is a preparatory study or model, usually at a smaller scale, for a work of art or architecture, especially one produced for the approval of the commissioning patron. The term gained currency in art circl ...

and "preparatory drawing" usually refer to more finished and careful works to be used as a basis for a final work, often in a different medium, but the distinction is imprecise. Underdrawing is drawing underneath the final work, which may sometimes still be visible, or can be viewed by modern scientific methods such as

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

s. Most visual artists use, to a greater or lesser degree, the sketch as a method of recording or working out ideas. The sketchbooks of some individual artists have become very well known, including those of

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on ...

and

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionism, Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, Printmaking, prints ...

which have become art objects in their own right, with many pages showing finished

studies Study or studies may refer to: General * Education ** Higher education * Clinical trial * Experiment * Observational study * Research * Study skills, abilities and approaches applied to learning Other * Study (art), a drawing or series of d ...

as well as sketches. The term "

sketchbook A sketchbook is a book or pad with blank pages for sketching and is frequently used by artists for drawing or painting as a part of their creative process. Some also use sketchbooks as a sort of blueprint for future art pieces. The exhibition ...

" refers to a book of blank paper on which an artist can draw (or has already drawn) sketches. The book might be purchased bound or might comprise loose leaves of sketches assembled or bound together. Sketching is also used as a form of communication in areas of

product design Product design as a verb is to create a new product to be sold by a business to its customers. A very broad coefficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products. Thus, it is a major aspect of ...

such as

industrial design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufactu ...

. It can be used to communicate design intent and is most widely used in ideation. It can be used to map out floor plans of homes. The ability to quickly record impressions through sketching has found varied purposes in today's culture. Courtroom sketches record scenes and individuals in law courts. Sketches drawn to help authorities find or identify wanted people are called composite sketches. Street artists in popular tourist areas sketch portraits within minutes.Cf. Sue Bleiweiss, ''The Sketchbook Challenge'', Potter Craft, 2012, pp. 10–13.

Gallery

File:Leonardo da vinci, Study for the trivulzio monument 02.jpg, Three draft sketches in sepia for an equestrian monument,

1508–10 File:Leonardo da Vinci helicopter.jpg, Sketch in pen and ink of an idea for a flying machine with a spiral rotor, Leonardo da Vinci. File:Michelangelo Buonarroti - Codex Vallardi 2491 r.jpg, Sketch of a head in a parade helmet,

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was ins ...

, File:Attributed to Carel Fabritius 004.jpg, Figure sketch in ink of two women teaching a baby to walk,

Carel Fabritius Carel Pietersz. Fabritius (; bapt. 27 February 1622 – 12 October 1654) was a Dutch painter. He was a pupil of Rembrandt and worked in his studio in Amsterdam. Fabritius, who was a member of the Delft School, developed his own artistic style ...

, File:Giovanni Antonio Canal, il Canaletto - The Piazzetta Looking towards the Torre dell'Orologio - WGA03976.jpg, Sketch in pencil and ink of the Piazetta,

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, Canaletto, File:Fragonard, Pasha.jpg, ''The Pasha'', an ink sketch by

Jean-Honoré Fragonard Jean-Honoré Fragonard (; 5 April 1732 (birth/baptism certificate) – 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific ...

, late 1700s File:John Constable 030.jpg, An oil sketch of clouds by

John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedham Vale, th ...

, 1821–22 File:Corot - Landschaft mit Heiligenfigur auf einer Säule.jpeg, A sketch of a landscape in pencil by

Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast o ...

, 1870 File:James McNeill Whistler - Nocturne- Battersea Bridge - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Nocturene-Battersea Bridge'', a pastel sketch by Whistler, 1872 File:Manet Le Bouchon DMA.jpg, ''Le Bouchon'', a brush and ink sketch by

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Bor ...

, 1878 File:Renoir Jeune Femme au Bateau.jpg, ''A girl in a rowing boat'', pencil, ink and watercolour,

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, feminine sensuality ...

, 1870s File:Paul Cézanne- Rooftops and Tree.jpg, A landscape sketch in brush and ink with washes,

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...

, (1888–90) File:Mary Stevenson Cassatt, Sketch of Head of a Girl in a Hat with a Black Rosette oil on canvas laid down on board, 24.8 x 32.4 cm, circa 1910, Christie's.jpg, Oil sketch ''Child in a hat with a black rosette'', Mary Cassatt, File:Tihanyi Reclining Nude 1910.jpg, Sketch of a reclining nude in brush and ink washes, Lajos Tihanyi, 1910 File:Theo van Doesburg 180.jpg, ''Girl Knitting by the Sea'', pencil and watercolour by Theo van Doesburg, 1918 File:Theo van Doesburg 164.jpg, Two ink sketches of ''Krishna playing the Flute'', van Doesburg, early 20th century File:Egon Schiele - Aktselbstbildnis - 1918.jpeg, Sketch of a male nude in black crayon,

Egon Schiele Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele (; 12 June 1890 – 31 October 1918) was an Austrian Expressionist painter. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and for the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude self-portrai ...

, 1918 File:Kathe Kollwitz - Self-portrait NGA 1943.3.5217.jpg, Kathe Kollwitz, "Self Portrait", charcoal on brown laid Ingres paper, 1933 File:Watercolour sketch by John Weeks, circa 1950.jpg, Watercolour landscape sketch, John Weeks, File:Harun al-Rashid by Khalil Gibran.png, Sketch of

Harun al-Rashid Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi ( ar , أبو جعفر هارون ابن محمد المهدي) or Harun ibn al-Mahdi (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Harun al-Rashid ( ar, هَارُون الرَشِيد, translit=Hārūn ...

by Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) File:Oil Pastels sketch of Catherine G. Roraback and Ericka Huggins, as well as African American male Juror and African American female juror. 34.jpg, Court sketch from the New Haven Black Panther trials, Robert Templeton, 1971

Methods

Line art

Shading

Advanced techniques

Pencil painting

Wash and benzene

Uses

Gallery

See also

References

Sources

External links