WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF A SKETCH? - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The elements of a sketch are the drawing, the measurements or dimensions of the object and the proportions with respect to its real size.

A sketch is a freehand drawing, without using measuring instruments or scales. It serves as a rough draft or sketch of a more detailed technical drawing.

This type of drawing is totally free, that is, the sketch can represent whatever you want: an object, a person, a scene or landscape, etc.

Despite the speed of the sketches, they must be clean, clear and schematic drawings. But above all, you must respect the proportions in the sizes of the parts that make up the drawing.

What are the main elements of a Sketch?

Given the informality of sketches, they can be done quickly and with very few implements, since they are exempt from the formalities of conventional technical drawing.

All sketches have three basic elements in their composition, which will be detailed below:

Freehand drawing

Freehand drawing is the essence of the sketch. The sketches are generally made in situ, observing the object of the drawing and replicating its shape and approximate measurements on the sheet of paper.

The sketch is a much more detailed type of drawing than the sketch, and consequently it is important to try to simulate the actual appearance of the object or scene being rendered.

When making a sketch it is essential to maintain the clarity and precision of the drawing, so that despite being a freehand drawing, it is considered as a representation of reality.

To do this, it is important to choose a good angle to make the drawing, that is, the selection of the object's point of view will be decisive for the clarity of the sketch.

This point of view will depend, in turn, on the complexity of the form or scene to be represented.

Ideally, select a perspective of the scene that allows you to represent the reality of the object or place in the simplest possible way.

Measurements or Dimensions of the Object

After making the drawing, we proceed with the placement of the object's dimensions. This aspect is usually determined by the dimensioning of the drawing.

Dimensioning consists of the graphic description of the measurements of each of the sides of a shape or object, by placing the dimensions.

In turn, the dimensions are a set of lines that are projected from the main drawing out of the image, to simulate the distances between points on each side of the study object.

Proportion of the object

Since it is a freehand drawing, it is impossible to use drawing scales in this type of representation.

Therefore, the only way to guarantee that the sketch is a good representation of reality is to take care of the proportions of the shapes and the relationship of sizes between them.

This applies both for a single object, taking care of the symmetry of its parts, and for the relationship of sizes between objects. The width-length relationship and vice versa is key to giving consistency and reliability to the sketch.

References

1. Arco, J. (sf). The sketch. Architectural Drawing I. University of Granada. Spain. Recovered from: ugr.es
2. Sketch, sketch and plan (nd). Recovered from: doriabenza.wordpress.com
3. The sketch - Characteristics (2012). Recovered from: arqhys.com/contenidos/el-croquis.html.

   The sketch and its characteristics (2013). Recovered from: croquizar.com

4. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (2017). Annotation. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org
5. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (2017). Sketch. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org