Sketch (drawing)

A sketch (ultimately from Greek σχέδιος – schedios, "done extempore") is a rapidly executed freehand drawing that is not usually intended as a finished work. 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, pencil, charcoal or pastel. It may also apply to drawings executed in pen and ink, digital input such as a digital pen, ballpoint pen, marker 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. 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 or lightness, is usually the first to be attempted by an artist. It may be somewhat limited in effect, yet it conveys dimension, movement, structure and mood; it can also suggest texture to some extent. Line gives character but shading gives depth and value-it is like adding an extra dimension to the sketch. When the pencil is handled almost as if it was a brush, resulting a paintlike quality, then the technique is called Pencil Painting. 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. 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.