François Schuiten

François Schuiten, born 26 April 1956 in Brussels, Belgium, is a comic book artist best known for his intricate, architectural artwork on the series *Les Cités Obscures* (The Obscure Cities). He began his career in the late 1970s, contributing to the magazine *(À Suivre)*, where he developed his signature style: a meticulous, almost photorealistic approach to buildings, machinery, and cityscapes, often blending Art Nouveau, steampunk, and surrealist influences. His most celebrated collaborator is writer Benoît Peeters, with whom he co-created *Les Cités Obscures*—a sprawling, interconnected universe of fictional cities that explores themes of utopia, memory, and the relationship between architecture and identity. Schuiten also worked on *L'Eternauta* and *Luxereeks*, and his visual storytelling often emphasizes vast, silent spaces and the eerie beauty of decaying or impossible structures. Over his career, spanning from 1980 to 2021, he has contributed to 69 issues as an artist, colorist, inker, and writer. He has received multiple awards, including the Grand Prix at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. Schuiten’s legacy lies in his ability to make architecture a central character in comics, influencing generations of artists who see cities as living, breathing entities.