Clear Line

The term clear line ( Klare lijn in Dutch) was invented in 1977 by the draftsman Dutch Joost Swarte, at the time of the exposure Tintin of Rotterdam. It indicates a graphic language resulting from Hergé and " style Tintin " associated with the newspaper of the same name, but also, more largely, a narrative style.

Often used hastily to indicate a not very exuberant graphic style, the expression clear line corresponds however to precise and rigorous choices, that few draftsmen managed to marry without derogating from it at once.

Clear line or style Tintin?

Inspirations?

It would be obviously inaccurate to fix the beginning of the clear line at Hergé. This one indeed took as a starting point former works. It appears in fact that the basic characteristics of the clear line (milked simple, flat tints of color) are initially related to the constraints posed by the techniques of Imprimerie of the childish periodicals. Actually graphic method adopted for the " line claire" is that already applied in the drawing of the stained glasses because there too of the technical limitations. One can say that the clear line finds its roots in the beginnings of the cartoon, and it is not astonishing to find elements at of them Christophe (the Sapeur Camember in 1896) or Pinchon ( Bécassine ). But it is probably the influence of Alain Saint-Ogan ( Zig and Puce ) which is found most definitely thereafter in the design hergéenne of the cartoon. In addition to the Atlantic milks it of Windsor McCay (" Little Nemo" in 1905) is also in the same vein.

The drawing according to Hergé

The main features of the graphics worked out by the draftsman of Tintin were for a long time established, in particular by Hergé him even:

  • systematic contour: black feature, regular, identical thickness for all the elements of the drawing (characters, clothing, decorations);
  • colors in flat tints: no effects of shade and light (even of night, cf for example the Business Sunflower , p.7-10: the direction of the flashlight does not influence the lighting of the elements of the drawing). The effects of shade by hatchings are also avoided by the author of Tintin .
But one can add to that of other elements systematized by Hergé, with a same permanent aim to improve the legibility of work:
  • realism of the decorations;
  • regularity of the Strip S (few overflows of images on several Strip S or of modification of size of the strips of a page on the other…), each box itself is surrounded by a simple feature;
  • unit and continuity of the plans (not of change of plan from one box to another for reasons purely " esthétiques") ;
  • finally, it should not be forgotten that Hergé is also, first of all, of the perfect scenario, and that the drawing puts a maniac, for him, with the service of the account. From where a very broad use of the ellipse, and the almost total suppression of any form of Récitatif.

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This design of the drawing is not found in all the work of Hergé, nor even in all the albums of Tintin . Result of decades of graphic research, the feature hergéen gave place to four tops of the series, from the point of view of the result of the graphic and narrative unit:

E.P. Jacobs, the other father

Clear line or not clear line? The question tortures the purists… It is true that the drawing jacobsien does not have first of all large-thing to see with the feature characteristic of the adventures of Tintin . However, E.P. Jacobs is incontestably different the large inspirer of the current clear line.

The role of Jacobs in the development of the style hergéen is indeed not negligible. During its collaboration with Hergé, starting from 1944, Jacobs, in charge of the revision of the first albums of Tintin, operate deep changes in those. It is Jacobs which draws the decorations, and finds balance ideal between realism and simplicity. It is also in Jacobs that one owes the setting colors of the boards, and thus founds the rule of the flat tint. A bright success, that one notes in particular in the continuation of collaboration with Hergé, in the Temple of the Sun in particular.

The graphics of Blake and Mortimer does not derogate as for him not basically from the principles of the clear line, and more generally from the principles dictated by Hergé for the whole of the series appearing in the pages of the Journal of Tintin :

  • the feature is quite regular, black, constant; the only exception is consisted the famous hatchings characteristic of the drawing jacobsien as regards the set of shades and lights, of the hatchings in spite of very discrete, in particular in the first albums of the series;
  • inspiring of this principle in the albums of Tintin, Jacobs of course complies with the rule of the flat tint for the setting colors;
  • the principle of realism is pushed even more by Jacobs than by Hergé, which besides leads the public quickly to see Blake and Mortimer like the equivalent of Tintin and Milou " for adultes" ;
  • the regularity of the Strip S is also respected, enriched by an almost obsessional concern of the provision of the boxes on page in the esthetic and if possible symmetrical way;
  • the continuity of the plans remains the same one of the characteristics of the feature jacobsien;
  • finally, like Hergé, E.P. Jacobs is scenario writer before being a draftsman, and the drawing is entirely with the service of the account.

