Motion lines

{{Short description|Abstract line added to convey movement}} {{protection padlock|small=yes}} thumb|right|A drawing of an airplane with motion lines to indicate that it is moving fast thumb|180px|Motion lines added with photo-editing software, to imply motion [[File:Ernest Montaut25.jpg|thumb|<div style="text-align: center;">''Grand Prix de France 1913''<br>Ernest Montaut</div>|border]]

In comics and art more broadly, '''motion lines''' (also known as '''movement lines''', '''action lines''', '''speed lines''',<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m1MKdUvE3LUC&q=%22carmine+infantino%22+motion+lines&pg=PA41 |title=Carmine Infantino: Penciler, Publisher, Provocateur – Google Books |isbn=9781605490250 |accessdate=2014-01-04|last1=Amash |first1=Jim |last2=Nolen-Weathington |first2=Eric |year=2010 |publisher=TwoMorrows }}</ref> or '''zip ribbons''') are the abstract lines that appear behind a moving object or person, parallel to its direction of movement, to make it appear as if it is moving quickly. They are common in Japanese manga and anime, of which ''Speed Racer'' is a classic example.

Lines depicting wind and the trajectory of missiles appear in art as early as the 16th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kunzle |first1=David |title=The Early Comic Strip |date=1973 |publisher=University of California Press |pages=57–60}}</ref> By the 19th century artists were drawing naturally occurring speed lines when showing the passage of an object through water or snow, but it was not until the 1870s that artists like Wilhelm Busch and Adolphe Willette began drawing motion lines to depict the movement of objects through air.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kunzle |first1=David |title=The History of the Comic Strip: The Nineteenth Century |date=1990 |publisher=University of California Press |pages=351–355}}</ref> The French artist Ernest Montaut is usually credited with the invention of ''speed lines''. He used the technique freely in his posters which were produced at a time when auto racing, speedboat racing and aircraft races were in their infancy.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-04-05 |title=Donald Heald Original Antique Books Prints and Maps |url=http://donaldheald.com/search/search_01.php?Author=GAMY-MONTAUT |access-date=2023-11-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405021018/http://donaldheald.com/search/search_01.php?Author=GAMY-MONTAUT |archive-date=2007-04-05 }}</ref> The effect is similar to the blur caused by panning in still photography.

Carmine Infantino was one of the best known practitioners of motion lines, particularly in his illustration of Silver Age Flash comics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://therumpus.net/2013/06/the-new-york-comics-symposium-arlen-schumer-on-carmine-infantino/ |title=The New York Comics Symposium: Arlen Schumer On Carmine Infantino |publisher=The Rumpus.net |date= 7 June 2013|accessdate=2014-01-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2011/06/carmine-m-infantino-v-dc-comics-et-al.html |title=20th Century Danny Boy: Carmine M Infantino v. DC Comics et al: The Fight For The Flash |publisher=Ohdannyboy.blogspot.com |date=2011-06-14 |accessdate=2014-01-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=J.C. Vaughn, Gemstone Publishing |url=http://www.previewsworld.com/Home/1/1/71/977?articleID=133526 |title=In Memoriam: Carmine Infantino |publisher=PREVIEWSworld |date=2013-04-04 |accessdate=2014-01-04}}</ref>

The use of motion lines in art is similar to the lines showing mathematical vectors, which are used to indicate direction and force. A similar effect is found in long-exposure photography, where a camera can capture lights as they move through time and space, blurred along the direction of motion.

==See also== *''Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2'', for Marcel Duchamp's use of a painterly technique to the same effect *Grawlixes

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Motion Lines}} Category:Comics terminology Category:Linear motion