Lines

Throughout the two books and especially my tracings, Spiegelman utilizes a specific technique to illustrate texture and dimensions in objects. He does this by using lines in different direction and overlapping them in different ways. This allows Spigelman to express dimension in a very minimal effort sort of way. In the book 1 tracing, Arts’ fathers chair represents this exact principle. By Using three line patterns in the chair Spiegelman simple represents the three dimensions of the chair while not dragging attention away from the main aspects of the conversation. Similarly, in the second tracing the whole background scene shows this same pattern. He uses different lines and overlaps to express different aspects of the background. This allows him to express a cabin tree and other features without the same detail he puts into the main aspects of the scene. Overall, this gives an interesting contrast within each panel. First, the backgrounds themselves contain a lot of depth and texture due to this method. He is able to express dimensions in a way that allows each aspect to be recognizable even without any real detail. In the same way, it allows for a great amount of separation between the background and the main subjects of the scene. Especially in the scene from book two, the lines that distinguish the main aspects from the background allow for the characters to pop out and have the background not take away from what Spiegelman wants the reader to look at first. This use of directional lines increases Spiegelmans overall ability to draw scene without taking the effort it would to draw an overly descriptive background and without taking the eye away from the main aspects.