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Whereas the drawing of the Secret of the Swordfish is unaware of sometimes superbly the rigid principles stated above, they are applied thereafter as well as possible by Edgar Pierre Jacobs, before this last does not move away gradually from the initial model, making evolve its drawing to more realism and less simplicity. Several albums of the series Blake and Mortimer are thus particularly significant current clear line:

Willy Vandersteen, the Flemish slope

The draftsman of Bob and Bobette is one of the authors most representative of the movement clear line, but also one of those having been more success, the series devoted to the two young heroes not having never ceased liking the public, in particular with the young Belgian readers .

In company of other series created and drawn by Vandersteen, Bob and Bobette , published initially by the daily newspaper De Standaard , quickly became one of the series-headlights of the Journal of Tintin . Recovery by Paul Geerts and Marc Verhaegen after the death of its creator, the series counts 285 numbers today.

Willy Vandersteen represents the Flemish slope of the clear line, or what one then called more readily style Tintin, in which it was integrated perfectly.

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Bob de Moor, under influence

In 1949, at twenty-four years, the young Flemish draftsman joined the team of the Journal of Tintin . Immediately, it côtoie and assists the principal draftsmen of the newspaper, in particular Willy Vandersteen then, especially, Hergé. It very quickly becomes one of the pillars of the Studios Hergé, and nearest collaborator to the father of Tintin.

With the passing of years, Bob de Moor acquires the capacity to imitate almost perfectly the style of Hergé, and its role grows within the Studio. It takes part in many aspects of the creation of the albums of Tintin : preparatory locations, sketches, but also coordination of the decorations and drawings secondary (in company of Jacques Martin or Roger Leloup in particular), and of the setting color. De Moor also occupies the first role in the design of the derivative products Tintin.

In same time, De Moor creates several series in varied styles, in particular the adventures of Barelli, one to defer whose world and appearance, with the passing of years, approach more and more that of his/her famous colleague. He also assists Jacques Martin in the series Lefranc and finishes the 3 Formulas of the professor Satō after the death of his friend Edgar P. Jacobs.

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Jacques Martin, the historian

The French Jacques Martin enters the shortly after the war the team of the Journal of Tintin . He becomes one of the closest collaborators of Hergé, taking part in particular in the development of several adventures of Tintin. In same time, it creates the character of Alix in 1948, then that of deferring Lefranc in 1952.

Its first albums are strongly marked by the influence of a rather rigid clear line, with its right and purified feature and its flat tints. In the Years 1960, Jacques Martin moves away from the school hergéenne, abrasive without moderation of variations of feature, the shade, and also approaching a more realistic style which reaches its balance in the Années 1970, particularly in the series of the Alix historical , and other cartoons. Jacques Martin causes itself of many followers, in particular Gilles Chaillet, Rafael Morales, Jean Pleyers or André Juillard. The Franco-Belgian historical cartoon concerns her mark, at the same time on the plan of the drawing and the plan of the work scenaristic, in particular concerning the requirement of the information retrievals.

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The first albums of Jacques Martin are most obviously influenced by the style of Hergé and the school known as Tintin.

In the series Alix

  • Alix intrepid the (1956)
  • the gold sphinx (1956)
  • the cursed island (1957)
  • the tiara of Oribal (1958)

In the series Lefranc

  • the great threat (1954)

And still…

Many draftsmen of the newspaper of Tintin more or less follow the style launched by Hergé. Paul Cuvelier ( Corentin ), Jacques Laudy ( Hassan and Kaddour ), François Craenhals ( the 4 Aces ) or Tibet ( Chick Bill ) thus create cartoons with the narrative style and the graphic language close relations of Tintin, without however that the hergéenne influence does not reach with the imitation of the preceding authors. It is the same for Gilles Chaillet ( Vasco ), of mobility Jacques Martin.

