Born in Paris in February 1970, Mathieu Lauffray immediately showed a strong interest in drawing. After graduating from high school, he entered a prestigious art school in Paris, the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs. In 1995, for his thesis, he completed Le serment de l'ambre with fellow student Frédéric Contremarche. The comic book would go on to be published by Delcourt the same year. The following year, he was given the unique opportunity of illustrating the covers of Olivier Vatine's comic book adaptation of Star Wars, published by Dark Horse. Lauffray would go on to create nearly 30 covers for the series, in parallel with illustration and design work for the press, video games, and various role-playing games. In 1999, two years after a first attempt