Sketching?

I tend to think of sketch’s as rough and ready to do images of what I want to develop. The word seems to be used across the board for quick notes type to the finished sketch .  I do lots of idea sketches as in the tractor one below, and a more detailed thst I think of as a drawing . 

I do find these distinctions interesting - my sketchbooks are nearly all filled with very rough notes in pencil or ink, not with more careful or 'finished' drawings.  But I saw another's sketchbook a while ago - I forget whose - and it was full of beautiful, finished drawings; so I thought - I might drop dead tomorrow; am I going to be happy leaving sketchbooks full of tat which mean something to me but really wouldn't to anyone else?  (Tat, yes: but still useful.)  So - I'm sorry I'm revealing too much of how my mind works, it troubles me at times! - my latest sketchbooks contain more 'readable' drawings - and actually, I'm finding this helps - the important thing is not to so finish and elaborate them that you lose interest in actually producing a painting from them, because you've said everything you wanted to say.  The snag is what just happened to me - I finished a sketch by elaborating it, improving its composition, and then went on to try a painting based on it: snag was, the sketch might work but it wasn't accurate - so I've had to re-model the painting (not having gone too far into it, so I didn't need to scrape paint out, just add structure in stronger paint).   There's good in that, though, happily - I found I COULD just take the picture in hand and draw through the problems with stronger paint.  I wouldn't have got far with that in watercolour, but in oil it's much easier, and would have been easier still in acrylic.  Anyway, I wander from the point - I agree with the view that a sketch doesn't need to be a finished drawing, it can in fact be as rough as guts, and the less you've refined them, probably the better they are as bases for further painting?  What do you think?   While I'm at it - I don't draw in pencil or charcoal on the canvas or board any more, but go straight in with a brush: you get wobbly lines, but it does help to establish the big shapes and tones without getting too fiddly too early; and I find it much more fun: opinions from others welcome. And - in closing (yay! At last!) I should like to thank those of you who have sent me private supportive messages as I ploughed through my latest depression: it does make a difference - always do that with people you know are having a fight with their awkward brains: it certainly does no harm, and might easily do a lot of good.  As a result, I have finished my first - small - landscape of 2023, and am working on my second: and the difficulties I've had with the second haven't put me off, which is always a positive sign.  I shall post them, in the fine fullness of time!

Sketching is good practice in rough or drawn to conclusion. I did paint without doing a sketch or drawing but now I do a sketch or drawing first to plan it a bit more. Robert, I am so glad you are feeling much better.

An interesting thread.  I guess the various ways we use sketching, is as varied as the people doing it. On occasion a piece of scribbled sketching has more life in it than the 'finished' drawing that results from it.  But sometimes a more detailed sketch IS required, or you finish with a lash-up, as I've done on my last two pictures. I too am glad Robert is out of the doldrums, I know if I didn't draw something each day I'd pretty quickly be up the proverbial creek.

Interesting indeed. I realise reading this that for me, sketching has become (especially during Covid times) mostly something I do at home when I don’t have time or inclination to paint, rather than a preparation for a painting. I am not as productive as many of you obviously are, and at times sketching and painting have become different things and not necessarily connected.  If I am painting I also draw with the brush to start off. I was taught this a few years ago, and by a different tutor to use charcoal which works with oils. Either is ok but I certainly wouldn’t use pencil to start a painting. My hope for 2023 is more Plein air, whether sketching or painting, so then maybe the two will connect again!

Robert, I'm glad to read you have come through your depression. I look forward to seeing your sketches, when you are ready for the plunge. Sketch books were usually a private domain of the artist its refreshing to see everyone's doodles, here.  I just might liberate myself today, take a small sketch book and liner pen with me ( I have to look around my wooly wards so why not) and do a few quickies. See you soon.  

Is it lambing time Carol?