Let's be honest, it wasn't a "Quick Sketch"

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    From the very beginning of being involved in the online art community, I've noticed that many artists love to toss around the phrase "quick sketch". And now that I have been posting my art online, I have also become all too comfortable calling my work "quick sketches". Whether it be intentional or not, I think that we should be more careful with what we call a "quick sketch"

    Before I started posting my art on social media, I just assumed that artists were being completely honest and that what they called a quick sketch was the same as what I would call a quick sketch. I thought that every artist I saw online was just skilled beyond my years. But the more that I involve myself in the art posting ecosystem, I've realized that we're all liars (intentionally or not). I've noticed sometimes that if I am unhappy with a drawing/painting, I will immediately feel more inclined to call it a quick sketch. A subpar sketch can easily become more impressive if the audience believes it was done during a 3 minute bathroom break. Or, on the opposite hand, If a painting is already stunning, pulling out the "quick sketch" card only further feeds the ego. Or, similarly, for my Plein air painting videos, not all of them can be finished on location, but for the sake of the video and story, they are filmed as if they were. 

    In my mind, an honest quick sketch is under 30 minutes for a drawing, and under an hour and a half for paintings. If you (or I) begin to call everything you do a "quick sketch", we can easily begin to skew the way that others feel about their art and skill. And while some artists would say "that's not my problem", I've been starting to feel like that absolutely is our problem. Art is supposed to be inclusive, inspire others, and be merit based, but if you start exaggerating how quickly you can pull something together, you're kind of starting to ruin the fun. Sure, running a mile is impressive, but running a mile with no shoes on, in the woods in under 4 minutes with no warm up is even more impressive. I hope you understand what I am trying to say. 

    Although I can really sympathize with wanting to call your art a "quick sketch" I think that artists with any sort of following should be a a bit more careful with what they all their art. I really respect artists who show them creating their art in real time. Or artists like James Gurney who film their art with a watch directly next to it to show how long they spent painting. 

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