Sketch (drawing) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Sketch (drawing)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A sketch (ultimately from Greek schedios, "done

extempore"[1][2][3]) is a rapidly executed freehand drawing that is
not usually intended as a finished work.[4] 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.
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, pencil, charcoal or pastel. But it may also
apply to drawings executed in pen and ink, ballpoint pen, water
colour and oil paint. The latter two are generally referred to as
"water colour sketches" and "oil sketches". A sculptor might model
three-dimensional sketches in clay, plasticine or wax.

Jesus and the Adulteress. A sketched figure

composition by Rembrandt

Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6

Applications of sketching
Gallery
See also
References
Sources
External links

Applications of sketching

Charcoal sketch of willows by Thomas

Gainsborough

Sketching is generally a prescribed part of the studies of art students.[5] 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, modello 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-rays.
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,[4] including those of Leonardo da
Vinci and Edgar Degas which have become art objects in their own right, with many pages showing finished
studies as well as sketches. The term "sketchbook" refers to a book of blank paper on which an artist can, (or
has already) drawn sketches. The book might be purchased bound or might comprise loose leaves of sketches
assembled or bound together.[6]
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

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identify wanted people are called composite sketches. Street artists in popular tourist areas sketch portraits
within minutes.[5]

Gallery
Subjects, styles and media

Three draft sketches in sepia

for an equestrian monument,
Leonardo da Vinci 1508-10

Sketch in pen and ink of an

idea for a flying machine
with a spiral rotor, Leonardo
da Vinci.

Sketch of a head in a parade

helmet, Michelangelo,
c.1500

Figure sketch in ink of two

women teaching a baby to
walk, Carel Fabritius,
c.1640

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Sketch in pencil and ink of

the Piazetta, Venice,
Canaletto, c.1730

The Pasha, an ink sketch by

Jean-Honor Fragonard, late
1700s

An oil sketch of clouds by

John Constable, 1821-22

Nocturene-Battersea
Bridge, a pastel sketch by
Whistler, 1872

Le Bouchon, a brush and ink

sketch by douard Manet,
1878

A girl in a rowing boat,

pencil, ink and watercolour,
Pierre-Auguste Renoir,
1870s

A landscape sketch in brush

and ink with washes, Paul
Czanne, (1888-90)

A sketch of a landscape in
pencil by Camille Corot,
1870

Oil sketch Child in a hat

with a black rosette, Mary
Cassatt, 1910

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Sketch of a reclining nude in

brush and ink washes, Lajos
Tihanyi, 1910

Girl Knitting by the Sea,

pencil and watercolour by
Theo van Doesburg, 1918

Two ink sketches of Krishna

playing the Flute, van
Doesburg, early 20th
century

Sketch of a male nude in

black crayon, Egon Schiele,
1918

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketch_(drawing)

Watercolour landscape
sketch, John Weeks, c.1950

Court sketch from the New

Haven Black Panther trials,
Robert Templeton, 1971

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Digital sketch of Zen stones,

by F. Cecconi, 2011

See also
Doodle
Multi-Sketch
Etch A Sketch, a toy

References
1. sketch (http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0777830#m_en_gb0777830), on Oxford Dictionaries
2. Douglas Harper. "Online Etymology Dictionary Sketch".
3. (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper
/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dsxe%2Fdios), Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A
Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
4. Diana Davies (editor), Harrap's Illustrated Dictionary of Art and Artists, Harrap Books Limited, (1990) ISBN
0-245-54692-8
5. Cf. Sue Bleiweiss, The Sketchbook Challenge, Potter Craft, 2012, pp. 10-13.
6. Cf. Richard Brereton, Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art of Designers, Illustrators & Creatives, Laurence King, repr.
ed. 2012.

Sources
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links
Media related to Sketches at Wikimedia Commons
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Categories: Art media Drawing
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