Ligne claire

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An example of ligne claire, from The Adventures of Tintin

Ligne claire (French for "clear line") is a style of drawing pioneered by Hergé, the Belgian creator of The Adventures of Tintin. It is a style of drawing which uses clear strong lines which have the same thickness and importance, rather than being used to emphasize certain objects or be used for shading (for this reason it is sometimes also called the democracy of lines). Additionally, the style often features strong colours and a combination of cartoonish characters against a realistic background. The use of shadows is sparse and all elements of a panel are delineated with clear black lines. The name was coined by Joost Swarte in 1977.

Hergé started out drawing in a much looser, rougher style which was influenced partially by the famous American comic strip artists of the late 1920s and 1930s. It was only after World War II that his drawing style evolved into ligne claire. For Hergé, the style was not limited to the drawings but extended to the story: the plot must be straightforward.

Much of the "Brussels school" started to use this style, notably Edgar P. Jacobs, Bob de Moor, Roger Leloup, and Jacques Martin, many of whom also worked for Tintin magazine.

The Ligne claire style achieved its highest popularity in the 1950s, but its influence started to wane in the 1960s and was seen as old fashioned by the new generation of comic book artists.

In the late 1970s however it experienced a resurgence of interest, largely due to Dutch artists like Joost Swarte and Theo van den Boogaart, who had come up through the Dutch underground comics scene, as well as the French artist Jacques Tardi.

In the 1980s, Yves Chaland, Ted Benoît, Serge Clerc and Floc'h, had relaunched the Ligne claire style in France.

Contemporary use of the ligne claire is often ironic. For example, van de Boogaart used the simple, clear style to set up a conflict with the amorality of his characters, while Tardi used it in his Adèle Blanc-sec series to create a nostalgic atmosphere which is then ruthlessly undercut by the story. A recent serious clear line artist is the Dutchman Peter van Dongen, who created the 'Rampokan' series about the Dutch colonisation of Indonesia.

Ligne claire is not confined to Franco-Belgian comics. British artists such as Martin Handford and American artists like Geoff Darrow have also used it.