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Art & Art History vocabulary · Painting & Drawing

Sketch

Meaning in art & art history, with examples

/sketʃ/nounCore term

In art & art history, sketch means: A quick, rough drawing or painting that records an idea or a scene, often made to plan a larger, finished work.

In Turkish: eskiz, taslak, kroki

How it is used

Both a noun and a verb: artists sketch, make sketches and keep a sketchbook. Museums often show preparatory sketches next to finished works. Common adjectives are quick, loose, rough and preliminary.

Example sentences

  1. Bring your sketchbook to the museum; we'll sketch the sculptures in the courtyard.

  2. This oil sketch was painted in an hour, probably as a study for the big canvas.

Common collocations

  • preparatory sketch
  • rough sketch
  • oil sketch
  • make a sketch
  • sketchbook
  • drawingA picture made mainly with lines, using a pencil, pen, charcoal or chalk; also the skill or activity of making such pictures.
  • charcoalA black drawing material made from burnt wood and used in sticks or pencils; it makes soft, dark lines that are easy to smudge and rub out.
  • life drawingDrawing the human figure from a live model, often nude, who poses in a studio; also a class where this is practised.
  • compositionThe way the parts of an artwork, such as figures, shapes, colours and empty spaces, are arranged within the picture or space.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Painting & Drawing

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