a quickly executed drawing, usually in pencil, which captures the major and most characteristic features of a landscape or which provides the general plan of an architectural structure, painting, sculpture, or graphic work.
in the plastic arts, a small drawing, painting, or sculpture cursorily and rapidly executed by the artist. The main purpose of a sketch is to quickly record the observations and ideas that arise as the artist works. A sketch can be made without a model from memory or the imagination. A sketch working out a composition conceived by the artist is similar to a study.
in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a short play with two and occasionally three characters. The sketch was most widely performed on the variety stage. Sketches were written by J. Barrie, B. Shaw, and J. B. Priestley (Great Britain), W. Saroyan and J. Thurber (USA), G. Courteline (France), and A. T. Averchenko and the young A. P. Chekhov (Russia). Writers of sketches during the Soviet period included V. E. Ardov, A. S. Bukhov, G. I. Gorin, A. M. Arkhanov, M. M. Zhvanetskii, la. A. Kostiukovskii, V. Z. Mass, and V. S. Poliakov.
a preliminary drawing that sets forth the main idea of an entire work of art or an individual part, including the composition, spatial planes, and color scheme of the future work. Sketches may be drawn for works of graphic art, paintings, or sculptures. They are usually distinguished by a free, fluent style but may be quite detailed.
Sketches by major artists possess artistic value and may be considered complete works in themselves.