The actress goes for characterization where the playwright provided a mere sketch; not her fault.

Esther, Victor's wife, is a mere sketch; even her explosive scene is half-heartedly written.

And all of this starts from a mere sketch by a designer.

The works here vary from mere sketches to large finished paintings but collectively they have the exuberance of Hofmann's engagement with a very lively scene.

Certain sections looked nearly complete, others were mere sketches.

This beautiful little oil-on-paper, a mere sketch, could be the unbuttoned Bierstadt getting down an impression before the light failed.

It was unfinished, a mere rough sketch.

Kubler's theories of duration, closed/open sequences, and types of innovators are mere sketches.

Taken as the repertory of six very different men, the episodes seem more than a compilation of mere sketches.

The scene of the crucifixion is, in Elgar's words, "a mere sketch".