Croquis

Croquis drawing is quick and sketchy drawing of a live model. Croquis drawings are usually made in a few minutes, after which the model changes pose or leaves and another croquis is drawn.

The short duration of the pose benefits models because they do not need to keep still for a long time; this also benefits the artists because it helps them concentrate on the essential elements of the pose, or the most important parts of the drawing. An artist does not have time to draw all the details, so they learn to concentrate on the important elements. Croquis is also a good method of drawing subjects that generally do not stand still and pose, such as insects, animals, and children.

A sketch is a drawing made quickly, by show of hands, without seeking details in order to clear the main features of the subject, the pattern; often made from nature, it feeds the sketched travel diary called “sketch”.

The sketch meets several objectives:
exercise for the draftsman, allowing him to refine and maintain the relationship between his visual perception, his synthetic mind and his manual motricity;
documentary shooting, in order to use graphic elements later;
visual explanation, as a communication tool.
A sketch can also be a drawing prior to a larger and more detailed work, but in this case we will speak rather of sketching.

Drawing schools and academies offer “sketch classes” based on a living model. The practice of the sketch is an indispensable exercise to the designer to maintain the precision and the accuracy of the drawing, comparable in this to the “ranges” practiced by the musicians.

The sketch can be done in pencil, but also with all the quick techniques: charcoal, black chalk, ink (pen or brush), watercolor, gouache, etc.

The sketch is a graphic communication tool, it reflects an instant subjective perception of the author.

It is used in topography or architecture to materialize the first sketch of a site, land or building.

After the initial sketch, croquis drawing can be used as a foundation for another work of art such as a painting or may be used as a work of art itself.

The word croquis comes from French and means simply “sketch”.

In fashion, the term refers to a quick sketch of a figure (typically nine heads tall as this is the accepted proportions for fashion illustration) with a loose drawing of the clothes that are being designed. Often a large number of croquis drawings will be created for one finished look, which is fully drawn and finished.