concept

Though you may not have realized it, I can almost guarantee you’ve seen Ben Mauro’s work before. He’s a concept artist for video games and film, his work ranging from Neil Blomkamp’s Chappie to the Halo series. Though he still frequently takes on jobs in the industry, his passion at the moment is focused on his personal project, a graphic novel called HUXLEY. The book is the first in an ambitious planned series that continues with a prequel arriving this fall, and has already been set up with an impressive 3D trailer. 

HUXLEY takes us to Planet Fury-7, a desolate hellscape packed with killer robots and struggling humans. We follow a couple of wayward warriors as they escort a broken-down bot they found, hoping to get a pretty penny for it. Along the way, they discover that they’re in possession of something far more powerful than they could’ve anticipated. The graphic novel is gorgeous and full of beautifully intricate character designs, one of Mauro’s specialties. I was able to sit down with Ben at Fan Expo Toronto this past weekend to dive into his creative process.

What other mediums do you think Huxley would fit well into?

I think the original graphic novel could be really cool as a TV show or a game. The next book coming out, The Oracle, could work amazingly as a game or a film as well. I could see it working in a lot of different ways. And, if we ever officially get something like that, I’ll be happy to share as much as possible.

What was the process like adapting your graphic novel into a full 3D trailer? 

Since I worked in games and film for so long – working on Spider-Man and stuff – I’m used to doing that as a job for other people. I had a lot of the foundation of how to do that already. I found a small team of only seven people or so; it’s very small. We worked on that for about a year, before the book was done. With the graphic novel, I didn’t have a lot of time to detail things, so it was fun to work with a character artist/sculptor to really design and detail the final forms that I had in my mind. 

I love that most shots in the trailer look like they’re taken right from the graphic novel itself.

Really cool, but we expanded, too. There’s one full page shot of the canyon, but in the trailer, you’re zooming and going right through it. Very cool to see how the team interpreted some of the panels into a cinematic shot. 

Do you have any other super secret projects you’re working on other than Huxley, or is it just Huxley all the way? 

I still work in the industry, so I am working on something unannounced that I can’t talk about…I’m always kind of doing a bit of both. During most of HUXLEY’s production, I was still working on Halo during the day, and then it was HUXLEY at night. I find I need that balance; I like having the structure of a day job because it keeps my routine and my deadlines very sharp. I’m actually much more productive working on HUXLEY when I have this structure.

Considering the themes of Huxley, what are your thoughts on AI currently?

I think we’re all just trying to see how it goes. I don’t know if I have a big opinion; I prefer to project thousands of years in the future on what might happen. I wrote The Oracle a few years ago, but we’re already on the brink of some of the things I talk about happening, things that we’re probably going to experience in our lives. I think science fiction is a great playground of speculation, of where we might go with all these things integrated into our lives, what might happen, what might not happen.

In your documentary, you talk about your wife and how she’s helped you, and that she works in the industry as well. How would you say you guys have inspired each other in your work? 

For HUXLEY, I didn’t wanna post anything online when I worked on it because I didn’t want any outside influence. So she was the only person I would have as a source of checks and balances. Like, “does this make sense?” Sometimes she would suggest things, and I’d say, well, that’s a different thing, that’s a different comic book. The tone she was suggesting was too playful or comical. But it was good to have a second pair of eyes to ask, “does this sequence of pictures make sense? Are you confused that this is too much of a jump in time?” 

It was great to have her support when I basically had to ask – are you okay if we’re still living in this little apartment for another couple of years? – when I wanted to put our extra resources towards the trailer for HUXLEY. She was okay with that. So it was good to have a supportive significant other. 

Have you guys ever worked on a project together?

We did work on some Call of Duty games in the past, but on different teams. I was doing weapons but she was doing costumes and character designs. 

What would you say guides the story of HUXLEY more, your art or your words?

The art comes first. The art was all done first, almost like pure visual storytelling. I thought, if there were no words, could you still enjoy this book? The words and the dialogue were last. Then, once I was happy with the art and how it reads, I basically had to turn the art off and ask, can I just read this and it still makes sense? Because the reality of graphic novels is that after a few pages, a lot of the audience almost stops looking at the art and just starts reading. It’s a harsh thing to accept as an artist because you spend so much time with art. Those people are just like, oh, what happens next? What does this character do? And they aren’t looking at the art as much, even though you want them to. 

In terms of the projects you’ve worked on in film and video games, how hands on are the filmmakers or developers? Are you in constant conversation with them?

Each director and each job is different; some are super hands-on. Some just wanna let the artist do their thing. Neil [Blomkamp] was more hands-on, though sometimes things get complicated when working with different companies. I think most of the time, though, I try to be more direct. On Valerian [and the City of a Thousand Planets], I was working directly with Luc Besson, and that was super awesome. He was always super excited, like, “oh, this is really cool, try this, what about that?” That’s always the most exciting; working directly with the people. It’s usually the most fulfilling.

Are there any filmmakers you would like to work with specifically that you haven’t worked with yet? 

I mean, I love James Cameron. I love Ridley Scott, so it would always be an honour to work with him. Or Steven Spielberg. Or Denis Villeneuve. Christopher Nolan, of course, would be amazing. Huge fan of all those guys.

Is there any IP specifically that you feel like you could put your mark on in a really interesting way? 

HUXLEY! I mean, I feel like I’ve worked on a lot of the bigger ones that I’ve wanted to. So for now, I really wanna make my thing next. 

Thanks for taking the time, I’m looking forward to The Oracle!

Thank you!

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. 

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