This influence can be also found in a remote way in realism requiring of a Roger Leloup , which slices with the majority of the series of the newspaper of Spirou in which it publishes Yoko Tsuno : before this personal career, Leloup will have been during years one of the collaborators of the Hergé Studios, specialized in the drawing of the technical and mechanical elements (automobile, planes).

The movement " line claire"

Joost Swarte

Inventor of the concept " line claire" , Joost Swarte is naturally made the cantor of the revival of this style inherited Hergé, while reinterpreting its bases. The work of Swarte indeed exceeds the framework of the traditional cartoon by invading the field of the illustration (covers of books and discs, portfolios, posters, exposures). Swarte does not hide its taste for the modern art and the abstraction. For Swarte, the clear line is a graphic form of abstraction besides, idea often evoked concerning Tintin, but that Hergé forever endorsed. At Swarte, the interferences between cartoon and illustration are manifest. Its esthetic ambition often moves away Swarte from the traditional model of the album of cartoon.

Joost Swarte adapts the clear line and mingles with it with the techniques that it affectionate. One can in particular note the omnipresence of the geometrical references. Swarte also likes to vary the methods of setting color. It uses in particular woven paper of various colors, cut out and stuck on surfaces to fill.

With reading

  • modern art (1980)

  • Passi, Messa (4 volumes)
  • Dr. Ben Movies & D. (2 volumes)
  • adventures of Cotton and Piston (3 volumes)

Ever Meulen

Near to Joost Swarte, Eddy Vermeulen, which signs Ever Meulen, joins very quickly the revival of the clear line. Illustrator of formation, Ever Meulen comes only in the one second time to the cartoon. Influenced by the cubism and the Art déco, Ever Meulen produces few albums and enormously illustrations, posters, serigraphies. The influence of the Style atom is also much more important at his place than at Swarte, the two styles often overlapping in the same illustration.

With reading

  • business T.T.T. (1985)

Ted Benoit

With the departure rather marked by a very excavated realistic style, result of the studies of cinema and its collaboration with the Echo of savannas , Ted Benoit carries out a turn towards the clear line when it takes note of the research initiated by Joost Swarte. This radical change is expressed in Towards the clear line , an album which gathers several accounts published in the end of the Années 1970.

Ted Benoit only looks further into his research while working on the drawing and the scenario of two albums putting in scene its anti-hero Ray Banana, in a style strongly pointing out Tintin. Two accounts also marked by the influence of the American cinema that he admires so much, the environment of the Black film, the Années 1950. Ted Benoit also carries out, following the example Joost Swarte and Ever Meulen, frequent incursions into the field of the illustration, with many posters and serigraphies.

The editions Dargaud do not hesitate to entrust to him the resumption of the series Blake and Mortimer of Edgar P. Jacobs, in company of the scenario writer Jean van Hamme. As of the Business Francis Blake , Ted Benoit impresses by his control of the style jacobsien and its meticulous imitation. Then, the Strange Appointment is the occasion for the draftsman to find the American environment which he likes so much, and to adapt a little more the series. After these two albums, Ted Benoit announces to take retreat with its career of draftsman of cartoon to devote itself to the illustration and the writing.

With reading

  • Towards the clear line (1980)

  • Bingo Bongo and its combo Congolese (1987), very " Swartien"

In the series Ray Banana :

  • electric Lullaby (1982)
  • Quoted light (1986)

In the series Blake and Mortimer

Floc' H

Draftsman connected with the movement clear line, Floc' H is indissociable of the scenario writer François Rivière. They is indeed together that the two accomplices work out the album the Appointment of Sevenoaks , at the time same where Joost Swarte invents the term of clear line, in 1977. This fantastic account which proceeds with London, in an environment jacobsienne, is followed several other collaborations between Flo' CH and Rivière. Starting from Blitz , in 1983, Floc' H adopt the technique of inking to the Pinceau, which makes evolve its drawing to a great flexibility of feature, while moving away it from the initial rules of the drawing hergéen.

