Belgium gave comics two schools at once. The Brussels clear line drew calm, even outlines and precise settings; the Marcinelle school drew bouncy, rubbery cartoons in motion. Same scenes, both schools.
Two friends at a bus stop
A lighthouse at dusk
clean outlines, flat colour
One even black outline on everything, flat colour with no hatching, and simplified faces against settings drawn as carefully as the cast, all in bright, even daylight.
Travelogues, procedurals and clear-eyed mysteries: stories where the reader should be able to spot every clue.
Where it comes from: The Brussels clear line, 1929–1950s.
bouncy cartoons, big noses, bright colour
A lively brush line that thickens and thins, big noses and big feet, squash-and-stretch poses with speed lines and dust clouds, over fuller cartoon backgrounds in bright flat colour.
Comedy adventures, ensemble capers and all-ages romps, where the drawing itself tells the joke.
Where it comes from: Franco-Belgian humour, 1946–1970s — the Marcinelle school.
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Both keep their colour flat and their skies open, so the caption box finds room on almost every panel. They are two of the easiest looks on the wall to letter.
Either way, the studio letters each caption where the picture has room, and every panel of every issue keeps the look you start with.
