So talk is cheap. I could state the fact in my last big post that "straight lines are simply a figment of a weak human imagination" and then simply walk away...but where is the fun in that? The following artists inspire with minimal (if any at all) use of a straight line. When viewing please keep this in mind, and you'll notice that is very easy to forget.

Carter Goodrich:
At first it may seem that Goodrich is using straight line - but look closer! Everything is subtlety curved giving these static figures hidden life.





Al Hirschfeld:
Beautiful flowing characters that signify personality in confident strokes.




These artist's work feels right. It feels alive and breathing with intensity. A part of this is their understanding that straight lines work best when brought to the highest form of abstraction. The work of Nate Wragg (a character designer at Pixar, with a great interview HERE, and a beautiful blog HERE) shows it best in the samples below.

Check out how the lines are made more interesting and effective by the contrast versus living curves. Overall though these seem to be purposely static pieces of art though.






Chris Ware:
Finally, the work of the Chris Ware. He uses straight lines almost exclusively as representations of man-made objects, but everything is else is elegant expressive curves. This contrast is even more important as it follows along with the common message in many of his stories - humanity exists in a hulking mass of homogenizing culture that cannot completely accept a unique individual. (Strictly my interpretation here...)




-Josh