Except its collaborations with River, Floc' H, like the other draftsmen of the movement clear line, works primarily in the illustration. Its style allures the cinema (posters and interstices for Woody Allen and Alain Resnais), publicity, the press ( The New Yorker ).

Solicited by Dargaud for the resumption of the series Blake and Mortimer , Floc' H outlines a project in company of Ted Benoit, then to give up, before Jean van Hamme does not take the things in hand. Ted Benoit, with the style however nearer to Hergé, will carry out finally only the drawing of the album. Like Benoit, Floc' H carries out increasingly rare incursions into the cartoon.

With reading

an English trilogy (integral appeared at Dargaud in 1992):

  • the Appointment of Sevenoaks (1977)
  • the File Harding (1980)
  • In the search of Sir Malcolm (1984)

Yves Barge

Barge incarnates the side Spirou movement clear line. Does one have besides relating to it to speak about clear line or Ligne atom? The inspiration of Barge is indeed above all on the side of Jijé when it publishes its first albums, which generally join together older publications (in Métal Howling in particular), close to the pastiche, like Bob Fish , Adolphus Claar or the first albums of the series Freddy Lombard . Barge is had a presentiment of besides a time to take again Spirou and Fantasio , but its choices reject the commercial vision of Dupuis.

The side clear line of the work of Barge feels a little more in the Années 1980, as a cartoon but also in her work of illustrator, since Chaland also finds a success significant in this field in the advertizing executives. The style of Barge evolves/moves thus until F.52 , fifth album of Freddy Lombard and the last of the series since the draftsman disappears accidentally a few months later, in July 1990.

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In the series Freddy Lombard :

  • F.52

And still…

Become again with the mode in the Years 1980, the style clear line influences many young people authors, who often reinterpret it extremely varied manners. Theo van den Boogaard creates in 1978, with the scenario writer Wim Schippers the character of Leon-the-terror, for a humorous series initially published in the Echo of savannas , with a humor very far from Tintin, emphasized by the shift between the account and the rigor of the drawing. Jean-Louis Le Floch him, brother of Floc' H, takes part a time in the movement, in particular with In full cold war (1984). As for Serge Clerk , it mixes clear line, Style atom and influences Art déco in some albums ( Meurtre in the headlight ) and a great quantity of illustrations.

It is also necessary to quote other draftsmen close to the movement of the clear line, like Alain Goffin , which draws the two albums of Thierry Laudacieux (1982-1984) on a scenario of François Rivière, or Plagiat! (1989), on a scenario of Benoit Peeters and François Schuiten. Daniel Ceppi ( Guêpier (1977), followed many albums of the adventures of Stephan Clement ). Tardi also, in the first albums of Adele Blanc-Sec (1976). Still let us quote the Dutch Henk Kuijpers (the series Franka , 1980-1987), Dick Briel ( the adventures of the professor Palme in 1982-1983, and the author of a board finalizing the 3 Formulas of the professor Satō in a n° Spécial Jacobs of the Newspaper of Tintin: the Theater of the Mystery , in April 1978, is 12 years before Bob de Moor!) and Peter van Dongen (the series Rampokan , in progress). The clear line also allured certain Anglo-Saxon authors, in particular the English Garen Ewing ( The Rainbow Orchid , in progress).

Lastly, the style clear line always enormously finds success in the cartoon for children, his simplicity and its clearness supposed to like the young public. The draftsman Dirk Stallaert thus proposes in the series Nino a style very close to Tintin, on scenarios of Hector Leemans. The same inspiration is observed at Elbée ( Adventures of César and Jessica , with Pibuc) or Yvan Pommaux (Cherub of the Lake).

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