Ligne claire (French for "clear line", pronounced [liɲ klɛʁ]; Dutch: klare lijn, pronounced [ˈklaːrə ˈlɛin]) is a style of drawing created and pioneered by Hergé, the Belgian cartoonist and creator of The Adventures of Tintin. It uses clear strong lines sometimes of varied width and no hatching, while contrast is downplayed as well. Cast shadows are often illuminated, and the style often features strong colours and a combination of cartoonish characters against a realistic background. The name was coined by Joost Swarte in 1977. Source: Wikipedia (en)