Relying on his fine draughtsmanship, Seligmann did not favor the easy automatist techniques with which the Surrealists experimented in their composition. Seligmann prefered "chance images, transformed by reason" (quoted in M. Sawin, "Magus, Magic, Magnet: The Archaizing Surrealism of Kurt Seligmann," Arts Magazine, Feb., 1986, vol. 60, no. 6, p. 80)
One process he utilized to encourage the discovery of new forms was to enlarge photographs of cracked glass, or to project cracked slides on a screen, and then trace the forms on paper, altering them as he drew. The shapes are often found in his landscape compositions.