It’s studio Sunday! Let’s pay a visit to the studio of comic artist and graphic novelist Art Spiegelman. Speigelman has been working in the illustration and cartooning sphere for over four decades, getting his start drawing packaging and inserts for bubble gum wrappers. His semi-autobiographical graphic novel Maus, about the artist’s parents’ struggle to survive during the Holocaust, was released in 1991 to critical acclaim.

Spiegelman’s studio, pictured above, is located in New York where the artist has lived since 1957. The studio itself is quite impressive – the first thing I notice is the huge collection of books completely covering the back wall. Many of the other illustrators that we’ve featured have large libraries of books – Daniel Clowes, for instance, has several bookcases behind his work desk – but Spiegelman’s collection is still huge in comparison. I’d love to have such a library in my workspace. Particularly as an illustrator and comic book artist, these books must serve as a great source of inspiration for working through art block.

Aside from the books, Spiegelman has a couple of different desks, and a computer. I wonder if he uses the computer mainly for research, or for editing his drawings in Illustrator or Photoshop. There’s a sophisticated-looking printer on the table in the foreground, so perhaps Spiegelman uses this for printing potential pages for new books, or serial comic strips. Below the printer is a scanner, an essential part of any modern illustrator’s arsenal.

Spiegelman worked for many years as a cartoonist and a cover artist for The New Yorker, leaving prior to 2001. The artist is still highly political, and a staunch advocate for the importance of comics in any form. He still produces highly political cartoons and comic strips for various publications. 

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