The Line and the Shape

The shape is common. The line is our own. The shape is generic. The drawing is concrete. The form tells us what it is. The drawing specifies who he is.

The line is form as well. It's space, but it's the space of detail.

Probably the shape is enough to define and differentiate a series of characters. Just by depicting your silhouette, you can convey the information of who is the character who is doing something, within a group and be recognized.

If I make several characters the same, I'll be telling something about a group that I consider similar. As soon as there is any differentiating element in any of them, its uniqueness will be recognizable from the rest.

All the elements that we add in the elaboration of the character are additional information.

The number of add-ons a character has is up to the illustrator. Each one will be extra information that we give the reader to pigeonhole that character somewhere. The more information, the more concrete. More pigeonholed. To the point of making it unique.

The shape, on the other hand, will give us information about the actions that the character does. Connecting with other characters or elements in the scene will create the situation being depicted.

The line is neutral. Not the form. A black-on-white line drawing is neutral. One way, it has color. If we see a black plant represented in shape, that black color will catch our attention, while if the representation is lined, the reader will understand that it is a plant and the color will not be necessary.