Sketch by artist showing struggle to survive (3,4)
I believe the answer is:
rat race
'struggle to survive' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'sketch by artist' is the wordplay.
'sketch' becomes 'trace' (both can mean to draw faintly).
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'trace' put after 'ra' is 'RAT-RACE'.
'showing' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for rat race that I've seen before include "The daily grind" , "Fiercely competitive struggle in business" , "Competitive struggle for wealth or power" , "The struggle for survival" , "Scramble to succeed" .)