Ligne claire

Ligne claire, literally meaning the clear line, is a style of drawing pioneered by Hergé (creator of Tintin) in the late 1920s in which the image is simplified to its primary components and shadowing is never used. The drawing lines tend to be quite long and seamless, making the comic strip highly readable but also sometimes excessively simplistic.

Hergé was originally trying to imitate the American comic strips of the day so it is unclear if he should be seen as the inventor of the technique but his use of it was the most influential. Much of the "Brussels school" started to use this style, notably Edgar P. Jacobs and Jacques Martin, and it was soon used throughout Europe. Nowadays it is commonly agreed that its heyday has probably been and gone.