There's something almost meditative about great line art. Each stroke is deliberate, each mark considered. From the legendary Jaime Hernandez's punk-infused Locas to Joost Swarte's architectural precision, these artists prove that you don't need a full palette to create work that resonates. The ligne claire tradition meets contemporary editorial illustration in this collection.
Daniel Clowes is a legend—Ghost World, Eightball, Academy Award nominations for screenwriting. This cover for Patience is peak Clowes: that blonde bob, the haunted expression, and those psychedelic rays bursting outward with different patterns and textures. It's retro but unsettling, pop art meets existential dread. The color palette is deceptively cheerful for what's actually a dark time-travel story about love and loss. Fantagraphics royalty.
Jaime Hernandez is one of the all-time greats of American comics. This Love and Rockets cover is quintessential Locas—Maggie, Hopey, and the gang just hanging out on some steps, while a dude in a Batman shirt and some movie nerds linger nearby. That poster for 'La Nave de los Monstruos' in the background... I used to love Piporro movies as a kid, so seeing that reference here hits different. The effortless naturalism of people just existing in space. His ink work is deceptively simple—every line is doing exactly what it needs to do and nothing more. Pure comics mastery from the Hernandez brothers' legendary Fantagraphics run.
by Joost Swarte
Joost Swarte coined the term ligne claire. This 2018 New Yorker cover shows a guy in his cramped apartment workspace—jacket hung up, money tree by the desk, basketball hoop through the cabinet door. All those domestic details. The isometric perspective gives it architectural precision while still feeling warm and lived-in.
by Leon Edler
Leon Edler's editorial work has this incredible playfulness where musical notation becomes a jungle gym for diverse characters. People lounging on treble clefs, climbing through staff lines, filming with cameras... it's chaotic but so perfectly composed. That salmon pink background grounds all that black ink work beautifully. The guy's won basically every illustration award there is, and you can see why—complex ideas made instantly legible through clever visual metaphor.
Ashley Percival's dog illustrations are instantly recognizable—chunky black outlines, flat colors, slightly goofy expressions. This dalmatian folded up on an orange background. He's done work for Gucci kids, IKEA, PBS. The simplified shapes make you want to pet the screen.
The hatching patterns here do so much. Horizontal stripes for the shirt, vertical for the shorts, dots for the skin—simple marks creating texture and volume. Single blue ink color. Constraints breeding creativity.
Eleanor Davis is one of my favorite cartoonists and this coffee shop scene captures why. That loose line work, the way she renders everyday moments with such warmth... people reading newspapers, working on laptops, just existing in a cafe. Her NYT editorial work is always a treat. Black and white line art that somehow feels cozy. Comics as fine art.
This is from my Transhumans project... a character hauling a backpack overflowing with plants. There's something about the black and white line art that lets your brain fill in the colors. The botanical explosion on their back, the curly hair, that confident stride. I love drawing people carrying impossible loads of nature. We should all be walking greenhouses honestly.