An oil sketch is also a painting made with oil paints but the usage of paint is very minimal when compared to oil paintings. Charcoals were originally used as a traditional sketch for paintings.

The oil sketch was originally created as a foundation for studies of art and it is used as a goal of large commission painting. The artist called Polidoro da Caravaggio was the first person to use oil sketch in the earlier days. He is a fine draftsmen but he had not passed the traditional Florentine training for drawing.

The oil sketches were used as a design for their printmaking and wall hanging. Oil sketch is a better suggestion for drawing with the limited range of colors and it gives a better tone for the project works. An oil sketch is also a type acrylic painting. It is usually a beginning version of painting. We can finish an oil sketch painting within two hours. The practice of oil sketch was first developed in 17^th century.

The landscape artists combine oil sketches with photos to create a new official painting in their studios. The making of an oil sketch goes very quickly when compared to drawing.  Oil sketches are not only used to express the movement of their paintings but it represents the action of the paintings with the help of symbolism.

It was used in early 17^th century as it is well suited for conveying dramas of complicated art. Giovanni Benedetto Castiglion was the first person to produce the oil sketch as an independent work. In the 19^th century the oil sketch was announced and it become very common in preliminary work. It often represents the observation of nature as original which is painted from life. The oil sketch tends to be creative often originating in the literature art.

John constable is one of the artists who made wide use of oil sketches for his scenery. Other painters such as Degas, Delacroix, Gericault and Manut often use oil sketches for painting. Some of the paintings painted by degas using oil sketches have real meaning.

Most of the painters or artists who are still working in the traditional styles use oil sketches to begin their paintings. In 18^th century an artist called Venetian Giovanni Battista Tiepolo who is a very talented painter completed a large size of painting using oil sketch in canvas.